job search analogy

Breathe! Surgery / job search analogy On Friday morning after surgery the nurse kept bugging me to breathe. I think he was holding my hand or patting my arm. That was so annoying. My wife was also encouraging me to breathe.  To make it worse, I had to breathe through my nose so when I kept dozing off and breathing through my mouth they would bug me, er, wake me, and remind me to breathe through my nose (since that is where the oxygen tube was). So very annoying. I just wanted to rest. Heres the analogy: In my job search I was told I had to network.  People all around, and books, and websites everyone was like network!  Its how you find a job! I didnt want to network.  And it was annoying to hear this continual chant (network! network!). And then I realized I was networking wrong (without a purpose or system) and I was told to network with purpose (a la Never Eat Alone). I really just wanted to mope while my resume and job applications would do the hard work for me. But that wasnt the right thing for me to do.  It was as ineffective as breathing through my mouth right after surgery.  The actions where there, but it wouldnt get oxygen in my body. I know networking is hard.  Its not the funnest thing you can think of doing. But its the thing that will move you to the next level.  For me, breathing right and getting oxygen meant I could go home. For you, networking right could mean you get out of unemployment. Its worth it Im telling you NETWORK! Breathe! Surgery / job search analogy On Friday morning after surgery the nurse kept bugging me to breathe. I think he was holding my hand or patting my arm. That was so annoying. My wife was also encouraging me to breathe.  To make it worse, I had to breathe through my nose so when I kept dozing off and breathing through my mouth they would bug me, er, wake me, and remind me to breathe through my nose (since that is where the oxygen tube was). So very annoying. I just wanted to rest. Heres the analogy: In my job search I was told I had to network.  People all around, and books, and websites everyone was like network!  Its how you find a job! I didnt want to network.  And it was annoying to hear this continual chant (network! network!). And then I realized I was networking wrong (without a purpose or system) and I was told to network with purpose (a la Never Eat Alone). I really just wanted to mope while my resume and job applications would do the hard work for me. But that wasnt the right thing for me to do.  It was as ineffective as breathing through my mouth right after surgery.  The actions where there, but it wouldnt get oxygen in my body. I know networking is hard.  Its not the funnest thing you can think of doing. But its the thing that will move you to the next level.  For me, breathing right and getting oxygen meant I could go home. For you, networking right could mean you get out of unemployment. Its worth it Im telling you NETWORK!