Maria Seger, another of our Connected Academics proseminar fellows, continues the discussion of networking and suggests that students think of it as a symbiotic process—a mutually beneficial exchange of information— rather than an exercise in nepotism.
By Molly Mann
When you ask a roomful of humanities scholars what they think about networking, the tension is palpable. Sure, much of the work of our profession is contingent upon relationship building—it’s how we develop publishing contacts and find collaborators, and why we travel around the country on shoestring budgets to attend conferences—but there’s something about the word “networking,” with its connotations of boardrooms and power suits, that is both mysterious and repellent to us.
“All professions have their own jargon,” says Christopher Martiniano. “Identifying and using their key words, phrases, and acronyms is also crucial to making your résumé “scannable” and relevant to a potential interviewer. Like using SEO in a Web site, “keywording” your résumé with phrases and important words to a profession will help you get past the machine-reading level of most human resources departments.”