Networking for Every College Student and Graduate: Starting Your Career Off Right (2nd Edition)

Networking is an essential skill in today’s marketplace, but it can be a little daunting. Faulkner and Nierenberg aim to make it easier, and they are somewhat successful.

This book does include useful tips on such topics as who should be in your network, how to keep track of everybody, and how often to contact them. However, most of the advice is fairly obvious, surface stuff. For example, the authors recommend you call four people each week: a former business contact or employer, a former coworker, a friend you haven’t spoken to in awhile, and a current friend. For me, at least, the problem isn’t knowing whether I should contact people; it’s knowing what to say to someone I worked for five years ago. Unfortunately, the authors don’t get that detailed.

They do, however, spend a lot of time explaining how important networking is. This constant bombardment of “THIS IS IMPORTANT” gets repetitive and may scare off people who are already wary of the concept.

Still, the book does have some quality information. It would be very useful for naturally outgoing people who are new to the idea of networking, but it doesn’t go into enough detail for those of us with a little more experience or who are a little more reserved.