One of the most valuable things that you can gain at Business School is connections. Not only will you have the opportunity to advance your career with new skills and a deeper understanding of business, but you will also be able to learn from others. The connections that you make as a student and Alumni could be instrumental in your professional life. They could help you build your own company or get your foot in the door of your dream industry.
Business School Lausanne (BSL) is home to students from around the world, and Lausanne is one of the most multicultural cities in Europe. This means you will have endless opportunities to build an international network and enhance your cross-cultural communication skills (on top of course of learning another language, French), extremely valuable in today’s globalized business world.
Read on to discover five of the best ways to network while you’re at Business School.
Connect with the Careers Office and make the most of the Master classes
Students at Business School Lausanne (BSL) have numerous ways to enhance their career prospects while studying. The Careers Office connects students to opportunities such as company visits, voluntary projects, internship/graduate programs, networking events, workshops, mentoring programs and more to enable them to reach their career aspirations. Whether you want to launch a start-up, take over the family business, or join a large international corporation, BSL and its community can help you excel.
Students enrolled in a Master program at BSL start their career journey the moment they begin studying. The academic course is designed to prepare students to succeed in the fast-changing business world and students develop practical and professional skills, while learning from real-life examples, business simulations and challenges.
Attend Events and Company Visits at Graduate Business School
BSL and the Student Council organize various events and visits for students. These include panel discussions with guest speakers and visits to company headquarters in and around Lausanne. It’s a good idea to attend as many of these online and offline events as you can while enrolled at our Business School. This could be an opportunity to network with a potential future employer and connect with other students across programs.
There are a number of different events that students can attend while studying, such as panel discussions, networking events and company presentations. The Student Council also organizes Student-led Business Innovation weeks which bring together industry representatives and the BSL community, also allowing the students organizers to work on their leadership development. All in all, these are great opportunities to meet other professionals and improve your understanding of business as well as your Swiss and global network.
Secure an Internship for your Final Capstone
At BSL, Master students have an internship option as part of their Capstone experience and they can apply for this unique experience at a company anywhere in the world. Via the Careers Office, they have access to personalized employability sessions in preparation for their internship search, applications and interviews, maximizing their chances to secure an internship by building a strong professional brand for themselves.
Students also have access to opportunities through the BSL Career Center where Alumni and partner companies can advertise internship positions with the BSL Community.
There are a number of reasons to take on an internship as a final capstone of a Master degree in Switzerland as an internship is an excellent way to gain valuable experience in the business world and kickstart their career while studying. Not only does this improve students’ professional profile and gives them greater understanding of business in practice, it also helps them discover how to shape their future career path and possibly continue working with the company they joined for the internship. Last, but not least, it’s an opportunity to network with experienced professionals.
Use LinkedIn for connecting to your Network and finding opportunities
It is now easier than ever to network ‘virtually’, which is why it’s important to have an up-to-date LinkedIn account listing all of your experience, skills and interests. You could use this to reach out to Alumni or professionals in your field of interest for advice. In this respect, the BSL Careers Office offers students valuable tools to create their professional brand with a powerful application package, strategically including their top skills and competencies in CVs and LinkedIn profiles. Once you have your stunning online profile, you can join groups on LinkedIn relating to your field or interests. This can help to expand your network and connect you with opportunities you might be interested in.
Connect with Students Professors and Guest Speakers
You don’t need to attend a formal networking event to network. In fact, every day at BSL will be an opportunity to connect with other students, Faculty members and their Guest speakers. The small class sizes at BSL make it easy to connect with everyone and create an intimate, family-like atmosphere. Guest speakers are often invited to deliver inspiring talks about their specific industries to students in class. These will give you the opportunity to potentially connect with successful industry experts from all kinds of businesses. 
The friendships you develop will also become part of your professional network
Don’t hesitate to ask questions and arrange a meeting outside of class time with a Faculty member that you think you could learn from.
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