Check out Dan Schawbel’s short article titled Avoid networking with these bad business contacts. Dan lists the following:
- The user.
- The pessimist.
- The big talker.
- The self-promoter.
- The social climber.
I’m sure you can come up with your own list of types of people you can’t stand to network with. If you hate “networking,” perhaps it is because you are networking with the wrong people.
Can I share a secret I learned in my job search?
Network is (can be) FUN!
Once I figured out what networking was, how to do it and why to do it, I started to become genuinely interested in helping others. And that was fun. It was fulfilling. And my job search changed.
When my job search changed, my attitude changed. When my attitude changed, I saw more good stuff (people would introduce me to their network contacts…. no one wants to make an introduction to someone who is too down).
How is networking for you? Have you figured out how to have fun while networking?
Networking is a joke.
Last week, I had a tooth removed. They had to cut the tooth in half, then in quarters, and slowly work it out.
This week, I attended a networking “clinic”. I had more fun in the dentist’s chair.
What I find shocking is that there are people who are taken in by this phony b.s. And they’re allowed to vote.
To make my original point:
People to avoid – the user? Guess what, YOU’RE the user! You’re networking with this person to get a job!
The self-promoter? Isn’t that what networking’s supposed to be about? Promoting yourself and getting hired?
In other words, if you truly are judging people as users and self-promoters, you’re just being a damn hypocrite.