The Real Reasons for Networking


The Wall Street Journal
reports that 94 percent of successful job searches happen through networking. As John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas says, “Time and again people work very hard and are good at what they do, but they don’t know anybody. They put their heads down and spend no time developing social capital…. [As a result,] they have a hard time finding a job.”

Networking with people in and around your industry is the best way to:

 

  • Gain perspective on yourself and your career.
  • Learn about new or unpublished job opportunities.
  • Keep up to date with industry trends.
  • Meet and get to know your industry’s key players.
  • Learn about the problems in your industry, and the solutions people are developing.
  • Find out about the competition for the best job openings.
  • Learn about the new training you may need.
  • Discover ways to help others (who may someday be able to help you).

That’s the real reasons for networking.

Picture of Debra Benton

Debra Benton

D.A. (Debra) Benton has been helping great individuals and organizations get even better for over 20 years. Just as exceptional athletes rely on excellent coaching to hone their skills, Debra's clients rely on her advice to advance their careers. She focuses on what is truly important to convert what you and your organization want to be from a vision into a reality. TopCEOCoaches.com ranks her in the World's Top 10 CEO Coaches noting she is the top female. And as conference keynote speaker she is routinely rated in the top 2%. Her client list reads like a “Who's Who” of executives in companies ranging from Microsoft, McDonald's, Kraft, American Express, Merrill Lynch, United Airlines, and PricewaterhouseCoopers to the Washington Beltway and U.S.Border Patrol. *She is the author of ten award-winning and best-selling business books including The Virtual Executive and CEO Material. She has written for the Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek, and Fast Company. She has been featured in USA Today, Fortune, The New York Times, and Time; she has appeared on Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN, and CBS with Diane Sawyer. To learn more Debra advising leaders, coaching, facilitating a workshop, or speaking: www.debrabenton.com

TRENDING AROUND THE WEB

Psychology says people who apologise constantly for small things aren’t overly polite or neurotic — they often learned as children that keeping everyone else comfortable was their job, and that any tension in the room was somehow theirs to fix

Psychology says people who apologise constantly for small things aren’t overly polite or neurotic — they often learned as children that keeping everyone else comfortable was their job, and that any tension in the room was somehow theirs to fix

The Vessel

People who grew up in the 1970s often weren’t taught to name what they felt — which may be why so many of them still find action easier to offer than words

People who grew up in the 1970s often weren’t taught to name what they felt — which may be why so many of them still find action easier to offer than words

Global English Editing

Podcast advertising rates are climbing and YouTube just doubled its monetization bar – here’s why that might not be a coincidence

Podcast advertising rates are climbing and YouTube just doubled its monetization bar – here’s why that might not be a coincidence

The Blog Herald

“I’m sorry you feel that way” sounds like an apology, but research breaking down what makes an apology actually work found that phrases which avoid naming the offense or taking responsibility for it are consistently rated as less sincere, regardless of how sorry the tone sounds.

“I’m sorry you feel that way” sounds like an apology, but research breaking down what makes an apology actually work found that phrases which avoid naming the offense or taking responsibility for it are consistently rated as less sincere, regardless of how sorry the tone sounds.

Global English Editing

Arkansas’s own Democrat-Gazette is among nearly 400 local newspapers now suing OpenAI and Microsoft over claims their articles were scraped without permission to train ChatGPT and Copilot, and the case could set the terms for whether smaller blogs and digital publishers ever get compensated when their content trains someone else’s AI.

Arkansas’s own Democrat-Gazette is among nearly 400 local newspapers now suing OpenAI and Microsoft over claims their articles were scraped without permission to train ChatGPT and Copilot, and the case could set the terms for whether smaller blogs and digital publishers ever get compensated when their content trains someone else’s AI.

The Blog Herald

Overapologising isn’t always a sign of low confidence — sometimes it’s what happens when someone spent years in rooms where keeping the peace felt like survival

Overapologising isn’t always a sign of low confidence — sometimes it’s what happens when someone spent years in rooms where keeping the peace felt like survival

Global English Editing