If the thought of networking fills you with dread, you are not alone. Networking is stressful for many people.

If you are feeling stressed about networking, take a moment to acknowledge how you feel. It's okay to have these feelings. Acknowledge your feelings and respond to your anxieties with grace. Being unkind to yourself won't help you feel positive about networking.

Keep this in mind during every step of networking: before, during, and after. Whether you are dealing with anxiety or you did something you thoughts was embarrassing, respond to your negative self-talk with kindness.

For me, partnering up with a friend during networking and career fairs have made the event a positive experience. Having someone to emotionally support you and encourage you makes networking much more bearable.

Another major benefit of going with a friend is that you can learn from them. Seeing how others network is a very effective way of learning how to network yourself.

Even if you are going to a scheduled one-on-one meeting, you can ask if it is alright if you brought a friend who is also interested in the topic/field. Your friend doesn't really have to be interested - they just have to be willing to act like they are.

Coming prepared to give a quick introduction of yourself, your current work, and what you are interested in, along with some questions to ask them, can help you feel less anxious and more confident about networking.

Some of my favorite questions to ask people are:

• How did you get to where you are now?

• What is something you wish you had learned early on in your career?

• What do you like best about what you do? What do you like the least?

• Who would you recommend I talk to next?

Attached is a longer list of questions.

As with anything, practice will help you become more comfortable and confident with networking.

There are some things that you can practice alone. For instance, you can draft your self-introduction and refine it independently. You will need to recruit help to practice other bits of networking though.

If you want to practice doing an informational interview, go through the process with a friend. You can do the same for any other networking event that you want to practice. Although it may be awkward, going through the motions will help.

After you have met with someone, it is good to follow-up your meeting with a short thank you email. There are two things you should always do in a thank you email:

• Thank them for their time (obviously)

• Include a small detail of something specific you talked about

The second point is especially important if you met someone at a networking event or a similar setting, as it will help jog their memory.

Other than that, you can use the thank you email to schedule a one-on-one meeting, ask for papers or books about the topic, or ask them if they would be alright with you contacting them in the future with more questions.

Ultimately, what you should or shouldn't do will be guided by the quality of your interaction with them. Keeping your email short and simple is generally a good idea though.

Informational interviews are short meeting during which you ask the person you are "interviewing" about their careers and how they got to where they are today.

These interviews can be in person or via video chat. If you are struggling to get started, find a professor at your current institution or alma mater and reach out to them. To the left, there is a template for an email to request an informational interview from someone along with an example.

An awesome thing about networking fairs is that you often meet people you never would have otherwise. Networking fairs are a lot less scary than they seem. For one, there is nothing odd about randomly talking to someone you don't know - that is the whole point!

One challenge of networking fairs is staying connected. Everyone at the fair is going to be meeting many new people, so if you want to connect with someone after the fair, you need to ask. Ask them if you can exchange email addresses/contact information. If they give you contact information, follow-up with them within a day or two of the fair.

Check out the past EXITO networking fairs to learn more about how networking fairs usually go. Knowing what to expect will help you feel prepared to conquer the challenge.

We don't always realize it, but some of our most important networking happens on a daily basis. Getting to know your classmates and professors and building rapport with them is extremely valuable.

A part of this is building support infrastructure to help you be successful in your current ventures. Part of this is future support. Friends and mentors can help you find the people and resources you need to help you find a new job, find new mentors, apply for a grad program, move to a new city, etc.

Regardless of how bad you think you are at networking, you have been successful at doing it.

Staying connected doesn't mean being constantly in-touch with people. There is nothing unusual about going weeks or even months without reaching out nor hearing from someone close in your network (a former research mentor for example) - unless there was an agreement about getting in touch.

That being said, it is important to stay connected with people who you want to keep in your network. Send them an email about every six months. Let them know how you are doing and what you are currently working on; ask them how they are doing and what they are currently working on.

LinkedIn is a great way to keep track of people in your network. Even if you have only briefly met the person that you wanted to stay connected with, ask them if they have a LinkedIn and if it would be alright to connect with them there.

A benefit of using LinkedIn as opposed to email is that the emails people usually give out are often connected to the institution they are currently working or studying at. This means that you will no longer be able to get in touch with the person if they get a new job or graduate.

Sometimes you may want to keep in touch with many people, say the whole cohort of physics students who graduated with you. In this case, starting some sort of group will be your best option.

Some options include an email list and social media groups. There are many pros and cons for each of these options, so it will be up to you and those you want to keep in touch with to figure out what will work best.