Marquette MBA

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

As I was thinking about this over the weekend, are we, as a society, starting to misplace the emphasis we're placing on networking? 

I was first introduced to the concept of networking before the Internet, initially in the context of B2B sales & word-of-mouth advertising and later in the context of discovering job opportunities.  When the Internet came along it completely overhauled the B2B world but perhaps only moved the needle for job opportunities half as much, at most.  I still get networking "inquiries" for business purposes, but most talk of networking I hear today falls into the realm of job opportunities.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not discrediting networking in any form, but could we be going to far?  For example, if employers are relying exclusively on their (or their employees') networks for hiring, is this at risk of becoming a different strain of nepotism and/or discrimination?  I'm not saying this is happening today, but it would seem that if there's a job opening somewhere that cannot be found by a qualified candidate without networking, it's not technology that's impeding progress.

Benny, I am glad you said this because I had similar thoughts.   For instance, in the context of an MBA program, how is networking going to help someone?  And I would argue that other networks...co-workers, professional organizations, volunteer activities, are going to be much more valuable than you sat in an MBA class with.  At least in my opinion.

[keefe]

One of my wife's former co-workers had a husband who did an eMBA at ND's "campus" in the loop.  He was not trying to check a box but wanted to get plugged into the ND network.  I'm not sure that it really worked out for him (mostly because he's basically a putz to begin with)

Then the SOB fit right in with the ND Alumni pool of booger eaters, eh?