What is networking?

You may or may not be familiar with a concept known as networking. If you're not familiar with it yet, no problem! That's what this post is for. And if you are familiar, this post will be a good review and will hopefully deepen your understanding about this very important life & career strategy and skill.

Networking is the art of building long-term, meaningful professional and business relationships over time. Many of these professional relationships may eventually turn into close personal friendships, too.

You see, as you get out more into the workforce and head off to your post-high school journey - to university, trade school or technical college, military service, etc. - you're going to start coming into contact with other people that you will be working with, or studying with, that can potentially, with time, become valuable connections and resources for you. They may come to serve as professional references when you're applying for your next job or applying for admission into an academic program. They may be able to connect you with others that can help you advance your job or career prospects. They may have knowledge and skill sets that can help you in some facet personally or professionally.

Networking is a big thing. It's a big deal. So much so that there are entire groups, organizations, and ongoing events both large and small dedicated to bringing people together to build relationships and share ideas, resources, and connections. Examples include your community's chamber of commerce and local chapters of Business Networking International (BNI). There are Web sites, like LinkedIn.com, devoted to networking. LinkedIn is a social media site that is professional in nature. It lets you create a profile, share posts with others, send private messages, and a lot more. Instead of having "friends" like you have on Facebook, you have "connections" on LinkedIn.

But it's important to remember that networking is always a two-way street. If you want to take, you have to be willing to give. But if you're willing to give and put in the effort, the results will be amazing!

Let's watch a few videos about networking and how to go about it.