This is Find Your Dream Job, a podcast that helps you get hired, have the career you want, and make a difference in life.

I'm your host, Mac Pritchard.

I'm also the founder of Max List.

It's a job board in the Pacific Northwest that helps you find a fulfilling career.

Every Wednesday, I talk to a different expert about the tools you need to get the work you want.

Last week, we talked about how to overcome your discomfort with networking.

But how do you remain true to yourself as you reach on to others?

Angie Callan is here to talk about how to network authentically in your job search.

She's an award-winning career and business coach and the founder of career benders.

Her company helps professionals,

executives, and entrepreneurs navigate today's workforce. Angie also hosts the No More Mondays podcast.

She joins us from Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Well, Angie, let's talk about the benefits of networking.

Before we talk about authenticity, do job seekers who network have an advantage over competitors?

Oh, absolutely, hands down. If anything, I would say not networking is one of the biggest disservices you can do to your job search and your long-term

career development because relationships open doors and people still are the ones who hire

people even in a competitive market. Say more about that. Why do relationships matter to hiring

managers when they're reviewing a stack of applications

and trying to make decisions about who to interview? Well, there's that idea that if you get

along with someone who works in a company, then you've already overcome a little bit of a hurdle

around culture fit as a very, very specific example of it.

But we are, humans are relational beings and we tend to trust people who come through a network or

that are referred by another human. And so it gives you a leg up over someone who's just a bunch of black and white characters on a piece of paper because you've come in as an already kind of vetted slight stamp of approval human being who somebody can actually say, hey, you should talk to this person for this role.

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