We were seated at the bar. My uncle had insisted I accompany
him to the bar. As matter of fact it was an exclusive club; the ones you get an
invite. The club was full of distinguished members of society. After
introductions I came to know who these people were. Among the people that I was
introduced was a town clerk and even a government minister. Not to talk about
business executives and rock stars doctors.
“Just look around and see the type of people in here,” my
uncle instructed. I couldn’t understand what he was trying to say. “Why do you
think I come here,” he continued. “To drink and hang out,” I replied. He
laughed for a couple of seconds. “Business is why I come here.”
My uncle is veterinary doctor. He freelances sometimes to
farmers and people in general. I had never thought about how he got clients but
I could clearly see why. Most of the members were rich and did some form of
farming. Besides that, these were the kind of people who owned pets. My uncle
was socializing with his potential customers!
“How do you think I got invited?” he asked. “I don’t know,”
I replied. “Well, a friend invited me,” he continued. He went on to compliment
me on my work ethic and ambition. “You really work hard young man.” This time
his friends had also joined the discussion. “Unfortunately it’s not enough .To
be successful in the real world; you need connections,” he continued. Others who were close-by echoed those same
sentiments.
The reason why my uncle had brought me to the club on this particular occasion,
was to try to show me the importance of socialization. During that time I was
staying with him while doing my internship. I had grown into the habit of working
very hard and sometimes late in the night. Even on weekends I would still go to
the computer laboratory to work on something.
So to be honest, I had little or no social life. I just
didn’t think it was important. Besides that my social skills were terrible. I
found it difficult to start or engage in conversations. I just couldn’t do it.
My uncle coming from a science background had quickly identified the problem.
The problem was even if I was introduced to someone who might be able to help I
still couldn’t take advantage of it. He told me initial at the beginning of his
career he had mad the same mistake.
“Look how got your internship position”, he pointed out. I
had gone the internships mainly because well his friend was the IT Director of
the institution at the time. It was really difficult to get a good internship
based on your results due to the economic meltdown. But I got a lot of offers
from different top companies because of his connections.
“It’s pretty simple. Working hard will get somewhere but your
social skills will get you very far,” he paused.”You need to pay attention to
your social skills. Learn to talk to people, even strangers,” he finished. Even up to this
day he continue to remind me and I have also found the most effective way of
looking for a job is through people; that’s what’s gotten me the interviews
that I was invited to. Besides that, my observations of very successful
business people confirm that.
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