Career "Networking" is Not Optional. Here's How to Do It
Most of the time, if someone walks into a room and in a sea of faces sees someone they know, even vaguely, they'll gravitate toward the familiar face.
That's often what happens when someone has a job opening to fill. When there's a pile of resumes, the person doing the hiring at least looks at the ones where they either know the person or someone they know has given them a heads up.
It's human nature, and while having a connection to the person in charge of hiring does not guarantee anything, it can certainly help. Networking can make your career and it can save you when you're a good candidate for a job whose qualifications aren't quite that obvious.
Source: Fool.com