In my last post, I talked about how great networking has been for the process of getting interviews, how my idea of networking has shifted in my last semester in school, and the fact that I’m leaning into networking hard. In that light, something funny came to light recently. I have a friend, we’ll call him Mike for privacy’s sake, who works with NAVSEA, working on unmanned drones — exactly what my current job has me doing. He thought I would be a great fit, and told me to bother him around February about passing my resume on and getting hired around graduation. I have an interview in a week!
Unrelatedly, my mother-in-law works with a woman whose daughter works “at an aerospace company called Crane”, said my mother-in-law. By this, I thought maybe it was Crane Aerospace and Electronics, the only aerospace company with the name Crane that I could find. The daughter, let’s call her Anna, and I have been talking for a little while about how she enjoys her job, her ability to balance life with the job, etc. etc. etc. After emailing back and forth for two weeks, she mentions the name of the town. Wait, isn’t that where Mike lives? I thought.
It was exactly where Mike lives. As it turns out, Crane is a division of NAVSEA. Anna and Mike work at the same place! I had two people lined up to give me a recommendation for the same company. My networking has officially turned into a web. The funny part of this is that Anna was Mike’s sister’s best friend and Anna was the one who gave Mike a recommendation to get his position — I had networked my way into a preexisting network!
It stinks that one of my “ins” with a company isn’t usable, since I already have the interview secured, but it’s still been very valuable hearing about life at Crane from a couple of perspectives. And trading the extra referral for a funny coincidence definitely brightened my week.