Social Capital and Me: It’s Not Always What You Know, But Who You Know.
This is part one of our “Social Capital and Me” series. Check back in the coming weeks for more stories from ESG staff about how social capital has impacted their experiences navigating the education to career pathway.
Ever since I can remember, my mom encouraged me to build relationships with adults at church, at school, and in my community. She’d always tell me that I’d never know who I would meet, who they knew, and what I could learn from them. She emphasized the importance of talking about myself and my interests, which helped me establish relationships with those around me and seek advice about my education. At the time I didn’t know it, but the guidance from my mom and my comfort with cultivating relationships would be crucial in developing what I now know as social capital.
In college, I was uncertain about my major or career path. I had always been someone who had a plan and stuck to it up to this point; but, choosing my career was different. I struggled to envision my future, and what I wanted to do. This uncertainty led to an identity crisis in my junior year. I began reaching out to professors for guidance, and they helped me explore my options and introduced me to professionals in my prospective fields of interest. I learned to understand myself, clarify what was important to me, and communicate my goals so others could help me figure things out. Eventually, I connected with someone who introduced me to the field of education policy after discussing my desire to impact education on a systemic level. This process highlighted the significance and power of building social capital—I could utilize my contacts to expand my career opportunities.
From that point, I became more intentional about building connections, focusing on identifying people in my desired field who worked on issues I cared about—and those who shared my background—and building relationships. When applying to education policy graduate programs, I reached out to Black professors and graduate students at each school. These connections proved more valuable than orientation sessions and helped me build a professional community and support system.
“When applying to education policy graduate programs, I reached out to Black professors and graduate students at each school. These connections proved more valuable than orientation sessions and helped me build a professional community and support system.”
Now that I was confident in building relationships and recognized how that could benefit me personally and professionally, I decided to incorporate a networking strategy to expand my social capital. I began researching organizations that aligned with my interests and values and identified contacts that I wanted to reach out to. I created a template for an introductory email, developed and practiced an elevator speech, wrote down my interests and aspirations, and had a list of questions that I would ask each contact. I started to take LinkedIn more seriously and utilized the platform to search for contacts and find common interests to use for networking meetings that I scheduled with them.
Networking became (and still is) an invaluable part of my career journey, especially since I am still figuring out what I want to do. During graduate school, all of my internships were made possible in part because I connected with someone at the organization before applying. The seeds of what has now become a fruitful internship experience with ESG were planted after I had informational interviews with staff.
I credit part of my career fulfillment and success to the individuals who were willing to respond to an email or LinkedIn message and invest their time in me. Some introduced me to a new organization or even a new contact. Others provided insights into the field of education policy from a unique perspective that spoke to my experiences as a Black woman.
I recognize that career and educational opportunities are harder to obtain due to systemic barriers, which is why a strong network can be the key to unlocking them. Racially, socially, and economically diverse leaders are needed to leverage their influence and expertise to create support systems serving students of all backgrounds. Students need to see themselves represented in their prospective fields and connect with people from similar backgrounds who can help open doors for them. Social capital facilitates opportunities that are often inaccessible, and sometimes historically exclusive to certain populations.
As a recent ESG landscape scan found, school systems and their partner organizations know the value of social capital but have not yet figured out how to integrate it into their college and career pathways. Our Cultivating Connections framework assists education leaders in implementing strategies to help students build skills to expand their social capital. Guidance and support are needed to equip all students with the knowledge and skills to build and maintain social connections. Goal-setting and postsecondary planning are other components of helping students figure out their path and form connections to help them get there. My story exemplifies the power of learning such skills. I was fortunate enough to have a mom who encouraged me to build my social capital, but that isn’t the case for all students. We should continue working to ensure that all students, regardless of race or socioeconomic status, receive the foundational guidance and encouragement that I did. In a world where opportunities are heavily influenced by who you know, it is my hope that ESG’s thought partnership and collaboration expand access for students by building lifelong connections that are necessary to fulfill their college and career aspirations.
