To make a long story short: I’ve worked at the same organization for virtually all of my work life and am interested in making a change. I’m having a hard time figuring out how my current job matches openings at other organizations and so I’ve consulted with a career counselor.
One of the things she’s stressed is networking and doing informational interviews. I’ll certainly ask her for advice on this, but my big challenge here is that I’m very introverted and don’t really have anyone I can reach out to for networking purposes.
I can usually chit-chat with folks at large events and come away with business cards, but have never reached out to them beyond answering any questions they have about the organization where I work. I really don’t have friends or socialize with people (note: I do have a partner, but the people we class as our friends are really her friends).
How the heck do other introverts deal with this? I have tried reading various websites about networking, but the advice usually boils down to “get over it”–so not very helpful.