Turns Out the Secret to Networking Is Lighting Your Hair on Fire
How my act of clumsiness broke the unspoken etiquette that comes with corporate hobnobbing
Some people are great at networking. You know the type: those supernatural creatures who don’t spend a third of every event pretending to need to use the restroom. Just happy little cherubs capable of snacking on cucumber canapés and sipping glasses of pinot for an unbearable amount of time, like half an hour. They have expressions that say “I’m engaged in this conversation and not wondering whether I have a chia seed stuck in my teeth.” Real honor students in gracefulness.
I am not one of those people.
At least, I wasn’t. My radar for rubbish talk has always been extremely sensitive. If an SPF for socializing existed, I would apply liberally every two hours. For a while, I thought I would never crack the code for being a great networker, which is a bit of a problem when you live in networking’s unofficial world headquarters of New York City.
So how did I, a person with big dreams and wide array of ill-fitting work pants, go from making unmemorable first impressions to being someone who finds value in networking and is even pretty good at it?
