What does schmoozing sound like to you? Maybe it sounds smug, unctuous, oily, slimy. It sounds, quite frankly, like 'oozing.' Schmoozing is far from slimy, but 'oozing' actually isn't a bad description of what a schmoozer does. A schmoozer slides into opportunities where none are apparent, developing friendships from the slightest of acquaintances. Through formless, oozy, schmoozy action, a schmoozer moves slowly but inexorably towards his or her goals.
What is schmoozing? Schmoozing is noticing people, connecting with them, keeping in touch with them -- and benefiting from relationships with them. Schmoozing is about connecting with people in a mutually productive and pleasurable way -- a skill that has taken on new importance in our fragmented, harried, fiber-optic-laced world. Schmoozing is the development of a support system, a web of people you know who you can call, and who can call you, for your mutual benefit and enjoyment. Schmoozing is the art of semi-purposeful conversation: half chatter, half exploration. Schmoozing is neither project nor process. It's a way of life.
How does schmoozing differ from networking? Conventional networking is the clammy science of collecting business cards ad infinitum, of cold-calling near strangers to grill them about possible openings in their places of work and beg them for favors. No one particularly likes to network, and no one likes to receive a call from a desperate, edgy networker either. If you've read some of those networking books and felt uncomfortable about putting their advice into practice, there's a good reason for your reluctance. Networking is awkward, it's artificial, and more often than not, it doesn't work that well.
Schmoozing, on the other hand, is natural and effective. What could be more normal that calling up new friends to let them know the latest news in your job search? Why wouldn't you let it slip to your hairdresser that you're looking for a new apartment? One of the things you'll learn as we profile schmoozers high and low is that, yes, personal contacts are important to their business and (of course) personal lives, but in the end, they are simply following their natural inclinations. They just enjoy meeting and keeping in touch with people.
Can schmoozing help bring you professional success? Of course. Most people at the top of their fields are terrific schmoozers. They understand the importance of maintaining a strong, supportive and diverse circle of contacts to call upon. This book will help you understand and use schmoozing to find a job, schmoozing for career advancement, schmoozing the CEO that just happens to step into the elevator with you. We'll also show you how schmoozing can help
you in those non-workplace situations -- cocktail parties, airport lounges, laundromats.
We know schmoozing, and we know schmoozers. We at Vault.com schmoozed with some of the best, both household names and regular folks, to find out just how they do it. Read on, and you'll find out too.
