WorkWise BlogTip: A different kind of networking

Ford Myers (careerpotential.com) was working with a new grad who wanted to learn how to network.

Myers trained him for several weeks, at which point the grad knew what to do and felt confident. He threw himself into the process and quickly progressed.

He scheduled an appointment at a networking meeting with a woman who’d been working for a year or two. He reported they had “a great conversation.” That was only the beginning.

The grad called the woman, who suggested getting together at a nice restaurant one Friday evening. He considered the suggestion a little odd but then forgot it, in light of what must be her busy schedule.

She was there waiting for him in a booth, cocktail in hand, dressed to the nines, make-up and jewelry galore. Thinking quickly, the grad assumed that she’d be going on a date afterward. He didn’t know what to think when she kissed him. Was this a “new form of networking?” he asked himself.

Within 10 minutes the grad learned that “she’d thought he wanted to get together for a date!” Myers recalls. “Once they both realized what was going on, they had quite a laugh.”

Ah, Laughter. Where would the workplace be without you?