Facebook employee teaches the hows of networking

by Eric Arredondo

ema42@txstate.edu

SAN MARCOS – Justin Johnson, a professional service employee at Facebook, visited Texas State to provide students advice and his stories of networking in a job search.

Johnson started the seminar by briefly explaining his journey through college which included a spontaneous study abroad session in Barcelona during his crucial senior year.

“I decided to hop a plane and study abroad in Barcelona,” Johnson said. “I came back and realized a lot of my friends had job offers; I didn’t.”

However, because of his perception of the career he wanted to chase, Johnson wasn’t daunted by the lack of job offers or interviews. He used his knowledge of networking with peers and professionals to guide his career path.

Johnson placed a strong emphasis on the necessity of putting oneself out there in order to network. He used his email encounter with Huffington co-founder Arianna Huffington.

“My intent was never to get an opportunity to write for Huffington Post,” Johnson said. “But because I put so much thought into my message she wrote back that she wanted me to write for the company.”

In the next part of the session, Johnson took questions from the students in attendance which led to his advice for preparing for post-graduation.

“What’s one thing you do when trying to network?” one student asked Johnson.

“To be interesting you need to be interested,” Johnson replied. “A lot of people like to hear themselves; so let them talk and ask open-ended questions.”

Another student asked how Johnson got his job with Facebook. Johnson explained that it all started with an impulse email to Facebook after seeing an ad on the website.