Networking by Default

So this is just a little excerpt to help all of my fellow prospective monkeys stay positive and hopeful in their search for a job or internship or whatever.

In the past month I have made two awesome connections in places I never thought I would, I will tell the story of each one briefly then tie it all together at the end!

The first came about a week ago when I was driving my car home across the country from school, my dad called me up and said hey "dave" has a friend who works for [Insert AM, probably the best in my city] he says he can get you in for an interview are you interested. "Dave" played on my dad's adult hockey team and I had never spoken to him before, my dad had briefly mentioned in passing my major and what I wanted to do and this led to me getting this interview. I was one of 7 interviewed from an applicant pool of over 150. I know if I had just submitted a resume I never would have got this interview because honestly my resume is not that spectacular. I killed at the interview but they were looking for someone graduating next spring to start full time (which im not). Still it was a great experience, great practice, and led to some great contacts who said they would be more than willing to help me out.

The second came today, my mother, who is a flight attendant got home and handed me a business card with the name of a top ER firm in my city and told me she met a man on the plane who went to my high school and now worked in my city at this ER firm, she said he told her to have me give him a call to chat or get coffee and he would answer any questions I may have. I'm not sure how valuable this one will turn out to be, but it looks fairly promising and any new info will help!

I guess my overall point is, you never know where your big break may come from, don't be afraid to tell people about your career aspirations, you never know who is listening or who some person may know. Neither of my parents went to college, and both work very blue collar jobs but they still end up helping me out more than I can dream of by just telling people about me and what I'm interested in. I was on a ski lift last January and listened to a man i shared a gondola with share his new job at a hedge fund (he had just made the jump from a BB successfully) with his buddy. I was a little nervous and hesitated to ask him a question and I realize this was a huge mistake, what easier way to start a relationship than just a quick 5 minute convo on the gondola. So to all you prospective monkeys out there, take to the streets, voice your career aspirations, tell people you want to work on wall street or in finance, and don't be surprised when good things start to happen!

Cheers