Networking for a job is like getting a date

Looking for a spouse, or simply someone to date, can be a lot like looking for a job.

And like the guys at bars who use lame pickup lines, having bad manners in the job hunt won't likely lead to what you want.

Good networking skills are all about being sentient -- being finely sensitive to how other people perceive or feel things. And using those skills well can be the difference between landing the job or the date.

While author Leil Lowndes doesn't directly make the same connection that I do between networking for a job or a date, her new book "How To Instantly Connect With Anyone" lists ways to build on business and social relationships, and "emotional prediction" of how someone is going to react is key in a job search, she told me in a telephone interview this week.