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What sort of questions should you ask professors to establish a relationship?

If I am attending office hours, what types of conversations and questions will allow us to establish a personalized connection that can be useful for recommendations and career advice in the future? #career #college #professors #networking #relationship-building

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Ken’s Answer

A good start is to get to know yourself better and develop a familiarity of how your personality traits fit with various career areas and then do networking to get to know your career area of interest through various networking means concentrating on interpersonal communication which allows for two way dialogue.


Getting to know yourself and how your personality traits relate to people involved in various career opportunities is very important in your decision making process. During my many years in Human Resources and College Recruiting, I ran across too many students who had skipped this very important step and ended up in a job situation which for which they were not well suited. Selecting a career area is like buying a pair of shoes. First you have to be properly fitted for the correct size, and then you need to try on and walk in the various shoe options to determine which is fits the best and is most comfortable for you to wear. Following are some important steps which I developed during my career which have been helpful to many .

Ken recommends the following next steps:

The first step is to take an interest and aptitude test and have it interpreted by your school counselor to see if you share the personality traits necessary to enter the field. You might want to do this again upon entry into college, as the interpretation might differ slightly due to the course offering of the school. However, do not wait until entering college, as the information from the test will help to determine the courses that you take in high school. Too many students, due to poor planning, end up paying for courses in college which they could have taken for free in high school.
Next, when you have the results of the testing, talk to your academic advisor, your pertinent teachers and professors, and the person at your high school and college who tracks and works with graduates to arrange to talk to, visit, and possibly shadow people doing what you think that you might want to do, so that you can get know what they are doing and how they got there. Here are some tips: ## http://www.wikihow.com/Network ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/nonawkward-ways-to-start-and-end-networking-conversations ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/4-questions-to-ask-your-network-besides-can-you-get-me-a-job?ref=carousel-slide-1 ##
Locate and attend meetings of professional associations to which people who are doing what you think that you want to do belong, so that you can get their advice. These associations may offer or know of intern, coop, shadowing, and scholarship opportunities. These associations are the means whereby the professionals keep abreast of their career area following college and advance in their career. Here are some tips: ## https://www.careeronestop.org/BusinessCenter/Toolkit/find-professional-associations.aspx?&frd=true ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/9-tips-for-navigating-your-first-networking-event ##
It is very important to express your appreciation to those who help you along the way to be able to continue to receive helpful information and to create important networking contacts along the way. Here are some good tips: ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/the-informational-interview-thank-you-note-smart-people-know-to-send?ref=recently-published-2 ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/3-tips-for-writing-a-thank-you-note-thatll-make-you-look-like-the-best-candidate-alive?bsft_eid=7e230cba-a92f-4ec7-8ca3-2f50c8fc9c3c&bsft_pid=d08b95c2-bc8f-4eae-8618-d0826841a284&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_20171020&utm_source=blueshift&utm_content=daily_20171020&bsft_clkid=edfe52ae-9e40-4d90-8e6a-e0bb76116570&bsft_uid=54658fa1-0090-41fd-b88c-20a86c513a6c&bsft_mid=214115cb-cca2-4aec-aa86-92a31d371185&bsft_pp=2 ##
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Vivek’s Answer

When you want to establish a good relationship with a teacher you should be willing to pay interest in the subject that the teacher is dealing with. Not only paying interest but also being proactive about the topics that he is going to take up in his class.

When you like a subject the doubts arise in your mind about the different topics that you have learnt. Br yourself and open up to your teach about what you feel and what is it that you are stuck with.

Getting a teacher to like you may open an opportunity for your teacher to help you better grades. Perhaps you just want your teacher to cut you some slack? Maybe you want to be a bright spot in their day, without the stigma of being the teachers pet. You might also want them to like you so that you'll be noticed. 

More than asking questions about the subject you might want to be good as a student. Teachers appreciate well behaved students and tend to have a corner side for them even if they mess up. Teachers will give you a second chance and would love to get to know you and help you improve. Most of the times you dont have to try to get the teacher to like you. It just happens. :)

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Kiara’s Answer

First of all, I think you should definitely take a direct interest in the contact that your professor is teaching you. I would ask critical questions (How's? Why's?). This will let you professor know that not on are you actively listening to the content, but you genuinely care about the content and seek to better understand it as well.

If you are also interested in the subject matter, don't be afraid to ask more personal questions to your professor as to what made the interested in their specific career field/content. Why are they passionate about their fields? What were the steps they took to becoming a professor? Who or what inspired them? In my experience, professors are always open and even excited to share their journey's with their students, so don't be afraid to ask!
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Neville’s Answer

It all depends on what the course is about. Asks questions that lets your professor know that you are interested in the subject and want a deeper understand.
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