Networking works

Last night, I went to a career reception that was jointly hosted by the local chapter of the Special Libraries Association and our library school. It was a wonderful event--lots of time to talk over food and beverages, resume reviews, and a panel discussion about the hiring process in three different types of libraries. And it got a huge turn-out--I'd guess at least fifty people.

I didn't know many of the people who came which brought up an interesting question among those of us who know each other well because we are always networking. Why aren't all these people showing up at our Saturday morning journal discussions, our student happy hours and parties, or SLA's other events? Those activities work well for career building, too, even when they don't have "career" in the title. I have two recent cases to prove the point.

Remember that job I didn't pursue? When I told the employer I wasn't interested, I also gave them the name of a classmate who I knew was interested. I knew because she told me about a year ago that working for this agency was her dream job. The only reason we had that conversation is because she showed up for a study group meeting during our gov docs class. If we hadn't had that conversation, I would never have thought of her when this opportunity came up. My classmate got that job and is starting her professional career this month, more than a year before she will complete her MLS!

Last week, a part-time job, perfect for a student, came up on the SLA email list. A fairly new student in our program got that job within hours of its announcement. She had shown up to a couple of our library student events. A student on the SLA list thought of her and connected her with the employer. It happened so fast that the job never appeared on the jobs email list for students.

In both of those cases, it was a student who was the connector between the employer and the new hire. Don't discount the networking power of a group of students. Maybe each one of us only has a few connections to the professional world, but by networking among ourselves and together with professional librarians, that network grows and grows.

Want some ideas on how to make those connections as a student? Take a look at these two posts I wrote in the summer, MLS Success, pt. 3--Making Connections and MLS Success, pt. 4--Where to Make Connections.     #

June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007