I can’t quite remember how I met James Beard Broadcast Media Award Winner Sue Zelickson. Maybe it was an IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals) conference of which we both have long been active members. But she has been a gracious and dear friend.

In fact, she has invited me to be part of the 15th Annual Minnesota Monthly Food & Wine Experience in Minneapolis this weekend. I can’t wait to see her.

Through the years, we have shared stories and triumphs as well an occasional drop of gin. We may have been having a noggin when I asked her how she became a food radio host and how she has continued to succeed. In her velvety radio voice, Sue Z began:

“To be part of the food universe as a radio reporter requires you to look at things fairly yet form your own opinions and be aware that your words can influence the decisions made by others. A food reporter must have an extensive knowledge of and interest in food as well as a genuine curiosity about the people who are involved in producing it.

Radio reporting is easier than being a TV reporter, as you don’t need to worry about looking like a fashion model. You do need a good voice, though, and you must be prepared to do your homework, checking facts and the background of guests. Having quick recall is essential and it is important to have a solid grounding on the subject in which you are reporting. You must enjoy eating all kinds of foods and preferably not have allergies, aversions, dietary restrictions, strong dislikes, or prejudices. Also, you must not argue with your guests about their views on controversial issues.

I learned how to be a radio host while on the job at WCCO AM/CBS Radio in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where I work with a program director and producer. We plan the programs together, deciding which guests to interview and preparing a list of questions.

Many guests want to promote their cookbooks or their product and arrive at the radio station with a prepared list of questions for the radio host to ask. I prefer to ask my own questions so I don’t get a canned answer. To keep the guest on his or her toes, it is important to develop your own style and separate yourself from all the other radio programs. The listeners want information that they can use, not just a lot of idle chatter.

After 20 years as a food reporter, I have learned to talk slowly, chew my food quietly, and choose my words carefully, while enjoying every bite and every experience along the way.”

After she was finished, I looked at her and smiled sweetly, then boldly asked if she could now write all this down. I wanted to share it in FOOD JOBS. She just laughed. Thankfully, Sue is not good at saying “no.”

Everyone agrees. Networking is one of the most positive and effective ways to find a job or expand your business. Networking is the process that leads to building the relationships to support your goals.  It takes time, planning and follow-up. Like planting a garden, the results are not always immediately apparent. The fruits are not always harvested at the end of a conference or after a chance meeting or even when you get the job you wanted more than life itself. In fact, the process of networking never ends.

For me, networking has offered a lifetime of incalculable rewards—both of giving and receiving. I was struck by such a feeling this week when I served on a food careers panel at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) with Andrew Smith, the editor of the Oxford University Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. I had met him several years ago when I attended a talk he gave for The Culinary Historians of America. Ron Tanner was on the panel too. He is vice president of the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade (NASFT). I met Ron through the Fancy Food Show where I used to sell my little single subject cookbooks.

The meeting at ICE was designed for the students and faculty. I wanted something from them. I wanted to teach a course on Food Jobs at ICE so I asked the President of ICE if he would take me on.  I also wanted Ron’s help in announcing the publication of my book, FOOD JOBS, on the NASFT web site, which, in my opinion, is the best of all the daily information web sites. I asked him (nicely!) for this favor and he willingly granted it.

Andrew Smith teaches culinary history at The New School in Manhattan. He also wanted something. He wanted ICE students to attend special events at The New School.

Ron Tanner wanted two students to help out at the next Fancy Food Show. He asked, and several students accepted the invitation, for what in this case is actually a paid position.

In return, several students asked the panel for specific help.  One wanted to know how to pursue a career as a food historian. A young student wanted to know how to write a proposal for a cookbook. I immediately e-mailed her some information.

Another student raised her hand and asked me why I wasn’t listed on Wikipedia. I told her that you are not permitted to write an entry for yourself. She offered to compose the entry for me. I accepted her offer. Now she’s decided to ask others in the culinary world if she can write their biographies for Wikipedia too. This could be the diving board to propel her into a whole new interesting (and well-paid) career.

Andrew Smith is  also is the past Chair of The Culinary Trust, the philanthropic partner of the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP). Ron is on the Board of Directors of this organization. I was one of its founding members and worked on several committees before being appointed president. We on the panel hoped the ICE students would join our association. We provided many incentives on why to join and asked them to look at our association’s website.

The time I devoted to IACP flowered into innumerable friendships, memorable conversations and countless unexpected opportunities. Every segment of the food community has similar organizations and all are easily accessed online.

When I look at my ever-expanding network of cherished friends, I realize I am part of a lovely, celebratory, constantly hungry crowd of food lovers. This makes me rich beyond my wildest dreams.

When I asked colleagues to describe their careers for FOOD JOBS, every single one agreed to do so. Not one asked for a fee of any kind. Their generous contributions will, I hope, inspire and help many food lovers get started in their chosen corner of the vast food universe.

This brings me back full circle: It is important to remember that networking is different from selling. The object is the relationship: you are not trying to get someone to buy your product or services in 20 seconds or less.  The value of networking is reaped over time and returned dividends in both imaginable and unimaginable ways.

If you buy a lottery ticket and you don’t win gazillions of dollars, you won’t think it is your fault that the prize went to another person. It was not because you were having a bad hair day or the person who sold you the ticket didn’t give you a kiss.

Yet, if you randomly apply for a job through a want advertisement and you don’t get it, you begin to think there is something wrong with you. There isn’t. It could be that your chances of even getting a response to your inquiry are about the same as winning a lottery. It has been estimated that the likelihood of getting an answer or better yet, the opportunity to have an interview is less than one percent. In other words, there is a one in a hundred chance for you to get your foot in the door. If hundreds of qualified applicants answer an ad for a job, your chances are even slimmer. Alas. All too often it is whom you know…

So what do you do? Today, take the important step of establishing or reigniting your network. Ask for help. Maybe your friend has a friend who has a friend. Figure out how to meet the people are who are in a position to be your mentor and guide you with your career.

