I think you misunderstand - I don't mean 'smoozing' with people. I mean connecting with them in a real, meaningful fashion. Meeting people just to ask them for jobs is not real or meaningful.
E.g.: I got my last job when I mentioned at a group dinner that I was looking to move on - one of the other attendees said they had an opening doing interesting stuff. I'd known him for almost 4 years at that point, entirely because of the group dinners - never thought I'd get a job directly from him out of it.
When you go through a person in your personal network, you get a bunch of benefits - this applies equally to hiring and looking for a new job. If I hire someone because I or someone I trust knows them, I have a very high amount of confidence in them. If I pick someone up from Monster, then it's a complete crapshoot (in both ways - they may be way better than their resume, or way worse).
E.g.: I got my last job when I mentioned at a group dinner that I was looking to move on - one of the other attendees said they had an opening doing interesting stuff. I'd known him for almost 4 years at that point, entirely because of the group dinners - never thought I'd get a job directly from him out of it.
When you go through a person in your personal network, you get a bunch of benefits - this applies equally to hiring and looking for a new job. If I hire someone because I or someone I trust knows them, I have a very high amount of confidence in them. If I pick someone up from Monster, then it's a complete crapshoot (in both ways - they may be way better than their resume, or way worse).