A reader writes: “Monica” is a few years younger than me and is a friend of my parents through a church community. Smply put, she irks the heck out of me. There are a number of little things that she does that get under my skin, so I just try to avoid her in my […]

A reader writes: Is it normal for someone to charge a client for a networking meeting? I’m in the process of looking for a new job and setting up informational interviews with professionals in my field. I emailed back and forth with one woman trying to set a time to meet, but kept getting responses […]

A reader writes: I am three months into a great job at a huge organization in my field. A friend and former manager who helped me get the job (my first out of college) just reached out to me with a friend of hers who is trying to set up informational interviews for when she’s […]

There are people who get legitimately excited about the prospect of broadening their professional circle—and then there are the rest of us, who shudder and blanche when we contemplate “networking.” Part of the reason for this visceral unease is the scourge of overly aggressive networkers: those people who, once encountered, loom large in our memories […]

A reader writes: I’m a college student, so I’m very early in my professional career, but so far I’ve already had trouble overcoming my aversion/distaste/ineptitude for networking. I’ve only done one summer internship, but I’m always hearing that the only real way to get jobs and find success professionally is through “networking”—a challenge for me, […]