Networking at work: research stats and results

In my research on the placement process, networking quickly emerged as a significant factor-- indeed, that was the initial reason for including it in my "five factors for effective placement."

Here are some quick stats and results from my research:

• 67% of my survey respondents made initial contact with the ministry they eventually accepted a call from through networking.
  
• 81% of the respondents said they actively and purposefully utilized a network to some useful extent during their candidacy process.
  
• In an objective question* asking, "What was the best thing you did in your candidacy and placement process?" more than 10% answered something along the lines of, "networking with professors, presbytery or convention, and my church."
  
• In a different objective question asking, "What would you do differently if you were candidating from seminary again?" 10% replied that they would network more often and/or earlier in the process. (Seminary professors and church/presbytery opportunities were specifically identified as areas they would have networked with more often.

*There were no preset answers or multiple choice options, but just a blank "short answer" style question.