Is it really about who you know?

Sometimes it doesn’t matter how many skills or qualifications you have, if you know someone who’s high up in a business, there’s a chance you can get a good job with them. Contacts are obviously crucial when you’re developing your career, and you never know when or if you’re going to need them, but there are many businesses out there that have employed people they know on merit.

It’s upsetting for some, as they may see another individual (without the qualifications or skills they have) exceeding them in a career, and you can feel like you’re hard done by. That said, it’s even more of a reason why you should aim to develop as many contacts in your industry as possible, because you may one day be the one who’s taking huge strides forwards thanks to knowing a certain someone.

In most jobs, it’s not ‘who you know’, and there’s almost always going to be certain skills required, but you can be favoured for knowing somebody in a business, so keep developing those contacts.