I'll tell you who needs help networking; those of us who aren't people persons.

My interests lie with 'things' not 'people'. Give me a task to do that involves working with other people, I'll gamely go along if the task is interesting. I can get along with people as well as the next guy. So I'll play a softball game, or work with a team on a project

But if the purpose of the task IS other people (networking), then I'm lost. This whole idea of building relationships with people, "just because", is hard for some of us to deal with.

I think the personal branding and social networking dialog is skewed towards people with college degrees because that's frankly where the money is. That's the audience with the most competition too because everyone's in debt (unless their parents are loaded) and everyone's looking for work and trying to get an edge. Hence why there are so many snake oil sales people out there selling secrets to social networking. Bullshit-pedalers they be.

I think the people that NEED social networking skills more than anyone and can apply them creatively and outside of the institutional box that it's been framed in. People who sell goods and services that aren't college educated can benefit from all of this. It's just the college educated stories are more glamorous.

However, if these people who don't have access to personal networking expertise are not open to it either, then it's all equal. I've done work with very small businesses, like mom and pop flower stores, picture framers, landscapers, etc. A small percentage of them buy the idea of social networking in a progressive manner. Most of them pay high fees to join chambers of commerce, BNI's and other (what I find to be) corny networking groups. The zero cost options of Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook low cost options of blogging all come with a learning curve that is frowned upon.

The thing that pisses me off is when people want a simple, one size fits all social media solution to their business. They don't want to take the time or invest what's needed into it. That is why they look foolish when they go and buy 10thousand followers and Tweet bullshit all day long.

I guess your frustration seems to be that the idea of social networking hasn't diffused to the masses yet and therefor isn't relevant or something like that. I can appreciate that you might think it's an elitist sort of endeavor, but that's usually what doing anything innovative is going to be associated with. Once it's accessible to everyone, like a telephone or light-bulb, then it'll be just like applying to a job through a job board.

Then someone will have to come up with a better idea to get ahead of the crowd. Around we go again.

J. Maureen, you raise some very interesting points here, but I'd like to offer another perspective from someone who only a few years ago was also building a network from scratch. I completely agree with that WSJ article and I believe networking is incredibly important. Hard core, feet-on-the-ground, cold-calling my ass off is how I got my first job out of college and the networks I've built over the years is how I've gotten every single job since. I have never had to send my resume into the ether because I have always been personally introduced to every job opportunity by someone I have a relationship with.

I went to a great school (Pepperdine University) but when I moved home to the Bay Area I wanted to live with my parents in suburban Martinez. Since San Francisco was out of the question for me because of the lengthy commute, I was thrown into a hyperlocal job market that was also pretty insular and didn't have much of a connection to my alma mater. I never tapped my university alumni network because it didn't make sense. Instead, I approached job networking by cracking open my parents' phonebook and cold calling every place in town that seemed to specialize in what I wanted to do, PR. After dozens of calls and a handful of informational interviews, I talked my way into an internship and then a full time job at my first agency.

After taking that old school approach, I stumbled across blogging and starting networking that way (this in particular is a great way for introverts to network, since it takes away the pressure of in-person interaction). By writing thoughtful posts, commenting on other blogs and exchanging ideas with like-minded professionals, I was able to build up an even greater network, and a global one at that. I thought it was so cool that I could connect with people in New York, Australia, and Britain, all from the comfort of my computer. It was also at this time that I decided working close to home was not as important as working in a challenging, fast-paced environment. So I parlayed my blogging connections into landing a job at an agency in San Francisco, jumping into the tech scene without any professional background in technology and with just a handful of connections to speak of (so again, I was starting off my network virtually from scratch).

This is when I started going to real flesh-and-blood networking events. My agency job was pretty demanding so I couldn't commit to a club or an organization, but I made time to hit up a few events a month and make the rounds. Within a year's time I had built up a great network of professional contacts, many of whom have become my close friends, and three years later when I decided to leave my agency job I was able to line up something new within a few months, all because of the ties I'd developed over the past years.

At the end of the day, networking is simple in principle, and incredibly doable whether you have a great network already built up or you're starting from scratch. When I started networking to help my career, I wasn't applying any new fangled tactics or tapping into any special resources. And I certainly wasn't hard selling everyone I met for an informational interview or an introduction. I was basically operating on Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People principles: be genuinely interested in others, demonstrate a pleasant disposition, help out whenever you can, try to be useful and thoughtful of the other person. My motto is to network for the sheer joy of meeting new and interesting people; if you've done a good job of building a solid network for the long-term relationship instead of a short-term need, job opportunities will come naturally as a result.

Given my extremely positive experience with networking, I wanted to share why I think it is important to every single person that wants to build a lasting career. I should also add that I'm an introvert, so networking and breaking the ice with strangers has never come easily to me. I just knew it was what I needed to do to get where I wanted in my work life. The only resources you need when networking, in my opinion, are elbow grease, persistence and a positive attitude. With those in hand you'll always be able to build a successful network for yourself.

Suave networking and schmoozing may help people find job leads, however, sometimes networking is just networking. Contacts may be unable or unwilling to give recommendations and they also may not be privy to job openings when someone is looking for work.

Employers, I believe, are looking for an educated and experienced candidate that has a personality that fits the company's culture. I've talked to recruiters who have said, yes networking is great, but they wouldn't hire someone who would be fun to have drinks with. They also like to see the person has a good skill set. I encourage students to share academic or personal milestones with their followers so they can see they are active learners and advancing their knowledge of the industry.

Networking certainly opens doors, but it is conditional on a talented candidate and if there are positions of interest that their network shares with him or her.

@Marie: Sorry to belabor the point, but it's always been a point of contention with me.

Actually, no, I don't have a any career contacts or mentors. I've spent most of my adult life at one company, so I don't have a string of contacts from other companies. And as for the people who have left the company, I've never figured out how to keep in touch with them. All we really had in common was that we worked at the same company. Once that is gone, what's left? How can you have any kind of conversation with a former coworker that isn't incredibly awkward? Really, how do you do it?

@Marie Kudos to you for your tenacious legwork and the eventual pay-off! I definitely have no quibble with networking itself (in its purest form, of course) nor do I dispute the fact that it works (I delved into these points in a little more detail in my reply to the comments on the Bitch site).

My primary problem with the WSJ article (and it's simply an example of the veritable avalanche of identical advice out there) is that it is aimed at people in your situation - you went to a great school, you were able to live with your family while getting your feet under you and you knew what you needed to do and had the drive and the resources to do it when it came to your job search. Not everyone is so fortunate. Scott has given the example of the hurdle of not being a people person and not knowing how to (or not being comfortable) approach/ing or stay/ing in touch with former colleagues or master/ing the social element of networking. There isn't much media attention given to this issue in pieces on networking. Nor is there practical guidance for people without college educations or who don't understand "how" to network, etc. This is my primary concern - the idea of networking is predicated on the assumption that the audience of these articles can simply flip the switch and begin networking, but the people who are able to do that are more than likely already out there networking and the folks who could really use a leg up in the networking game probably aren't reading the WSJ or the like.

I'd just like to add that I HAVE a college degree, an the networking thing is just as pointless and difficult to me in the conventional sense as it is for some of the people in this conversation.

It's either something you do well and enjoy, or you do not. One of the very reasons my blog exists is because I wanted to be a voice for people who just don't have the ability or willingness to proceed in the conventional manner.