9News ran a story yesterday featuring President and CEO of Executives Network, Molly Wendell who has recently written a book by this title suggesting successful job search is all about networking and leveraging contacts .

I agree with the points she highlighted in this piece supported by both her and my own experience. All but one of my positions in my 20-year career came from networking, I maintain, however, that a diverse approach, leveraging a variety of job tools such as CareerShift is also important during the job search and specialty job boards, such as The Career Center's CareerRAM where employers have had a great track record hiring CSU students, graduates and alumni. This is why they take the time/make the effort to post on their jobs with us. They want to see CSU talent in their recruiting pipeline.

What surprises me is hearing about some students seeking internships or about to graduate from CSU who choose not to attend Career Center sponsored Career Fairs to network with employers. I don't think these students realize that employers are coming to them, to students' "CSU living room" for the primary purpose of networking with them, to get to know them to see if they might be a good fit for their organizations. Once students graduate and leave campus and become alumni, they often don't fit into the company's college recruiting program any longer and, as candidates, are out on their own. I also don't think these students realize that recruiters and professionals who attend our events also move on to other organizations during their careers so if a student makes a strong connection with a recruiter, there is potential to make some long lasting contacts at events like the Career Fair.

CSU students and alumni, what do you think? Do you have a networking success story to share?

If you are interested in the 9News story, you can find it @

http://www.9news.com/life/programming/shows/mornings/article.aspx?storyid=120004&catid=229&GID=E4wLfJCor8cwOOukXx4tRNdPcQ5Dox2wniUPCw1b3jY%3D