7 + 8 = 56
I woke up at 4:40 a.m.. Why so early on Sunday? I had a meeting with Group 7 in the SanS (산스 is 산업스터디 in short). Group 7 consists of young students and professionals in their early 20s and 30s, mostly living in Korea. Group 8, which I’m in, consists of people from their late 20s to their 50s, living all around the world. It started with a gentle self-intro and book sharing. My first impressions of Group 7 in the meeting were that they were nice, sincere, bright, humble, and respectful. They were certainly doers with passion and growth mindsets. And it reminded me of my late 20s, the time I struggled with tons of open questions and tried to break my shell.
Why didn’t I start building my network earlier and outside my immediate circle? Back then, I didn’t even recognize the value. I was close to some of my classmates and seniors at my college, who were sincere, hard-working, and already making good progress on their career development. Some at MeCar (the mechanical car club), Roboin (the robot club), and in my department encouraged me to challenge myself and try something outside my comfort zone. Some have inspired me to study abroad and at least try for my potential and a better future. However, I rarely reached out to people outside my immediate circle, certainly not proactively. Have I ever reached out to people outside of my college?
In my final year of graduate school, I started to do something similar to networking, but not quite. I sent a bunch of cold emails to people I barely knew at Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and other companies with the sole context of “I’m graduating this year, and do you have an opening in your team?” It was intimidating. I wasn’t sure if I was doing it right or wrong. But I didn’t have a choice then. I had to find a job with better compensation than RA or TA because my baby was born.
Again, why didn’t I reach out to people outside my immediate circle? Till today’s meeting, I thought it was probably because I was shy, not very social, and I didn’t know what to say. I used to think I was not good at small talk. Today, this meeting enlightened me; that’s not true. I lacked the passion and sincerity to grow every day and be a better person. They were not enough in me to take me out of my comfort zone and reach out to others and try to build my network.
We cannot overstate the importance of networking. It has numerous benefits for career development. It provides opportunities to learn from peers, mentors, mentees, supporters, and seniors, resulting in faster growth and better outcomes than doing it alone. As my career developed, networking became more important and crucial.
Networking benefits not only career development but also personal growth for a better life. Now I enjoy learning from people who live sincerely with purpose and passion every day. And I no longer hesitate to reach out to those people. Sending a cold message asking for a quick coffee chat does mean that I want to learn something from them and that I have reasons to be connected with. And I'm glad I understand how important it is to reach out to others and take action, and that I enjoy the process.
One of the main themes of the meeting was to share the best book of 2022. So many interesting and great books were told. And I bought 10 of them before the meeting ended. Today’s meeting was twice or three times more joyful than I expected. Being connected to someone is not an addition. It’s more powerful than that.
If you grow with purpose every day, you’re patient and at ease. (from <단단한 삶>, 야스토미 아유우)
