How much effort do you place in social interaction in college?

Rothion said:
Social interaction is just a waste of time. It's not worth it to waste time during education.

Cyanwasserstoff said:
We have even inside of the bachelor study subject many different group projects. So we are forced to work together, choose an leader for the group, someone who made the protocol of each meeting and all together before the project can even start made an "Plan of approach" with all risks, the project instruction, week planning to reach the goal ...

Mogu-sama said:
I participate!

If you're trying to be social (non-romantically) I'd suggest clubs and such

Rothion said:
Social interaction is just a waste of time. It's not worth it to waste time during education.

zoknimano said:
Working on people skills, exposing yourself to new things and building connections is hardly a waste of time.

YumeNoMonogatari said:
^
Well, it's not like there are no jobs for introverts :)

causeez said:

they will always choose the one they can go drinking with

PerfectScore said:
I was in a pretty social residence floor where everyone was chill with each other. I would argue we had the best don on the entire campus. Parties were a common occurrence at REV, and I never had many assignments, so a pinch more time spent doing that. I put the time to attend any event that could get me closer to big companies, such as hackWATERLOO. It paid off when I attended the AFM workshop made only for AFM students, and because I was able to to talk to the representative of a firm about ideas unrelated to AFM, I was referred to a different section of the his firm, and summer co-op for myself. CSClub and PMC helped me with a lot of my math work, but Ctrl-A (the anime club) was just watching anime, so I never went back.

Here's a message of encouragement and some tips for those who are either anti-social in university or college or plan on going to a good university:

If you plan on going to a school with a reputation of prestigious status and decide the best way to spend your time is to look yourself in a room, then you might as well have gone to a third-rate university (unless you plan on going into research). You don't go to Harvard because their business program can teach you how to be successful, you go there because there are a lot of people there you can connect with, smart, rich or powerful. This is especially important for business or financial programs, where social interaction creates leverage for you to potentially landing a good job early on in your career.

For many universities in programs related to engineering, science, or just about anything technical, universities set up a workshop where students present an idea or blueprint, and people from other big companies come and find anything that interests them. Similarly, business/accounting programs generally have a similar thing where representatives of big companies including the Big Four come by and students do their best to suck up and build connections. If you are participating in any of these workshops, put effort into making a good impression of yourself, and make sure what you are presenting is not crap. If your university is hosting a workshop featuring multiple companies to presenting ideas, go there and make them like you.

At the most basic, university residences exist for you to meet other people on the floor, but of course YMMV. If your floor isn't working out, meet someone from another floor (via the cafeteria or guy next to you in class). There's also frosh week where people are separated into groups of their own programs. Chances are you will be seeing a few of them in classes, so talk to them.

Assuming you don't have the money to pay for residence and your school is fifth-tier and has absolutely no resources with regards to presentation of ideas, you can put effort in searching for events like this where you can compete. MLH hackathons usually have dozens of company reps who check up on different hackers, and when given the chance, you can impress. Find an internship if you don't have co-op or a form of professional development system at your school. Join the voice of the student body or the anime club, make an one if you don't have it, make a club pertaining to what you study, anything. Go to sex bingo nights (and keep 3+ seats open), join the Facebook group and set up study times, everything that involves social interaction and not embarrassing yourself is a good thing. Doing an iClicker question? Talk to people around you about finding the answer. Immediately afterwards, people will find you more approachable.

Many schools (especially in the higher tiers) put effort for you as students to being able to connect with top companies so you can have a good job, and maintain their reputation. The key thing they emphasize is connections, connections, connections.

katsucats said:
after you get a job the pool of people they interact with on a daily basis will drastically shrink for the rest of their lives.

wanderingplayboy said:
All the advice in this thread remind me of my old college days when everyone said socializing, networking, and stuff were important. But naaah.

Sure, knowing some important people helps you to get a job. Sure, having experience with clubs, organizations, and all helps your CV look nicer. But, you get hired because of your own skill, afterall. If social skill matters, then what counts is the one that happened in your workplace (your sense of responsibility, your work ethics, your team work, etc), not what happened in the college.

Not all people who are popular in the college become sucessful either. I know some people who were focused their college life on what-so-called socializing, but actually they were just trying to make excuse of their lack of effort to study. Not that all people who put effort in social interaction are just like that but yah, don't let it make you forget your priority.

causeez said:


There's a saying in the employment field that says something along the lines of: "If a person looking to hire someone else had to choose between two people of equal skill/requirement, they will always choose the one they can go drinking with".

Being social and confident is very important for jobs. It's not just something that stops after school. That's a very common misconception.

Plus networking during college is important because you can meet people that could possibly land you a job in the future. It's not about what you know, it's about who you know.

Rothion said:
No they'll just hire the guy who works for less money.

Feyfray said:


"Well, it didn't apply to me so obviously the advice is shit."

Nothing applies to everyone (lol)

wanderingplayboy said:
Mine applies to everyone.

causeez said:


You haven't worked many jobs, have you?

Paying potential employees less money isn't a case for reputable businesses. It's more about what person would make them more money in the long run and who can do the job the most efficiently as an individual, which plays into the skills of the individual. Then, like I said, if two people who are equally skilled both apply, the person who is more outgoing and well liked or even well connected (recommendations from other people within the company), will get the job.

Rothion said:
I only worked one job, quit three months ago because I was getting good enough at daytrading and had enough money to stop working. A friend of mine is an employer and we discussed something similiar a while ago and he said he would always hire the one who works for less if two potential employees had the same amount of competence. Sometimes getting employees working for a low salary is even more important to the employer than competence. While I may agree that it could be easier to get a job when you have good connections that's not the deciding factor.

causeez said:


How do people in the workplace know you're qualified to do the job both skillfully and socially? Skillfully through education, socially through connections and interviews. Connections most likely made through colleges.

There's two things that get you hired, not just one.

Both are needed.

You're just scrapping "social behavior" and "networking" into a category of people who went to parties instead of studying and ended up flunking out. And that's not true at all. Networking can simply be talking to your professor about his research for a company.

Focusing on studying and networking, opposed to just one, will leave you in better hands for job prospects.

causeez said:


So in other words, you're self employed trying to make subjective remarks on working for someone else with little experience in it?

Oh my.

Rothion said:
Not subjective since I discussed it with an employer.

wanderingplayboy said:
Connection plays a part, but not at the level that it secures you a successful life after graduating. Recruitment process isn't limited to send the CV then the interview. There are some steps that require your social skill like, group discussions, training program, and such, especially in a big company.

And no, I didn't interpret networking as something like that. It's just that I think connections/social networking through college is... overrated.