networking

I may have posted about the importance of networking before, but I'm about to return to the concept with a fresh perspective.

In the past, I've logically accepted the importance and practicality of networking while maintaining an intense hatred of it. It makes sense in my head. Why would you bother hiring some ruffian off the street when you can hire someone you know personally, who will undoubtedly do a good job? Yet, I still hated doing it because I felt dirty for having such self-interested motives. I'm all about looking at the whole picture and forging mutually beneficial transactions. I'm an economist, what can I say? (I've always wanted to use that line -- "I'm an economist, of course such and such.)




I'm just not a fan of when people game the system, and it's largely because I am fairly anti-social. I don't like fake people. I don't like small talk. I like to talk straight talk, and I like to meet genuine people who share the same interests. If you put me into a room with a bunch of people like that, I'd have absolutely no problem with networking. What I don't like is being at the mercy of a person with a supposed "higher status" and therefore more power than me. I like being in charge and knowing what I'm doing, to a greater degree than most, I suppose.

So I guess what it comes down to is who I want to meet. If I want to meet cool people, then networking is fine. If I go into an event under the pressure of having to find some high-ranking execs who I will con into giving me a job, I just can't stand it.

As far as the importance of maintaining connections goes, I believe in that, too, which is why yesterday I spent a good hour writing e-mails to a few of my former professors. Admittedly, I was also extremely bored because all of my friends decided that they are too busy to talk to me now. Thus, I sought gossip from my old professors. It doesn't really matter now, does it? What's a few e-mails now and then? It's not like I'm going to be bumping into these people on the street anytime soon. Plus, now that I've sent over 200 e-mails in three weeks, I've realized that in the business world, a single e-mail is basically inconsequential. (If you recall, I dubbed what I've been doing over the past few weeks "cold e-mailing.") On the bright side, it takes up a lot less time than cold calling, and it's more socially acceptable since no response is required per se. People can just ignore you or let you know that they're not interested and it's totally cool).

I can't believe I asked my professors for gossip, not exactly like that, but essentially.

#newlow