My Old Blog

I’ve never been a big fan of “networking”, although I am told it is the greatest thing ever if you want to be successful and get a good job.

Essentially networking is where you meet people under the false pretense of friendship for the sole reason of finding out whether or not they can do anything for you.

In effect, networking has jargonized the process of making friends and reduced it to a utilitarian interaction.

Poopy on that!! What happened to “the art of meeting people simply because they might one day become your friend”?? It surely doesn’t have the same sterile ring to it as “networking” but I think it could be rewarding as well, perhaps more rewarding if one assumes people might actually enjoy the company of others for its own sake??

Anyway, I decided to network when I came to SF. This consists of calling anyone with whom I have even the remotest connection and asking them to catch dinner or have a drink. Then I talk for a few hours with a near stranger.

Guess what?? It is a ton of fun!! I love to go out to eat and I love to drink. And I’ve found that, because of all my hobbies and travels and interests and hang-ups, I always have something to talk about. If its with a girl, it sort of doubles as a date…which isn’t so bad either.

Additionally, I am very good at making strangers feel comfortable. Travelling teaches you that. You have to make new friends out of total strangers in a matter of hours or they’ll be gone to the next country before you’ve made a connection.

And networking has a ring of productivity to it. Hanging out with friends is what slackers do to avoid working. With networks you can “establish contacts”, “build relationships”, provide “customer service”, and engage in many other very official sounding activities.

So basically, I’ve turned getting drunk with new friends into something I can check off a to-do list as productive and time well-spent. Anyone think I’m just rationalizing what I wanted to do in the first place??

“Elliott, what did you do in SF?”

Answer 1: “I got drunk a lot and hung out with all the interesting people I met.”

Answer 2: “I spend most of my time networking, trying to find a job.”

Both answers are true.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 3rd, 2003 at 3:24 pm and is filed under Thoughts on Work. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.