Does networking really help people find jobs?

It does, but you have to be persistent. My daughter has a really great job, but it took her almost a year of constant contact with a handful of people to get it set up. In that time, she volunteered for projects with the team, and made sure that she really had a chance to get to know people.

I assume that you’re looking for a legal clerking position. I am not sure that there a lot of jobs out there, especially with larger firms. You may have to get creative with what you’re looking for.

If you insist yes.

Remember anyone can get it at any time.

I think the key is that networking takes time. You do it your whole life. It’s the whole building connections thing, but like all relationships, it takes years and years to build up really viable relationships, especially if you aren’t having drinks every Friday night.

Yes it does. Obviously it depends on the field you work in, but being a known quantity to the people who are looking to fill a vacancy can only be a help.

Some people are fabulous networkers. I can’t say I am. Whenever you are in a place where you can meet people who might be able to help your career, get to know them. Connect. Let people know you are looking/interested in developing your career prospects. Without being egotistical, let people know what you do and have done. As @BarnacleBill suggested, volunteer for things. I have done a lot of voluntary work and it not only helps me connect with others in that field, but it looks great on your resume and gives you people to put down as referees.

Absolutely. One thing to remember is that every contact you make over weeks, months, years, is all a part of networking.
Every part of a job or deliverable you work on also helps. Never burn a bridge because you may need a job from that person or that person may be part of a team that will read your resume. When I am interviewing a person, I usually know someone in one of the companies on their resume. I always reach back to find out what I can about that person from someone I know at their former job. That is also helps me keey my network fresh too.
I work in a fairly large market area of a large sector of business and am amazed how many people I constantly run into on current projects, that I worked with people from the past.

Yes it works.

I know for a fact that nepotism does, since I get jobs from my girlfriend’s mother all the time. Nepotism is a subset of networking, as far as i’m concerned, so yeah.

I agree with @Thammuz Adding on that cronyism is also a form of networking that works,

…and of course wearing the old school tie can help too.

I’ve been to a few networking dinners. Needless to say so far it has been full of sleazy partners buying the loose girls exorbitant amounts of drinks… ending with the promise of ‘work experience’.

I used to run a cleaning business. I had an opportunity to clean the house of a local missionary family while they were out of the country. I cleaned it top to bottom, for free, not expecting anyone to even notice, let alone thank me. I received 4 well paying long term jobs from their philanthropist friend and friends of friends who found out about my activities.

@SofaKingWright it’s important to screen your networking opportunities. Sometimes you must invent your own, and I suppose some jobs are harder to network in than others. There sometimes is a fine line between being used and helping. Sounds like your experience was on the “using” side.

Translation: You never know who’s watching. Be smart, be authentic, and be generous, even when you think you are alone.

@snowberry No, I wasn’t on the used side. Just watching quite a few who were.

My ex bf networked the hell out of his previous contacts. In a few months he got offers to work at Amazon and Fluther, and that led to him working at Twitter (with the other fluther guys).

Yes, it does. It does not just mean contacting people in your field that you don’t know. It means attending events held by trade associations or other industry groups and meeting new people.

It means sending everyone on your email list a note that you are looking for a job and asking them to let you know of any leads or to hand carry your resume to their company if there is an opening.

I have my current job—the best job I ever had—due to networking. Turned out, it was a connection my neighbor knew about. Talk to everyone—even if they aren’t in your field. You never know who will connect you to your next job.

Generally, yes but it isn’t something you need to do, actively, in my opinion. Networking, to me, means knowing that all work connections can be future work connections and all connections in general can be work connections. After 2 years of unemployment, my partner got a job because someone he used to work with received my email asking for help.

I now that the best job in the world, unfortunately only part time, because of my non-professional networking on Facebook.