Wayne Moses Burke

What is the value of this much-hyped interaction intended to get us ahead in our careers and social lives?

I have been pondering this question recently as I have been evaluating my success in finding the perfect job in Washington, DC — ie, I haven’t had much luck and wonder why.

This is to say nothing about POMED – they are a wonderful organization that is doing everything right and will most likely have a significant impact on the way that the US deals with the countries of the Middle East. It’s just that the position that I hold with them is part time, and the pay is as much promise as performance. If it was possible to live on promise, believe me, I would be happy to do it, but as it is, I continue to pursue that elusive ideal occupation as my debts increase.

What am I doing about it? Well, networking and job hunting, the former of which I specifically want to discuss in this post (thus the title). I attend events relevant to my interests. I ask questions that seem pertinent to me. I hang around with all the people that I don’t know, and am generally friendly and (while I may be biased) interesting. I listen to other’s perspectives and respond with my own when I feel there is an opportunity.

I set up and engage in that tentative dance called the informational interview. I have met and spoken with a number of people that seem to be doing well enough for themselves in the world of DC politics. I attempt to glean their understanding of how the system works and what I should be doing, and who else I should be talking to in order to pursue my specific career interests. I even came to DC with a list of connections from my well-meaning professors and friends in New York. But alas, all of these trails seem to have led to nowhere.

Why is this?

Is there something wrong with me? Again, I must acknowledge my personal bias, but seriously, everyone I know has higher hopes and expectations than even I do. I jokingly say I have them all fooled, but the fooled include a fair number of people that have accomplished impressive things in life and have understood the system well enough to have made a life for themselves within it. People in business or academia or even the international system. They’re all glad that I’ve decided to move to DC and devote my life to making a difference in US foreign policy – they trust me, they think I stand a good chance of actually accomplishing something — that I have a unique ability to walk the fine line between being able to understand the system as it is and holding on to my ideals.

So here I am, sitting in DC, “pursuing my dreams” to little effect. Why?

I think I may be coming up with some answers. Tell me what you think of them:

1. I’m not clear.I have not specified what I’m hear to do. I have wrestled with this – should I be specific or general to help widen the net that I’m casting for jobs. I think in DC, I need to be specific. I have been told that everyone in DC is an idealist. Everyone is here to try to bring their vision of ideal governance to fruition. There is certainly an element of this, but it’s not the whole picture. There are those who are here for many other, ‘human’ reasons – to earn money, because they need a job, maybe they’re part of the bureaucracy, and there is always an element of organizational momentum. That is, a lot of people are here working to preserve the system as it is. And while an argument could be made that there is an idealism in that, I think it’s a bit of a stretch.

   So, first of all I need to clarify what I want to be doing in more pragmatic terms that I can relate to whomever I’m talking to. Let them correct my terminology for local parlance, but I need to be more definite in where I’m headed so that the path can become more clear.

2. I am not forward enough in my networking tactics.I tend to focus on what the other person is trying to say and allow the conversation to unfold naturally. I think this is great if you are trying to make friends or generically enlarge your network, but I think I’ve somewhat missed the boat in terms of job hunting. I have always felt somewhat self-conscious about being so direct about my wants and needs, but truly – if I’m not telling people what I need, how are they to know? And even more importantly, how are they to help?

All of that aside, I don’t believe my networking time has been wasted. I have met some wonderful people; begun to learn about the culture of foreign policy – language, timing, inter-relationships; and continued to increase my understanding of complex topics because of the events that I attend.

One final note: I attended a conference last week on politics and the internet and during a panel discussion focused on the value of social networking websites (eg, Facebook, change.org) for advocacy, one of the panelists made the point that these sites primarily build awareness. If used correctly, they can also be utilized for engagement and to encourage action, but these things are not automatically built into the system.

I contend that this same logic applies to plain old, face-to-face networking. I’ve met people, so they are now aware that I exist. It could even be argued that I have engaged them, depending upon the content of our discussion, but if I don’t give them enough information or sufficient motivation to actually take action on my behalf, I haven’t utilized the value of the network that I’m spending so much time building.

I suppose this is really just a restatement of the points that I made above, but somehow I find the different perspective immensely helpful.

Hmmm… It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

Best,
Wayne