As the Corporate Relations team for the recent International Study Course trip to Hong Kong, we were responsible for developing strong relationships with companies in the region and setting up meetings for our class. As students from another country, it was often difficult to establish rapport with local professionals and companies. As a result, the process sometimes became demoralizing under the weight of hundreds of unread LinkedIn messages. Maintaining a positive outlook was not always easy, but with our strong team dynamics, we were able to arrange meetings through the use of structured approaches and professional materials.
Purposeful, yet abundant reach-out strategy
Wayne Gretzky once said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” — we decided to make this our mantra. For each company we sought to meet, we set a goal to reach out to at least 10 professionals who worked there. However, it was not as simple as increasing the number of reach-outs. Our strategy involved multiple waves — first, we began by reaching out to University of Waterloo alumni, then expanded our pool to Canadian university alumni, and finally, to all professionals. Throughout this process, we also emphasized building connections through recommendations we received from other professionals. This helped us build rapport and find companies that we would have a higher chance of setting up a meeting with.
Professional communication
The most challenging part of the reach-out process was establishing integrity with local professionals. It is extremely easy and reasonable to write off cold emails/messages as spam, which is why developing personalized and professional communications was incredibly important. Taking inspiration from past Corporate Relations teams, we created a supplementary information brochure to attach to each message. This brochure included detailed information about the School of Accounting and Finance, the International Study Course trip and photos of everyone involved in the 2025 trip to Hong Kong.
Light-hearted and candid team atmosphere
On the collaborative side of things, we tried to embrace our shortcomings and keep things very light-hearted. We created themed slide shows and games for the class, where we displayed all statistics related to our outreach. During one of our first classes of the term, we led a game with the rest of the class where each team had to guess the number of jellybeans inside two mason jars. At the end, we revealed that each jellybean represented someone who did not respond to us. This was our way of creating an enjoyable atmosphere where we faced our shortcomings together.
Takeaways
It is very easy to become demotivated after seeing hundreds of rejections. However, by developing a focused reach-out strategy, tackling our main issue of establishing rapport and being candid about our shortcomings, we were able to maintain positive attitudes and successfully book 12 meetings for our upcoming trip!
The experience we gained as part of the Corporate Relations team has not only helped us build lasting connections, but it has also taught us how to persevere when faced with unrelenting odds. The framework we used to make these connections, from developing information brochures to prioritizing a supportive team environment, is one we will continue to apply throughout our professional and personal journeys.