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Networking
Aug. 23rd, 2013 07:47 pmDid you know that you can send people e-mails requesting thirty minutes of their time and they'll just, like, talk to you? Even if you have nothing to offer in exchange but punctuality and gratitude?
This week, as part of my job hunt, I've had in-person meetings with high management people at the newspaper, the museum, and the city government -- none of which have any openings at all. The conversations have had varying degrees of usefulness1, but the point is, nobody said, "What qualifications do you have for taking up my time like that?" or "I can't hire you, so let's not waste our time."
About a third of the people I contacted never got back to me; the rest all said yes.
Sometimes I complain about having gone to journalism school. I do think that for a person who hates talking to strangers and doesn't like to have people mad at her, journalism was maybe not the very best career choice. But when it comes to being prepared to just contact people out of the blue, it sure has been helpful.
This week, as part of my job hunt, I've had in-person meetings with high management people at the newspaper, the museum, and the city government -- none of which have any openings at all. The conversations have had varying degrees of usefulness1, but the point is, nobody said, "What qualifications do you have for taking up my time like that?" or "I can't hire you, so let's not waste our time."
About a third of the people I contacted never got back to me; the rest all said yes.
Sometimes I complain about having gone to journalism school. I do think that for a person who hates talking to strangers and doesn't like to have people mad at her, journalism was maybe not the very best career choice. But when it comes to being prepared to just contact people out of the blue, it sure has been helpful.
1 Kind but not so useful: "You should be secretary for my church." "Are there this many hills where you come from?" "You should totally be secretary for my church." "Why not remove this whole section of your resume and just say you can do anything and everything?" "Our dream employees have X, Y, and Z incredibly specific and arcane characteristics/backgrounds, so I don't know what to tell you." Extremely useful: "Uh-huh, uh-huh, you're saying project manager but that skill list also sounds like developmental editor to me, or possibly marketing coordinator. Hang on -- I'll send a couple of former co-workers an e-mail and see if they'll talk to you."