A Note On Networking

I think with the time constraints many graduating MBAs encounter combined so many possibilities of different jobs, it's easy to forget that when it comes to networking, this rule really does prevail: "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again."

A month or so ago I met someone affiliated with a company I wanted to work for. We became friends through common interests. One day I asked for contact information of someone in the company so that I could get a foot in the door. Days go by, nothing sent. A few weeks later, follow up email. Nothing.

So I decide to visit the company myself and try to get a position. I march right up to the department I would like to apply to and ask if they have any positions open. I speak to a polite Catalan woman who looks me up and down, exudes a somewhat threatened vibe since I have experience with a competitor of theirs, and asks if I have a work permit for Europe.

Ahhh... that's where I always get caught. If only I could get my Italian passport....

She begrudgingly asks to leave my resume so that she could forward it through the system but I know what's really going to happen. I would probably never hear from her again. You see people decide if you are right for the company in the first 20 seconds of meeting you. Then the rest of the time is spent mentally trying to confirm this decision. I thought my dreams of working for this company were slim. But then something happened.

Serendipitously, I run into someone friendly. We exchange business cards. I give him some information he needs altruistically, then decide to ask if he knew any contacts within who can help me. He immediately forwards my request to a very nice lady, of Anglo Saxon decent like me, whom I feel sincerely would "see" my application, not just pass through it for protocol.

So the lesson here is as follows: with the multitude of applications we have these days, added to the pessimism over what is available due to the economy, we might try to quickly pass over opportunities which seem dim, in haste to quickly catch something else. Sometimes if we relax, what we truly want, and what is right for us, might just fall into our laps.

Or who knows, maybe this contact would lead to nowhere... but at least for now I've got something to hope for.