Networking Concept Flogged to Death, but for a Reason
If you read anything about the job search process, career management, etc., you’ve undoubtedly heard the advice to “network.” It’s pretty much the one thing that every single person in the industry agrees on – you have to network to most effectively manage your career. I read a recent blog post entitled “Networking, networking, networking” and wondered – why only three iterations? OK, Ok, I didn’t really think that, but I could have, right?
I mean, if you want to sum up the entire job search process in a few phrases, one of them would certainly have to include networking, whether the “old school” variety of face to face meetings and phone conversations or the “Web 2.0″ version that includes utilizing LinkedIn, Twitter and even Facebook.
Now is when I admit that I am not very good at networking. Let me qualify that – I’m actually VERY good at networking, it’s just that I rarely feel like doing it. Sigh…
Luckily, I haven’t looked for a job in a long, long, long, long time (see…I went for 4 iterations). But business owners have to network too – or so I’ve been told – so what does one do when one either is bad at netwrking or simply doesn’t like doing it?
It’s a fair question. I don’t mean to stereotype, but I think that of all the professional types out there, “IT guys” are probably the most likely to not like networking. Give them a new “box” with a blazing-fast Xeon Quad Core, 16GB RAM and a 1TB hard drive with that spins at a 15,000 RPM rate and root access via secure shell and they’ll geek out all day. OK, I went a little nuts on this example, but if you’re thinking to yourself, “I’d like 16GB of RAM in my server” as you read this, then I’m talking to you. If hard drive RPMs is something you’ve never thought about…sorry, I’ll have to come up with a new analogy.
At any rate, let’s just assume you don’t like networking. Oh, and before I go on – my apologies to all the IT geeks out there who love and are good at networking (the social kind, not the “hooking up computers together” kind). I’m not trying to put you in a box or anything, it’s just that I feel like I can go there because it applies to me (though my chops aren’t really that of a geek – I’m more of a pseudo-geek, if you will). Alright, so that’s out of the way (wow, I really drank my coffee too fast today)…
Back on point, Matt…back on point.
So, you don’t like networking. What to do?
Do it anyway. EVERYONE is interested in something. And no matter how obscure, there are plenty of other people who are interested in the same thing(s). For example, I was out on Friday night one time, in Baltimore, drinking a32-oz. beer (don’t worry, I only had one…I promise). At any rate, I happened upon a girl I knew from school who was…how should I put this…attractive.
So, I bought her a drink (she preferred something more “refined” than the 32-oz. beer), she introduced me to her friends, I bought a round of drinks for them as well and asked them what they all “did.” Turns out, they worked at the second biggest advertising agency in the city. Hmmm…
I owned a web marketing company at the time, so in the midst of this Friday evening gallavanting, we talked shop for about 5 minutes before devolving back into raucous good “let’s forget the workweek” celebrating.
A week later, I sat in a restaurant with the director of interactive advertising with my partying friends’ boss. One month after that, my company closed a deal. A BIG one. So…what’s the moral of this story?
Clearly, the moral is to drink 32 ounce beers whenever you get a chance.
(pause)
Just kidding. The moral is that networking opportunities are like a box of choc…oh, never mind. The point is REALLY that networking can come in a lot of different packages. Stop thinking about it as networking and think about it as flirting with an attractive member of the opposite sex (or the same sex…I don’t care), talking about your fantasy football team or your new server with the sick specs. Just converse…
You never know what will happen after that, but one thing is for sure. NOTHING will happen if you don’t jump in.
We'd Love to Hear from You...