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When Edinboro University alumnus Scott Irlbacher was an intern at Penn State Behrend in Erie, he organized an awards gala for students in fraternities and sororities. While coordinating the event, he exchanged information with the keynote speaker, Kevin Kerr, who was also the director of fraternity and sorority life at Penn State's main campus. Less than two months later, a position opened in Kerr's office.

Irlbacher is now the assistant director of the Cliff Alexander office of Fraternity and Sorority Life & Leadership at Miami University.

"Kevin recognized my name and quickly called to set up an interview for the job," said Irlbacher.

Seth Travis recalls simply saying "Hello" to those he encountered during his time as a graduate student at Edinboro University. Travis says it pays to greet everyone you meet and that it is important to acknowledge those around you.

"Several of those I greeted offered me a job later on," he said.

Travis now provides sales and marketing support for Short Line and Regional Railroads in the Commercial Leadership Program for General Electric Transportation in Grain Valley, Mo. He considers himself to have a fitting position, and is optimistic about opportunities to advance in the near future.

What do Scott and Seth have in common? They both got what they consider to be an ideal position right out of college.

How did they do it? Not from responding to classified ads. They both cite their success to social networking.

Networking is one of the most important, if not the most important activity for job seekers to be successful in their search. It has long been considered to be the most effective way to job hunt, in part because of the old saying "it's not what you know but who you know." But increasingly, in the Information Age, success can spring not just from who you know - but from who knows you. Time and time again, this has shown to be the easiest way to get your foot in the door.

The vast majority of job openings are never advertised, and nearly 50 percent of job seekers obtain their job through referral, there is no question that networking plays an integral role in obtaining your ideal position.

"When I think about the friendships and relationships that I built at Edinboro, it is the people who I met through networking who coached me and mentored me that [made me develop] into the young professional that I am today," said Travis. "Classes are important in academia of course, but we learn so much more about the world and people

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