As the membership co-chair of the Maryland State Bar Young Lawyers Section, I am often approached at various events and aggressively asked in so many words, “Do you have a job for me?” I always cringe at this.  As John F. Kennedy meant to say: “Ask not what your bar association can do for you, ask what you can do for your bar association.” Or ask yourself what you can do for that community association or for that person you are meeting at the networking event. When you meet people you should be asking yourself, ‘How can I help the other person?’ Networking takes time. Exchanging a business card is just the beginning, it isn’t the end. Networking takes time because networking is really about trust and trust takes time to build. There will always be people who I will describe as “political hacks”, who are seemingly able to network with ease. They do little work and they skyrocket to that dream job or to that position despite the  lack of work. Maybe this is because they were born into the right family or work at the right firm. Long term success, however, will ultimately depend on your consistency and reliability to others. There really shouldn’t be an “I” in networking.
But there should be a “U” in “success.”
What do YOU think?