Editorial: Networking for Success at the Annual Meeting

The October issue of CEP traditionally features the AIChE Annual Meeting preview, and this year is no exception. The preview (pp. 53–62) highlights some of the meeting’s biggest lectures and student competitions. A few of the events that I’m most excited to attend this year include the AIChE Beer Brewing Competition, the Regenerative Engineering Founder’s Award Lecture, and the K-12 STEM Showcase & Outreach Competition (see article on pp. 42–43).

When it comes to sparking new ideas for CEP articles, the technical sessions offered at AIChE’s Spring and Annual Meetings are extremely valuable. However, I find that some of the best ideas come from networking with other engineers — and there’s nowhere better to network than at the AIChE meetings.

In this special issue, themed around professional development, networking plays a leading role. In the article “How Can You Stand Out in the Recruitment Process?” (pp. 22–25), networking is mentioned as an under-valued skill that gives job candidates an edge in the applicant pool.

“The biggest hurdle to a job search is relying only on the internet,” says Valerie Patrick, instructor of AIChE’s Career Discovery workshops, in her article on pp. 34–35. “The internet is a valuable tool to find job postings, but you need more than that to get a job interview. You need to practice self-­advocacy and networking.”

This issue includes a few articles targeted at engineers who want to take the next step in their careers and are curious about fields like computing and data science (pp. 26–27) or science policy (pp. 28–32). If you are interested in job hopping, the end of the year is the best time to prepare your résumé, get your references lined up, and update your LinkedIn profile because, statistically, there is an average 15% increase in job postings in January and February, according to Forbes. At the beginning of the year, hiring managers return from holiday vacations, new hiring budgets go into effect, and workers are eager to start fresh at new companies — leading to an increase in vacancies.

If you are attending the Annual Meeting (Oct. 27–31 in San Diego, CA), and are considering a job change in the new year, the meeting’s receptions and networking events offer great opportunities to make connections. I recommend attending the opening reception on Sunday evening, as well as social events like university receptions (which are often open to all), the IDEAL Reception, and committee mixers. The exhibit hall is a great place to strike up conversation with other attendees, and exhibitors are often more than willing to talk about their work, which can help you get a feel for specific companies in your field of interest.

Building your network today will help you advance your career tomorrow — or whenever you decide to take your next big step.

Emily Petruzzelli, Editor-in-Chief