the power of networking

It is February, and you are in the middle of your second semester of your Freshman year in college. The weekend has arrived and you have a little breather to hang out with some school friends and get a few chores out of the way, like grocery shopping or making sure your dorm room or apartment is clean enough to pass the monthly management or landlord inspection.

You may also be thinking about where you are going to find a job this summer so that you can save some additional money to help pay tuition and expenses for next year (your parents would certainly appreciate that).
That's where a little networking can go a long way.

So what is networking, you ask? Actually, you do it all the time, without even thinking about it or planning for it. You do it when you link up with friends on Myspace or Facebook and share experiences, build or start new relationships and drop some tips about where to find a great iPhone (if you can afford it) or a great deal on a pair of shoes. It means connecting with people who can connect you with other people who can connect you with a valuable service or..........a good job. Have you ever heard someone say "Oh, she (or he) just got the job because of her (or his) connections"? For those of you who think that the best things are awarded only to the fittest or best qualified or smartest, this is a dose of reality. This is not to say that the fittest or best qualified or smartest don't get their awards. They most often do. What it says is that pure merit is only part of the picture -- especially in a world that is becoming increasingly more competitive. Where there is a "genius" or a "star", there is a higher "genius" or brighter "star" somewhere who wants the same thing. In a world like this, often the connection of friends or acquaintances or associates can make all the difference between getting the job or not getting the job. That is the power of networking.

Here is a recent case in point. It is representative of many similar instances throughout the employment world:

Alice (the name is fictional but the story is real), is a student who is finishing up her third year of college. It is a decent college, but it doesn't approach Ivy League by any measure. Her grades up to this point are mediocre at best. She is the daughter of a man who is a good friend of a neighbor who is employed in a key executive position in a Federal agency. This key executive has known Alice for most if not all of her life, as their families grew up next to each other. He knew something about her, although perhaps nothing about her academic performance. She needed a summer job to save money for school beginning the following Fall. The key executive, who was also in a position to make decisions about how many summer job vacancies his employing agency could open up during the summer, knew she needed a job. He had a clerical opening to fill on a temporary basis through the Federal Government's Student Temporary Employment Program ("STEP"). These are positions that can be filled without any required public notice or applicant competition. She was directly hired into that position for the summer.

During the summer, she proved herself to be a good performer and the agency had an opportunity to fill another position after the summer under another legal hiring authority that provided for conversion to permanent full-time career employment after graduation, again without the need to open the position vacancy up for competition. She was placed into that position on a part-time basis while completing her last year of college. After graduation, the employment was converted to a permanent career position after successfully fulfilling her education requirements and on-the-job performance requirements. She is regarded as a good performer and an asset to the unit to which she was assigned.

The point in the above case is that many similar positions in the Federal Government are filled through a competitive process by individuals with far higher GPAs and with academic subject matter backgrounds that one might consider far more qualifying. The difference in her case is that she was a known quantity to an individual who was in a position of authority to make things happen.

What does this mean for you? This means socialize, join clubs or associations related to your career and academic/subject interests, contact friends of your parents or other relatives who are doing what you would like to do in the future and ask questions or show an interest in what they do. It could go a long way toward giving you that edge you need to land that job or career you have been dreaming about.

That is the power inherent in knowing people.

That is the power of networking.