ジャッキーの これ、どう思う？ While we're on the topic ...

The photo above shows Jackie (right) as camera assistant and gaffer, with director (left) and cinematographer. JACKIE HOFFART PHOTOS

When I was in my early 20s, I thought "networking" was a dirty word. I despised the idea of networking events with titles like "Booze & Schmooze," and assumed that the only people who attended them were smarmy, pretentious overachievers trying to elbow their way into the corporate world with their pretty white teeth and witty banter.

In hindsight, it was me who was being pretentious by assuming I had nothing to gain from meeting other people who might share my interests, professionally or otherwise. I was naive to think that whatever skills or talents I possessed would be enough to secure my future. The truth is we live in a world where there are more talented people than jobs that require them. We must compete for the really good opportunities and the only way to do that is through networking.

There's hard networking (like Booze & Schmooze), and there's soft networking. I've had a lot of good fortune with the latter, which I define as always being aware that the people you meet might know someone or something that could be beneficial to your career.

The best example of this soft networking was the way I got a job at The Japan Times Ltd. in 2007. A few months before finishing my contract on the JET Programme in Hiroshima Prefecture, I decided I wanted to move to Tokyo. When I tried to think of what jobs I could get (I was tired of teaching English, or at least I knew my heart wasn't in it), I remembered a man I had met earlier that year in a cafe in the small town I lived in.

He was a Canadian who was updating the Lonely Planet guidebook for the Chugoku region at the time. He told me his story about starting out as a copy editor at Kyodo News for a few years, then saving up enough money to write his own book. I was inspired. I got his card and stayed in touch with him.

Months later, when I was ready to move, I had a plan: Become a copy editor. I learned everything about copy editing and prepared a resume to show I was ready for the job.

Then I emailed a listserv — an email network that connected lesbian/bisexual women, both Japanese and non-Japanese, from all across Japan. It was mostly about promoting events, but people also introduced themselves sometimes, and so I did that and let however many hundreds of people who read the email know that I was planning to move to Tokyo and was looking for copy editing work.

I got a few responses from people with tips and advice, and one person wrote me to say that she had been interviewed by someone at the JT a year or two earlier, and still had the contact information, which she then passed on to me. I was so excited! A lead! So I quickly emailed that person at the JT. She said she thought they might be hiring and that she would put me in touch with her manager. I was so ecstatic!

It turns out they weren't hiring anyone right away, but copy editors typically have to write proficiency tests, so the manager suggested I come in and write the test anyway, even if they weren't sure they could hire anyone just yet.

I wrote the test and didn't hear anything for a few weeks. I followed up by email but the manager said she didn't know whether they were still hiring. She suggested I keep in touch.

So I started pursuing other options. Maybe I could do voice work? So I met with someone who did that and she told me what I would need to start off in that career. I also called up the Lonely Planet guy and even got a meeting with his old boss at Kyodo, but he said they weren't hiring either.

The time had come for me to move to Tokyo, but I still didn't have any work lined up. I figured I would give myself a month to find an editing job, and then start looking for teaching work.

Seven days after I arrived in Tokyo, the manager at the JT called me in for an interview with the president, and I was hired. I felt very lucky, but it's also a good example of the power of "soft networking."

I'm kind of doing the same thing right now with the film industry, giving it a month of pushing myself to network — meet people and volunteer on films — and seeing what happens! Wish me luck.

Next time my topic is ... gambling