Bettering yourself, part 4: taking networking seriously.

Say you hear of a work opportunity that’s not for you, and are asked if you know someone who’s right for it, what are you going to do? Say no? You might, but it’s nice to help. Run a LinkedIn search or something? Probably not. Recommend someone you’ve met who is even tangibly applicable? I think so.

We like to think we know people, so it’s as much an opportunity for the networker to demonstrate networking as it is for the networkee to nab the job or whatever.

Human beings take connections to one another seriously. We need them to live. It’s not inherently bullshit that who you know helps. Who you know versus what you know is a mix, not a dichotomy—if you think it’s a dichotomy, I think you don’t know anyone or anything.

Here’s a very, very important point: having a personality is not a given. Creating a personality and maintaining it is hard work: it requires attention to one’s surroundings, pursuit of individual interests, personal humility, amongst many other factors. How many people do you know that I just described? Not that many, I’d guess. Proving you have a shred of personality puts you way ahead of the pack!