27 Building Connections and Networking

The people I know that have gotten the best professional jobs are those with extensive personal connections. Through their personal connections they were able to create a vast professional network, and through these connections they were informed of job openings before they were posted and had clear advantages in the interview process due to existing relationships.

For many employers it is far easier to hire someone you already know who has a solid reputation and produces good work than it is to wade through a stack of resumes, decide whom to interview, conduct interviews, and ultimately hire someone you hope has a strong work ethic and can produce quality work.

I know of one company, specifically, to which you cannot apply if you do not have a recommendation from an existing employee. I am sure that many others do the same. The reason being that companies are looking to create a strong culture. They want to make sure that new employees fit in with the existing status quo, how better to ensure this than to have current employees prescreen future employees for you? Further, if someone is willing to stake their professional reputation on a new hire, chances are they firmly believe the person they recommend will be strong in this position.

Education, work experience, the ability to interview, and your resume and cover letter, are still important to securing a good job, but ultimately, it really does often come down to who you know.

One of my favorite stories to share is about a former student who moved back to her hometown after graduation. Although she was very talented, she chose to return to a small town rather than working her connections in the city where she earned her degree. Often a small town does not have many employment opportunities, and even less in one specific field. As a recent public relations graduate, with an impressive resume and several internships under her belt, my former student was finding it difficult to find a job in a small community.

As she was looking for her career position, she was working a part-time job that wasn’t in her field to make her ends meet. On weekends she would do what she normally would do, go to concerts, hang out with friends, and give back to the community by volunteering at a local food bank.

One Saturday when she was volunteering at the food bank putting together food baskets for local residents, she spent the day working alongside a woman she had never met before. Throughout the day they made small talk and developed a good rapport. At the end of the day the topic of the student’s education and employment came up and my former student shared that she was a recent graduate with a public relations degree and a love of music. She chatted about her internship experiences at the local community arts center and in Los Angeles. The woman was stunned, already impressed with the young woman she was excited to share that she worked at the local theater, and they were looking to bring in someone to bring in music acts, build community connections, market their events, and essentially run their public relations. The job wasn’t posted yet, but she asked the young woman to send her a copy of her resume.

Needless to say, the young woman was brought in for an interview the following week and it was a friendly reunion between the two women that ultimately led to a nice career position for the recent graduate.

But the story doesn’t stop there. This former student continued to network and use her connections to find her next job. I heard through the grapevine that after working at the local theater for a couple of years she had moved on to run the public relations for a 714,000 square foot arena in a large city. She ended up bringing in acts like Elton John, Pink, Justin Timberlake, Peter Gabriel, and Lil Wayne. But the most interesting part? I found out that her new boss was also from the same small town as the former student. Was this a coincidence? Based on what I know of the student it is safe to assume that she used her existing connections in her small community to yet again propel herself into a career position.