Making Meaningful Connections: Delving into KLU's Networking Club
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Success, we’re often reminded, hinges on who rather than what you know. And while social media provides huge scope for expanding professional networks, face-to-face meetings with potential business partners and employers are far more difficult to arrange. With this challenge in mind, KLU student club UniKonnect was established in 2017 and, seven years later, is still going strong. UniKonnect co-leads Paul Scharlau and Florian Kühn, both Bachelor of Business Administration students, explain how the club brings students and companies together, their motivations for joining, and its plans for the future.
What is UniKonnect and what activities is it involved in?
Paul: We’re a student initiative of about 15 members aiming to bridge the gap between students and companies by organizing two to four small events each semester. At these events, which take place both on campus and at external locations such as restaurants and have anywhere between five and 50 or 60 participants, company representatives make short presentations and answer student questions. Afterwards there’s usually a get-together, which allows firms to get to know KLU students better and students also have the chance to introduce themselves. We’ve just had an event with international consulting firm Retail Capital Partners on campus and are in conversation with some companies about our next one.
Florian: Our events are also an opportunity to discuss skill sets that are in high demand, such as cross-cultural communication skills. These discussions are not only theoretical, but often offer practical advice on how students can develop these skills and adapt to trends through courses, internships, or other extracurricular activities.
What motivated you to become members of UniKonnect?
Florian: I joined because I wanted to connect to companies and help give KLU students insights into both the corporate world and trends in various industries. Trends such as the shift towards sustainable business practices or the growing importance of data analytics in decision-making.
Paul: What motivated me is event organization. UniKonnect more-or-less has a flat hierarchy, and, unlike other clubs, if you organize a UniKonnect event you are basically alone in doing it. Of course, the rest of the club is there to help, but it's mainly one or two people that organize an event. They have to introduce UniKonnect to a firm and convince that company to take part in an event. Once they've done that, they have to find a date for it, create registration links, advertise the event and look at the number of people that will attend. So, you are kind of in a team, but you also have to do everything alone at the same time, so it's an adventure of sorts.
What skills do you think being part of UniKonnect has helped you develop?
Paul: You have to step out of your comfort zone and contact and a third-party firm that you have never met before. There’s the skill of learning to deal with companies saying no to you.
I think it is quite good to know that people will say no, that the rejection number is quite high, but you can’t take it personally.
Florian: Exactly, it is also part of learning about what companies want, which comes back in a normal sales process. Therefore, it is important to communicate the benefits companies also have from coming onto campus: direct contact to a pool of talented students ready to enter the workplace.
What are club’s plans for the future?
Florian: At the moment, UniKonnect primarily runs seminars, workshops, and guest lectures, but we are enthusiastic about introducing more interactive and immersive formats. One such format is a case study competition, where students can apply their knowledge to solve real-world business problems. Another format we’re interested in is a mentorship program, which would pair students with industry professionals for one-on-one guidance. In the future we also hope to connect to more companies and build an even stronger network.