Originally Posted by
kme9418
Agreed. I'm bewildered when people start "networking" when they decide to start looking for a job. That's too late. It's a process that takes YEARS...even DECADES. You have to be nice to people, take care of people, be noticed for your hard work/integrity and not focus on your own little world. Then you keep track of contacts and keep in touch with former coworkers over the long haul. Facebook and linkedIn are good places to start reconnecting. My current reserve job and my current airline job were both products of a very long process described above. The contacts that helped me out were people I had worked with 7-15+ years earlier. They were folks I somehow stayed loosely in touch with or knew well enough way back when that I could call them up out of the blue. Even if you are not looking for a job, networking exists so that you can help OTHER people out when they need a hand. Then, someday, it all comes back around.
I have been told, everyone you meet to treat it like an interview. Years later they might be talking to someone and remember you and pitch you for an interview. You never want to get on the bad side of someone in this aviation field because it is a small circle of friends. Alway's try to meet someone new when your out.