More or less self-explanatory thread (or, Mr Khan's job-searching rant thread number three).

Networking is cheating. It's modern-day croneyism built into a system that favors insiders and people who know people, heavily favoring so-called "type A" personalities and more extroverted individuals, and overlooking any individuals who worked hard to get where they were but weren't born with a silver spoon in their mouths or didn't room with the right guy in college.

When someone gets a job by networking, a more deserving person loses out. Therefore, networking to get a job is cheating, and sites like LinkedIn should be outlawed.

communication skills and working well in teams are very important traits to employers.  those that network well tend to have those traits.  it's not just croneyism...it's part of the job interviewing process.  technical skills are only ~50% of what makes an employee  a good employee.

I agree to some extent and my silly argument would be that it has always been like that in some form or another. How do you stop that. Just like dormant racism and prejudice people have. It is hard to quantify even if there was a law against it and Linkedln goes belly up. People are always going to be bias towards the people they know and like against a more deserving stranger.

I feel myself agreeing and disagreeing feriously right now.

I wouldn't hire anyone without any noticeable networking skill.

The ability to network means you are comfortable going outside of your personal boundaries to engage someone on a level that is more than work related. People who see networking as an obstacle to obtaining a job are the ones who are chronically unemployed/underemployed or in a position where they have no advancement.

No just no. That type of outlook will never help you find a job.

Networking only gives you additional opportunities you may not have heard about. It has nothing to do with a type-A personality or receiving a job offer.

If you have professional friends, chances are they know of opportunities at their place of employment that may be suited to your skills, but just knowing them at the company means zilch. I've had countless people refer me when opportunities arise, but if you aren't what they are looking for you certainly do not receive an interview.

Your point is invalid. I encourage you to avoid recruiters (that aren't affiliated with the company itself) as they will undercut your top end as they receive a portion of your offer. I had much more success avoiding recruiters when it came to getting interviews.

I guess my networking is that my uncle is a teacher recruiter.

I plan to teach sciences at the high school level and I'm getting a lot of info from my uncle, though I'm will be avoiding his district where he works cause its a bad neighborhood.

Actually would u call that networking?

The world owes me a job. Not a great job, but not a job that's exploiting me (as too many seem to want to do).

There i said it.

Yeah the more I thought about it the less it looked like it.  Was just wondering how board the term was.