Orchid Win7 v1 <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> On 04/08/2012 09:09 PM, waggy wrote:
> > Darren New wrote:
> >> You know someone, and they recommend a position for you. If you were willing
> >> to move to where someone on p.o-t lives, there would probably be people
> >> offering you jobs based on what they know of you here.
> >>
> > This.  Looking back on it, most of the positions I've held, including those
> > while I was active duty in the military, I got through word-of-mouth referral,
> > despite the fact that I suck at networking.
>
> ...right... so given that I don't know anybody, I should just give up
> now? Is that what you're saying?

Absolutely not.  I have no intention of giving job-hunting advice here.  I suck
at finding a job even more than I suck at networking.  That's why I have an
interest in your saga.

I failed to find a job for a year after receiving my undergraduate degree in
civil engineering, that's why I'm back in school.  It didn't help that the
economy melted down shortly before I graduated, or that my best contacts in the
civil engineering department left or retired, some in disgrace.

I got my current position because, after being accepted into several graduate
programs, I went and talked with someone in each program to decide which to
attend.  While talking with the (then) chair of the mechanical engineering
department, he picked up the phone and called someone (now my advisor), leaving
a message along the lines of, "I have someone here who seems like a good fit for
that research position you have open."

Despite sucking at networking, that's how I landed my current position.  Strange
things happen.

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