How's your networking?

Working as a college professor, I spend lots of time talking with students about their future — what they might like to do and how to find the right path to get into it. Hardly anyone emerges from one of these conversations without the word “network” reverberating in their minds. Who do you know that works in this field and who might tell you what it's like? Who do you know who might know someone else in the field who could help identify an internship? What connection might I have through alums or business acquaintances? Who else on campus might I refer them to for leads or advice? Once we start looking at our collective networks, all kinds of connections turn up that could have been so easily overlooked. Of course it doesn't all have to be personal, although that can be especially valuable. We can start following pathways on an electronic network like the World Wide Web and by following a few links also identify useful resources and opportunities. This is networking, and it's almost essential to success in business, government, academia, and practically anything else. In fact, our very survival, let alone success, depends every day on networks: food distribution, electric power, communications, fuel, roads, even blood flow and nerve transmissions in our bodies. We're so tied up with so many networks that it can sometimes seem like a miracle that things run as smoothly as they do.