Networking

If there is one piece of crucial information that I would give to youngsters these days, then it would be to network. Meet and talk to every single person that you possibly can in life. There will be some people that you will run into that you might not think are that significant, but every person in this world brings something different and unique to the table. I have found it to be very easy for me to network in life because I am a very open and friendly person who likes to meet others. I have no problem joining into an existing conversation if I see it working for my own betterment.

Networking is something that I have long had a natural ability to do, but it wasn't until recently that I realized that such things don't just happen by chance. In a book that was bought for me by my ex-girlfriend's mother as a Christmas gift, When God Winks, I have found that everything in life happens for a reason. I discovered that the people that we come into contact with all fall into place for a certain reason. The planets align and the stars move into place so that things may happen according to how the Lord wants them to be done. The author, Squire Rushnell, talks about how the power of coincidence guides your life. I've found that God has played a significant role in guiding my life and keeping me on the right path. This straight and narrow has also begun setting me up for success in the future.

Rushnell talks about how he got his break into radio from walking down a main road to the main town and also attempting to hitch-hike on the way. His radio broadcasting idol happens to pick him up on the way and personally knows his interviewer and asks Rushnell to tell his interviewer hello. Interesting the way that things worked out for Rushnell. My breaks in life have come similarly.

The summer before my sophomore year of college, I was working at Cold Stone Creamery and was looking for a second job with the lack of hours that I was starting to receive. I talked with my neighbor who happens to own his own landscaping company and said that I could work for a few weeks before I had to go back to college. After a few weeks, we had a new job and Billy told me that the lady whose house we were going to work on happened to work at Dominion and knew my good friend and neighbor Billy Warf. Deciding to play innocent, when I saw her walk out of her house that morning, I conveniently saw her Dominion ID badge. I asked her if she knew my dad and we talked for a while. It ended with me telling her I was a Communication Studies student and her sayins to 'keep in contact.' The following summer, I got a job as an intern at Dominion.

During the spring semester of my next year back at school, I was working on an assignment for a professor and he asked me to research information about the Richmond Times-Dispatch. During my search, I came across a sweet woman by the name of Andrea. She was kind enough to talk to me for just under a half-hour. At the end of our conversation, she gave me all of her contact information and said that if I'd like to come by and sit in on a meeting, take a tour, or just see what things are like at a newspaper station, that she'd be more than willing to help out and set up arrangements.

I have yet to explore the final option, but all of these things happened by chance. Things fell into my lap. Many networking opportunities that people have in their lives, they don't pay attention to the significance of it. Chances to network remain all around us in all facets of life. A connection could start from a friend, girlfriend, boyfriend, parent, cousin or anyone else for that matter. Be aware that networking is an essential tool for the world that we live in. It can and will get you far in many places. The only exception to the rule being, if you are the CEO's daughter or son, you will always get a foot in to places. No networking necessary for you except to be born healthy and your parent will be all of the networking that you need in life.