ArpitGarg's Weblog

Having studied and worked in India all my life, I never understood the importance of networking. Most of us from IIT get campus placements and from then on, any job change is driven by resume upload to a job portal which follows a smooth process. Even employee referrals are not too much networking driven.

In US, the script is flipped. Your background, education, work experience, only matter to a certain extent. The most important aspect is to reach out to people and keep the dialogue going. It takes time to adjust culturally. But once you give into it, you realize that it is indeed an excellent system.

The logic behind reaching out to people in various firms, meeting them, having discussions with them, is that it gives one insight into the culture of the firm and it also helps firm to know if you will be a cultural fit. The idea is to keep attrition rate low and find the perfect candidate for a job.

Any firm here is fine with hiring a less qualified individual over a more qualified one, if he/she shows more interest for the job. And it makes sense too. People with ample work experience will know that after a while all jobs becomes routine and only thing that keeps you going is if you feel at home at your office, if you like to work with people you meet and greet daily.

Hence society here stresses too much on networking. Let me explain this by another example. Ultimately any company is selling something to customers. All jobs boil down to relationship building. If you are good at building relationships before coming into the job, you will be better at it once you start with the firm.

For international folks in US, it sounds too alien. But the earlier we understand, the better.