Be honest - if you have a good job how much was nepotism involved in getting it?

[Monkeytrousers]

How do you get into the decent jobs market??

monkeytrousers are you talking academic jobs?

because I think then it does all depend on who you have cited a lot, met up with at confs, got to know.

I got invited to apply for a job recently by a guy I have met a few times who knows I cite his work a good deal. Couldn't apply because it's fixed term and I'm pregnant - I really wanted that one...

Also got my first job (in publishing) through my dad who was an author for the publishing house. Later on, once I had experience, it was mostly through applications, though did get one contract job in finance through a colleague who had moved and invited me to follow him.

I think contacts really do matter but are not the absolute be all and end all.

Oh, anything that isn't menial, bar work or clerical stuff - stuff that actually allows you to use your brain.

Nepotism and networking is how I've gotten most of my work. That said, I wouldn't have lasted if I wasn't able to deliver but it does help to get a foot in the door.

first job - had an 'in' via friend of a friend of my dads, second job, own merits, third job - self-employed - the purist form of nepotism...

I teach, if you class that as a good job.I got that beacuase no one else applied!

I got it because I brought something to the team that they had no expertise in and wanted to break into.
So luck, really (although two degrees and years of experience can't have hurt).