I was having a conversation with a recent college graduate who told me that they were “going to start networking soon.” I had asked this grad why they hadn’t been networking all along, and they really didn’t have an answer they could come up with.
It’s never too early to start networking. Networking doesn’t mean buttering up people for your own benefit, it means developing relationships with others to share common interests, developing a bond that grows with time, and getting some outside perspective.
A colleague of mine once told me the reason he and I got along so well is that although I networked with him, it wasn’t just when I needed something. We developed a genuine rapport over the years that has lasted over a decade.
It’s never too early to start networking. Do it now!
