Job Hunting Success: Who AND What You Know

I believe that finding success while job hunting is a combination of both who and what you know. It seems that the business world constantly says that networking is the holy grail to finding a job. While I do believe that to be true in some measure, I don't think that a person's individual qualifications should be overlooked.

In my own personal life, I have found great success in finding jobs on my own with the qualifications I possess. Five out of the seven jobs I have had are jobs I got completely on my own. After discussing this fact with my mother, I was told that perhaps my luck was because my jobs have been low, entry-level positions--not "real" careers. The thought I was left pondering was, "Should it make a difference whether or not I'm applying for a entry level position or a high-powered career? Networking is networking; skills are skills!"

According to job hunting experts, my train of thought is utterly wrong. That became apparent when I read the title to an article that said, "Job Hunting? It's NOT What You Know..." After receiving that little blow to my ego, I started to feel better about the article as I read it. It states, "Many companies promote from within or rely on referrals from current employees... Most of the best jobs are never advertised...Only about 30 percent are publicized through traditional channels."

So, it appears it is possible to get a job without networking--just not the BEST job. The article concludes, "So it seems that the best jobs go to the people who spend a lot of time networking and getting to know people in [an] organization. It may be true — but not for the reasons you thought." I agree.

Source: http://www.chiff.com/a/job-hunting.htm