It also raises the question about the equality of chances when applying for a new position. Should someone chances diminish just because he did not engage in a successful networking campaign? For example, you might have someone who is very qualified as an IT person, but who is actually shy and not socially active, which makes him less inclined to socializing and to networking. He will have no knowledge of new positions and might have see his chances diminish when applying in comparison with someone who has a network. Is that fair? Should one make a decision of recruitment based solely on the professional and academic credentials to minimize the impact of such a scenario?

This also brings about the discussion on whether non-traditional formats tend to keep out women and minorities. The problem with non-traditional formats such as networking is that networking is usually done according to the hobbies and preferences of the participants to the networking sessions. For example, networking will be done during a game of football. A game of football traditionally involves a gathering of men rather than women. With that in mind, women will be excluded from that particular...

Some networking groups exclude minorities not through a distinctive, implemented policy, but by the nature of affinities, type of gatherings, religious holidays etc. This creates a fragmented overall networking that leads not necessarily to an exclusion of minorities, but to a particularization of groups. If networking is done among groups depending on religion, cultural background and other characteristics, then one will expect minorities to have access only to the jobs in their category of networking.
Overall, the best approach is probably a combination of traditional and non-traditional methods of job search, whereby the potential candidate will have access to more possibilities of getting into a position, as well as more information that will help him or her make a decision regarding the career.

Bibliography

1. Center for Engineering Career Development. On the Internet at http://seas.virginia.edu/admin/careerdev/traditional.php. Last retrieved on March 12, 2013