"networking opportunities"

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SF
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Post by SF »

p. 8 - I really like that quote about friend relations becoming acquaintances or just "networking opportunities."
It really struck home for me. Although I'm an INTJ/INTP, I do enjoy friendly conversations; it's just that I get enough of people during the workdays. My coworkers are mostly great folks, but I need my weekends to recharge. And so non-work relationships suffer.


mikeBOS
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Post by mikeBOS »

I wrote about "networking opportunities" a while back as well: http://lackingambition.com/?p=301
They've disgusted me from the moment I first heard people talking about them. Reducing the beauty of potential friendships and genuine connections with fellow human beings to mere chances to take advantage of someone. It takes the deep and genuine and turns it into something shallow and insincere. People who only got to know others in order to use them use to be called sycophants and leaches and were to be despised. Now 'career counselors' urge everyone to emulate them. It's sickening.


jacob
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Post by jacob »

It's kinda how blogging is turning into SEO-writing, paid (but secret) link-exchanges, and affiliate-marketing. As an old-school blogger it's getting hard to ignore these things and not feeling like I should be doing something that I feel is somewhat immoral---as in not providing ultimate value to my readers rather than myself. In any case it's frustrating to see how average content can be sold quite successfully using the right forms of web2.0 manipulation.


HSpencer
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Post by HSpencer »

Networking opportunities are natural happenings that should just fall into place without any planning. You have a need; To do something, to know something, to get something fixed, To get into somewhere.

We all wind up with a large group of sidebar acquaintances through our being somewhere and doing things. My friendly UPS delivery man gives me his cell phone number and I can get him to drop by the house and pick up things rather than me hauling them to the UPS depot. My plumber got me a great deal on a used collector classic shotgun. My banker calls me in to see repossessions on bank property for peanuts on the dollar. A fellow American Legion friend calls me needing information on a subject. On and on. This is an aspect of networking. A friend of mine calls a friend of his, and what someone needs is taken care of. Soon, through networking, you know a lot of people through other people. It is the way of things. Most of the lucky breaks of my life came this way. Someone advised me or helped me to get something or somewhere. Or maybe just pointed me in a direction. No one was trying to use anyone. Often we help someone in great ways, in simple friendship, or off handed conversation, without ever knowing we did it.


mikeBOS
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Post by mikeBOS »

"Networking opportunities are natural happenings that should just fall into place without any planning."
I agree completely. The problem is that's not what people who plan 'networking events' have in mind. They make it artificial.
When you have genuine acquaintances and friends networking opportunities naturally follow from those. But these event coordinators want people to jump straight to the benefit of having friends and acquaintances but without the trouble of having to, you know, actually make a real friend. It reeks of insincerity.
Perhaps you're lucky enough to not have had to deal with these. But in professional schools and business events for 20 and 30-somethings EVERYTHING is promoted as a 'networking event' and time is set aside to 'network'. Rather than just schedule a 20 minute break during a seminar, instead they schedule 'networking time'. Rather than lunch, it's a 'networking lunch'. It's pervasive. A simple beer with a colleague becomes a 'networking opportunity'. With every moment set aside for everyone to try to 'network' with me for the sake of their careers, when am I suppose to actually make a real friend within my field? Or know when someone is laughing at my joke because it's funny rather than that they want to make a good impression in case I ever become their boss?
The only place to make a genuine friend and build a real connection that will last and, yes, possibly lead to future opportunities as well, is anywhere BUT a networking event.


HSpencer
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Post by HSpencer »

@MikeBOS
Probably same tune, different era.
We used to call those "Breakout Sessions". During these, you were supposed to mingle with folks you had never met and try and make them think you were smarter than them.


jacob
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Post by jacob »

Networking for the sake of networking is like building a house without a foundation. There's no substance to it. You can see how "network-networking" is taking over linkedin, when people have 6000 connections. 95% of those are not actual connections, just noise. It's the professional equivalent of link-farms. The idea is to get something for nothing.


Kevin M
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Post by Kevin M »

"Old-school blogger"....nice, I wonder if that's the first recorded usage of that term.
I agree with HSpencer, networking should be natural - a friend of a friend hears you need something and puts you in touch with his contact.
I actually joined a business networking group for work to jump-start finding new clients. I've been in about 2 months now and it has already yielded results. We meet weekly and get to know each other pretty well and pass business. It is a good fit for me being naturally introverted but needing to bring in my own clients to get my business going. Anyone else have experience with something like this?


Stahlmann
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Re:

Post by Stahlmann »

jacob wrote:
Fri Dec 03, 2010 6:25 am
Networking for the sake of networking is like building a house without a foundation. There's no substance to it. You can see how "network-networking" is taking over linkedin, when people have 6000 connections. 95% of those are not actual connections, just noise. It's the professional equivalent of link-farms. The idea is to get something for nothing.
:lol:

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