November 25, 2011

Networking events: They're not for everyone

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Everywhere you look, you'll find networking events. In the Seattle area alone, you could spend every night of the week at mixers, meetups, job fairs, speed-networking seminars and all manner of relationship-building pow-wows taking place on both sides of the water.

But is attending networking events an indispensable part of modern job hunting? The answer is no.

While a great many individuals enjoy (and benefit from) large social gatherings, I truly believe there is a "silent majority" for whom these kinds of events are uncomfortable and anxiety-producing. Particularly difficult are those events of the pure networking variety, where the sole purpose seems to be for people to show up, with no real structure or agenda, hoping to spontaneously make friends and start influencing people.

If you've found yourself attending these kinds of functions and awkwardly standing against the wall, I've got a suggestion for you: Stop going. Instead, try going to "topical" events that relate to subjects that sincerely interest you -- on either a personal or professional level -- and where the agenda isn't entirely focused around schmoozing.

Perhaps you're into kayaking. Or politics. Or sustainability. Look around and you'll find a fascinating array of talks and presentations taking place around town on these niche topics, and hundreds of others, where the odds are you'll have a much more enjoyable experience.

The difference? For starters, you won't be sitting there (as I often do) needing to psych yourself up to talk with people or working hard to find common ground. Common ground will already exist, given that you share a passion with every other attendee.

Second, you'll be able to place your focus on enjoying yourself and learning new things, versus "keeping score" in terms of the number of people you meet or how many you trade business cards with.

Trust me on one other thing, too: You'll be less likely to beat yourself up when you're driving home, wishing you'd been more aggressive in your mingling efforts.

While the rise of networking-focused events is a great development, on the whole, just know that there's an alternative out there for those of us who lean toward the more introverted persuasion. A thousand terrific events focused around knowledge sharing take place every night. They might allow you to make some equally useful contacts -- and to be your more "authentic" self!

Matt Youngquist is the president and founder of Career Horizons, a career counseling and corporate outplacement firm. Email him at myoungquist@nwjobs.com.

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2 Comments

Debra Rincon Lopez on November 25, 2011 11:19 PM | Reply

Well that's supposed to be a good thing right? I guess that means the JOB MARKET is so wild still that we need EXUBERANT AMOUNTS OF JOBFAIRS Nowadays LOL?

NW Reader on November 28, 2011 3:50 PM | Reply

Agree and disagree.

Disagree that networking events aren't an indispensible part of modern job hunting. It's all about who you know, so unless you know dozens and dozens of people, it's probably unlikely that you're going to find work without actively seeking out others in a networking format.

Agree that the mega-networking events for the sake of networking are useless. They're about as effective as finding a good spouse by randomly visiting a bar every so often. This does not typically occur, nor are you likely to find a terrific job by mingling in a loud room of people you have nothing in common with.

Agree that networking is more painful for the introverted. I'm off to a networking opportunity this evening, and I find the thought off-putting! But I also know that I don't know dozens and dozens of people, so it's in my best interest to bite the bullet and go out and network. I am taking Matt's advice and going to an event that I find interesting (hopefully).

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