We’ve all heard of it – “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know!”

We’ve all seen it – That friend who always seems to fortuitously hear about jobs and land interviews through her unseen “connections”.

And believe it or not, we’ve all done it! – “Networking” is really just a fancy label for talking to people and building relationships.

Unfortunately, many of us also ignore it;we do so to our own detriment.

“Networking” is probably the most misunderstood activity related to job searching, but on top of that, it is almost certainly the most important one.  In fact, the majority of jobs (more than 80% by most estimates) are found in the informal or “hidden job market” , rather than through formal, online job postings.

Often though, when people come to see me for job search help, I am the one to bring up the topic of networking.  And more often than not, they react by wrinkling up their face as if they’ve just eaten a lemon, and respond with some combination of the following:

“I tried that, it doesn’t work”; “I don’t know enough people/I don’t know the right people”; “Why would anyone want to help me?”; “Networking is manipulative/nepotistic/unfair, and I won’t stand for that”; “I’m too shy or introverted to network”; or simply, “shove off, I hate networking!”

If you recognize yourself in any of these reactions, you are certainly in good company.  However, if you are known by, and your career success depends on the company you keep, it pays to examine these assumptions and find a way to make networking work for you.   ­­­­