Six career lessons – Part 2: Make a connection

Whether you’re staring at a blinking cursor trying to write your first resume, practising your podium skills or facing a career change, this year’s Arch Award recipients have insights on navigating uncertainty, embracing opportunity and forging one’s own path. That’s why, leading up to the start of Alumni All-Access on Oct. 15, we’re sharing two career lessons every week that draw on the experiences, challenges and unexpected moments that helped shape their journeys.

Lesson 2: Make a Connection 

Early in a career, it can be hard to put yourself out there. Networking. Schmoozing. Call it what you want, it can be intimidating to cold call people for a meeting. However, when you look at Early Career Achievement Award recipient Karen Ngo, BComm'20, it’s easy to see why you should get out of your shell and make a connection.

When she first started at the University of Calgary, Ngo was focused on attending classes and earning good grades. A meeting with Robert Liu, BComm'15, then-president of the Haskayne International Business Students’ Association, gave her something else to consider: The importance of relationships and practical experiences.

"It completely changed my perspective," Ngo says.

With that nugget of wisdom in her tool kit, she took Liu’s suggestion to heart. After starting a new position at Microsoft, she set up 100 coffee chats in her first year. Those meetings gave her a view of the corporate landscape, some career advice and a connection to others that would echo throughout her career. 

As valuable information from her mentors translated into signature storytelling skills, networking tips on her career blog that has 40,000 followers, and a series of promotions at Microsoft, Ngo has become a resource that junior colleagues can look to for mentorship. It’s a full-circle moment for someone who overcame anxiety and self-doubt to become a success not only in the eyes of others, but of her own.

"What actually makes my life and career meaningful," Ngo says, "is knowing that what I have learned in my career can actually help someone else with theirs."