i recently lost my job and it's horrible being in the 'unemployed' class -- you're made to feel worthless, you have to take advice from people, perfectly well meaning of course, that are basically encouragement on digging your own grave - i love being in the position where i have to do some fake elizabethian courting ritual where i have to pretend i'm super excited to do whatever tf they do, oh and i'm the best man for the job! -- when you've just sent in 200 applications and gotten nothing back, when you've just been let go for dubious bullshit reasons, you're supposed to act like you're ready for a challenge!
important video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkYHNO2vNG4
That's how networking works. Make good impressions on people and they open doors for you, both literally -like in your case- and figuratively.
Yep. It’s why I tell my students to make friends with people on the “keeping the lights on” side of things. You are friendly in general, no strings attached, and they will move mountains for you because you’re one of the nice ones.