How Important Is Career Networking?


By Tony Jacowski


At the outset, let’s accept that there is no such thing as an ideal candidate, and there is no employer who is ideal for everyone. Still, every time we see someone change his or her career or make an upward move, we say or at least think that he/she is brilliant and was the ideal candidate for the position and that the company is lucky to have hired him or her. But did the candidate really get lucky, or were they just smart?

Is Career Networking So Important?

Don’t have an iota of doubt about this in your mind: networking plays an important role in career moves. Despite having reasonably strong work experience and skills, lacking in networking abilities could jettison your chances in finding a good job. Your networking contacts can help you beat the competition and open the door to mostly unadvertised job openings through referrals. That the ‘Wall Street Journal’ claimed a couple of years ago that ‘94% of successful job seekers claimed that networking had made all the difference for them’ should go on to prove the point.

Let’s take a hypothetical case of a person in her middle age attempting a career change. The point of contention is not whether or not that person got a raise or a promotion. That worker was traveling to her job a distance of 12 miles every day for the last twelve years and she was beginning to develop frustrations about the employers and her job. However, she could not afford to just quit. She watched the classifieds of local newspapers and lodged her resumes with dozens of recruiters. She knew there were some companies closer to home, but she had been told that there were no vacancies that matched her job profile.

On a Sunday Mass at the local Church she bumped into her childhood friend. Sometime after a friendly exchange, the conversation tuned to her job situation. It turned out that her friend was working in one of those companies and she knew of one vacancy where she could fit in. What followed next is not of importance but this lady got a job at the company where she wanted to work.

In this day and age, savvy career networking is a must. By growing your network, you will have not only expanded your circle of friends but also work acquaintances who may be able to help you open new doors when you finally decide to change jobs or careers.


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