https://madamenoire.com/1073296/generous-forms-of-networking-that-pay-off/

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I used to despise the idea of “networking.” To me, it just conjured up feelings of sleaziness, manipulation, lies, and calculation. I used to think that networking could only be very fake and superficial—that it involved pretending to like people you do not like and pretending to be someone you’re not in order to get ahead. Then, I realized that I only thought that because I had never successfully networked. The funny thing is that, you can’t really go out there and force networking to happen. True networking comes rather easily because it involves your preexisting network—a network that you’ve built up, slowly and quite naturally over time. When you network successfully, you may not even realize you did it because you were just doing the most obvious thing—giving help you were able to give, to a person within your reach. Here are generous forms of networking that always pay off, and are examples of how networking should go.

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Sending an employer a qualified applicant

You know of a friend or acquaintance looking to fill a position within her company. You also know of someone who is, truly, qualified and quite skilled at that work. So you ask the hiring employer if you can send your friend her way, knowing that you’re proud to send this applicant, and happy to help both people because you believe in what they’re doing.