If you want a culinary career but are not sure how to get started, volunteer at food events. Attend conferences. Launch a blog. Explore how to write an article for the magazine or web site that occupies the niche in the hospitality industry in which you are interested. Be nice!

O.K. this may be pie-in-the-sky.  It is expensive to go to conferences. Even if you are quite impoverished, you can contact the organization that interests you and offer to volunteer in exchange for getting in. Ask to have your travel expenses covered. You may not get a fistful of money but that doesn’t mean you are not being paid.

Once you are hired you have to think up a project — some work that is not part of your official duties. You have to take your courage in your hands, introduce yourself and ask for what you want. If you don’t ask, there is virtually no possibility somebody will come along and offer it to you.

You never know when the next opportunity will come your way and you must always be ready to welcome it — fearlessly! Keep your business card where you can reach it easily. Don’t’ fumble. Don’t mumble. Follow up.

My tip: Be a pal. A job offer will follow. You can count on it.

Money is tight these days. Yet scholarships for culinary school can be found. It takes digging and perseverance. A scholarship or grant may be waiting for you right now. But no one is going to hand it to you. Unless you ask for it, you have virtually no hope of grabbing it.

“Concentrate on researching the organization that offers or administers the kind of scholarship you want,” advises Dan Traster, former academic director of culinary arts at The Art Institute of Washington in Arlington, VA. “For instance, the National Restaurant Association promotes the entire restaurant industry, and does so by considering applicants who want to be managers, dieticians and marketers as well as cooks and pastry chefs.”

I know this is true as I’ve written many, many reference letters for students seeking additional scholarships and grants while they were still in school. It may seem obvious but it bears repeating: when you apply for scholarships:

• Read the fine print. It is important to show you are really serious about continuing to stay or switching to the culinary field, won’t change your mind and drop out if you find the work too hard or if it fails to live up to your expectations. Don’t waste your time applying for a scholarship for high school grads when you already have a bachelor’s degree.
• Check the scholarship deadlines for applications and allow plenty of time to meet them.
• Look at more than one school and study their scholarships and grant programs carefully. Ask what kinds of scholarships they offer; how many are available, and what you have to do to get one.
• Follow the instructions on the application form carefully, and answer every question. Reviewers say many applicants are refused simply because the applicants left some questions blank.
• Be realistic. If you are asked to write an essay  describing your goals, it is best to say that you are starting out and hope to find a job as a line cook in a restaurant rather than suggest that you want to start your career as a consultant Chef Thomas Keller or Emeril Lagasse.

“In other words,” says Traster, “focus on an achievable goal and explain how the scholarship will help you to meet the goal.”

You may want to go to Italy to study food of a specific region.  That is a reasonable and understandable purpose and there are organizations that offer scholarships for just such a purpose. You may receive a grant that will give you enough funds to stay alive while working as an unpaid intern in a food television show or segment.

Scholarships are available but you have to work hard to get your hands on the big prize money. Grants and scholarships have recently been offered by these culinary organizations:

• Careers through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP) is a national school-to-career program with eight locations that links public high schools to the foodservice industry. Through its Cooking Competitions for Scholarships program, C-CAP has awarded $13 million in post-secondary school scholarships.
• The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) awards more than $1.1 million through 769 scholarships at its main campus in Hyde Park, NY and its two campuses in St. Helena, CA and San Antonio, TX. Recipients of the “Cream of the Crop” scholarships are selected based upon their leadership skills and academic record; earning $5,000 renewable for each year of study at the CIA, provided they maintain at least a 3.2 GPA.
• National Restaurant Association (NRA) awards scholarships totaling $5 million.
• Culinary School of the Rockies in Boulder, CO offers one $5,000 tuition-credit scholarship for a pre-enrolled student or career professional toward its 6-months Diploma of Culinary Arts in addition to suggesting scholarship information from a number of culinary associations.
• The Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) in New York City
• International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) awards 21 scholarships ranging from $4,000 in tuition credit to full tuition at culinary schools worldwide. The IACP Culinary Trust also assists food writers who need help covering travel and research expenses.
• Le Cordon Bleu offers scholarships at its 29 international locations across five continents.
• The French Culinary Institute in New York City.
• L’Academie de Cusine offers scholarships in its Gaithersburg, MD location.
• New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier, VT.
• Kendall College offers scholarships in its Chicago, IL location.
• American Culinary Federation’s American Academy of Chefs.
• Johnson & Wales University (JWU) offers a variety of scholarships at its four campuses in Providence, RI, North Miami, FL, Denver, CO and Charlotte, NC.
• American Dietetic Association offers scholarships.
• American Institute of Wine & Food.
• International Foodservice Editorial Council (IFEC) provides funds to students interested in culinary marketing, public relations and food writing.
• Sullivan University offers scholarships at its Louisville, KY location.
• International Food Service Executives Association.
• Women Chefs & Restaurateurs.
• Culinary Trusts’s Julia Child Endowment Scholarship.
• The eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters offers scholarships.
• The Charlie Trotter Culinary Education Foundation awards scholarships to individuals seeking careers in the culinary arts who otherwise would not have the means to pursue their dreams. Through his foundation, Chef Trotter (http://www.charlietrotters.com/about) has donated over 30 Guest Chef-for-a-Day certificates each month for the past 10 years and awarded over $150,000 in scholarships.