Networking for Hermits [View all]

Seriously, gregarious people don't get it. A world renown career coach finally admitted one day that experience and network are the initial and greatest assets when looking for a new job. Should they be invited to a loner's group? They would just regard us as incompatible, and move on. LinkedIn and Facebook are a stretch for most, and absurd to some. How do you fill out a profile that's not connected? Who would want to read it? And why bother? Success does not depend on how many hours one can log on social media. My guess is loners are driven by ideas, process, efficiency. Minimal impact is important to them. But it sure is no way to be noticed.

Even if hermits could be sequestered (of course!) with one another, would networking with other hermits help them? This is a tree-falls-in-the-forest-does-it-make-a-sound line of inquiry.

So if one does pretend that the time for solitude is waning, where does one start? An immigrant with a green card from half-way around the world would have more of a paper trail. And like it or not, a paper trail is what society uses to evaluate and connect you to them.

It's all a conundrum. There is no starting place, no path. There is just "out there" and nowhere.