Networking means creating meaningful relationships based on mutual benefits. If you are in a position to help someone, help her. She will then help you back later on when she can. And this is by no means overrated. If anything is underrated.
One reason it is difficult for some people; it reeks of superficiality if not insincerity.
Then there's tech meetups or conferences, where you and I might nerd out over common problems we've had to solve, and in the process realise that we might enjoy working with the other person.
The thing is, one has to put in the work and put themself out there. Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.
People who may have had a lot of opportunity in their life/careers and who tend to fall into productive and interesting networking scenarios, should at least know that for a lot of the... well, I can really only speak for the U.S.... by dint of experience, "networking" -- at least as a formal and promoted activity -- is a dirty word.
And having quickly looked at the OP story, I also recall some very uncomfortable feelings, watching someone aggressively pursue a senior executive's email or phone number. E.g. this fellow or gal comes to a friend's purely social event, and ends up having to handle undesired and poorly couched attempts at professional connections.
And the few times I've been talked into attempting to "work the system" in such a fashion? Still make me shudder.
P.S. Or the person who's picked up their license as a mortgage broker, and the conversations you attempt to dance around whenever your own looming home purchase comes up. And...
Even at the everyday level, a side of "networking" that's kind of a pain to deal with.
Anyway... I mostly agree with the article. Have something they're genuinely interested in.
- "them" instead of "her"
- "they" instead of "she"
Much more gender-neutral this way - no implications (intentional or non-intentional) about someone needing help because they are female.
Women are often unfairly stereotyped as being less-skilled or less-capable than their male counter-parts in our industry. Suggesting those that need help are female is just the thin-end of the wedge on this and may go unnoticed by those using it - a "micro-aggression" as it is now being called - but it furthers the entrenched stereotyping.
Using well-accepted gender neutral pronouns is a simple step to avoid this sort of thing and try and promote equality and diversity in our industry.
If I have offended anyone, sorry - that was not the intention. The intention was to promote gender equality and make our industry more welcoming to all genders.
But I'm also not going to correct someone who doesn't use singular they (unless it's in a situation where they should be following a particular style guide that specifies it).
English is not my mother tongue, and I actually thought here I was being sensitive, cause putting "he" would have implied only males are career oriented, etc. Didn't occur to me I could have put they.