i’ve been at a good number of advertising agencies, and the one thing that i’ve found to be invaluable is meeting/getting to know people. let’s be clear on what this means. i hate politics. i hate ass kissing. i hate schmoozing (i don’t even really socialize at work functions). but, actually getting to know people does a couple of things for you:

• being on a large scale radar. imagine this. two people chatting over coffee, let’s call them fred and eunice. you’ve worked with fred, and even though fred is generally shy and quiet, you became casual work friends and know a little bit about each other. eunice is new in town and has started at a new agency. eunice realizes that they do not expertise in flash animation. she’d love to pay someone boat loads of money to come in and be the flash expert and train the other folks in flash, but she’s not really sure who would be good for this type of position. over coffee, fred instantly thinks of how you led 6-7 flash projects. multiply this situation over as many people as you’ve talked to at your previous jobs. that’s a large meatball of potential references. now, imagine if you just passed fred’s office everyday and never bothered to say ‘hi’. 
• finding the right person. even if its not in your field, you may need to know someone that knows someone (for completely legit and legal activities), and building your network is the best way to do it. if you need to talk to a lawyer that specializes in real estate, but you’re not in the real estate or law professions, word of mouth could be the difference between finding a bulldog or a chihuahua.
• mutual back-scratching. someone may ask you to pass along a resume, provide guidance to a friend, or ask for a linkedin reference. the rules for these types of activities are generally on par with helping someone move. once you do a favor for someone, they will almost always be happy to return the favor. *good to note too, that i’ve had many compliments on linkedin references, so i’d stockpile, employed or not, if you can.
• friendship and truthful insight. some of my very best friends i met through work. i’ve found their opinions to be extremely helpful in my career from a number of areas. 1) they are generally good about how to communicate my strengths and weaknesses, if i ask. this helps me grow, but off the record. 2) they can be a great sounding board for how skewed my perceptions at work could be and support. they can tell me if i’m being crazy, or if they also think we need to address that other crazy person. 3) they can tell me what an unfamiliar environment is really like. i’m thinking of working for abc agency, but i want to know what they’re really like behind closed doors. are they tyrants? are they caring? are they stingy? are they sexist? because most agencies have a revolving door at HR, i can usually find someone that knows, whether they’ve worked there or they have a friend that did. 

another quick thing i wanted to note: don’t underestimate anyone. maybe the mail guy seems creepy and a little squirrelly, but they could end up being a) the son of the company (or another desirable company) president  b) the president of the company, or another desirable company, someday c) your boss someday d) your bff’s newest boyfriend e) human (you should just treat everyone with respect. i just wanted to give you more reasons to, if that wasn’t already a part of your general m.o.).