Featured Article: Networking, networking, networking by Marielena Mata Ph.D

I bet you read the title and rolled your eyes, didn’t you? You must be tired of hearing that you need to network and are thinking that you just want to do fun science and have no time or desire to network.  You might be the introverted type (a high proportion of scientists are!) and don’t know how to network or where to start.  Perhaps you have tried attending a networking event and couldn’t see how it would be useful to meet all these people for a few minutes.  Hopefully, I can give you some examples of how networking has helped me and some tips for building your network in a productive way.  

Let’s get back to last month’s blog where I shared that I had lost my job.  The first thing I did, after learning the news and telling my husband, was to reach out to my closest professional friends and mentors.  More than anything, I needed a sounding board for the weeks/months to come.  I also wanted words of encouragement and of course, some early leads for my job search.  As time went on, I started to expand that circle of people in the know and the word got out.  The messages from former colleagues, collaborators and business partners started pouring in.  Many of them asked if they could refer me when recruiters called.  The result? I don’t have a job yet but have several leads for opportunities that sound interesting so stay tuned. I have yet to apply to a single job position through my own search as all the opportunities I have contemplated have come from my network and their referrals.