To be clear, I think there's quite a difference between kissing behind to get ahead and professional networking, and when I referred to networking, I meant the latter haha. And by networking I mean finding mentors and attending networking events with other professionals, etc. So for instance, when I was an unpaid intern at a firm, my boss put me in touch with a friend of his who worked in the field I wanted to work in and was a senior professional in that field. He invited me to his office and we had an hour long discussion on his experience and background and my experience and my background and he just gave me an endless slew of workplace advice, introduced me to his colleagues and became an important job reference for me. His advice led to me eventually getting a job, not that I knew him particularly. I had another friend/mentor who used to be my manager at one of my very first jobs, and when I was in interviews for my absolute dream job, I had texted him at very short notice to ask for some interviewing advice. He dropped everything to sit down with me for hours and go over every job interviewing trick in the book, and then at the end he thanked me for reaching out. I didn't end up getting that particular position, but both those guys were texting me with 'you'll get the next one!' messages and it meant a lot. I have another mentor, whom I met through a political networking event, who is my go-to for any sort of workplace advice. I've talked to her about workplace drama I've dealt with, and I went to her when I found out that my male colleague, who has less experience and less education than me, was making 15k more than I was. And she sat me down and said here's what you gotta do and gave me the pep talk that pushed me to do it (because man, asking for equal pay is terrifying, and I find as I get older, I'm getting less and less confrontational).
I do think people like helping where they can, especially when you're willing to work your lil' behind off - because I think, for the most part, everyone kinda feels like they've been there, you know? Most people have that time in their lives where they're sending out hundreds of resumes and no one's giving them a chance and the rejection can be so very disheartening. This is why I really don't think you really can boil down the value of networking to the question 'oh, what can you do for me?' because it's so much more than that. On the flip side, just two months ago, I had a university student reach out to me on LinkedIn and ask to meet for coffee - she wanted to get in my field, so of course I met with her. I mean, sure, it's flattering for a young person to reach out to you and want to pick your brain for tidbits of knowledge, but at the end of the day, my mentors have been so absurdly generous with their time and their kindness; I have *no* possible way to repay that kindness but by paying it forward. A practise of gratitude, I guess.
