The Difference Between Contacts and Connections →
Most of us know a lot of people.
Former coworkers. Online contacts. Casual acquaintances. People we've met through work, social media, conferences, or shared interests.
It's easy to collect names.
It's much harder to build relationships.
A contact is someone you've met.
A connection is someone who knows you.
They're the people who remember you years later. The people who answer the phone. The people who ask how you're really doing. The people who quietly open a door, offer encouragement, or think of you when an opportunity appears because trust already exists.
Networking is often presented as a strategy.
The strongest networks rarely begin that way.
They are built through conversations, reliability, curiosity, shared experiences, careful listening, and helping others without expecting something in return. They grow slowly, one interaction at a time.
In many ways, careers are shaped less by transactions than by relationships.
The people who know us well often recognize our strengths before we do. They recommend us, encourage us, challenge us, and sometimes change the direction of our lives with a single conversation or introduction.
That is why friendships, professional relationships, and everyday conversations matter more than we often realize.
Long after we've forgotten how we first met someone, we remember how they made us feel. Respect, kindness, and genuine interest have a way of lasting.
The best networking has never been about collecting contacts.
It's about becoming someone worth staying connected to.
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If this idea resonates with you, you may enjoy these related books:
Networking With a Purpose: The Informational Interview, Its Use, and Why It Is a Valuable Tool explores practical ways to build meaningful professional relationships that create opportunities over time.
The Human Factor examines the personal qualities, attitudes, and habits that influence trust, collaboration, and long-term success in both work and life.
See the Book on Amazon
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Networking Is Often Misunderstood →
“You know… the person who was just offered a leadership position with a massive pay bump and a corner office—even though nobody seemed to understand why.”
Eventually the whispers start.
“They must know somebody.”
“They got the job because of connections.”
Maybe they did.
But that assumption often reveals a misunderstanding about what networking really is.
Many people think networking is manipulation, favoritism, or simply finding the right person to open a door. They picture forced conversations, business cards, and transactional relationships designed only to get ahead.
But meaningful networking is usually something much quieter than that.
It’s trust built over time.
It’s being remembered as reliable, thoughtful, curious, or easy to work with. It’s the result of conversations, shared experiences, mutual respect, and relationships that developed long before an opportunity appeared.
In many cases, the person who “knew somebody” had simply spent years building credibility and staying connected to people in their field.
That’s not manipulation.
That’s relationship-building.
One of the ideas explored in Networking With a Purpose is that networking should never be viewed as something useful only during a job search. Its value does not end once you get the job.
The strongest professional networks become ongoing sources of:
insight,
perspective,
encouragement,
collaboration,
and opportunity.
They help us learn what is happening in our industry, understand people more deeply, and discover paths we may never have considered on our own.
Knowledge matters.
But relationships often determine how far that knowledge can go.
The most valuable networking is rarely about collecting contacts.
It’s about building genuine human connection.
5 Good Reasons Networking Matters →
Networking is a two-way street. It requires giving and taking to build trust. Staying in contact with your new connections is needed, and looking for ways to help them achieve their goals will develop and strengthen the relationship. It works best one on one because both sides can participate equally.
5 Good Reasons to Network
Finding Opportunities– Networking helps you meet new people, learn about different organizations, and discover career paths.
Finding Connections – Networking helps you find the contacts that can tell you what you need to know.
Understanding the Marketplace – Things change fast. You can’t see what is sometimes coming unless you meet new people with different perspectives, and overall, business connections are essential.
Gaining Creditability - Expanding your contacts and connections will give you more insight and creditability.
Finding new and fresh ideas – You can find new ideas in the marketplace faster if you look for them.
6 Good Reasons Why You Should Network, After You Find New Connections →
Is “more” better? Do more connections make your network better? The answers to these questions are found in understanding why a relationship is picked and if you are willing to be a good partner for them.
Six Reasons to Network
1. New connections can open doors for new business
2. New connections bring new referrals
3. New connections bring you into contact with new & best practices
4. New connections can bring personal opportunities
5. New connections can make you aware of new vendors
6. New connections open new alliances and partnerships
Networking requires you to get out of your comfort zone. →
You must develop relationships and connections within your network to have more opportunities to advance your career. Attending meetings and social events hosted by your professional association is a great way to connect with people in your field. Ask friends, family members, and acquaintances already in your circle to introduce you to people they know.
Networking requires a two-way street. You can’t expect to take information and insights from your contacts without sharing your communications with them. It is about trust and helping each other.
Quotes
“Find out what you have to do and who you have to meet, and then do it.”
Who should we connect to in each of our various networks? →
According to ABC News, genealogy is the second most popular hobby in the U.S. after gardening, and the second most visited category of websites, after pornography. The desire to search for your ancestors and build a family tree is something that a lot of people take seriously. The desire to connect your network links goes beyond the grave.
We see our living connections as part of various networks. Personal and professional groups of people are important to us through our association with them or the influence we feel from them.
Often, we don’t even think about our professional network until it becomes time to look for a job. People no longer work for one company for their whole career, retiring after 50 years with a pension and a gold watch. In today's world, the US Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics says that an individual may change jobs 12 times in their career.
Since 85% of jobs are found through networking, sooner or later, we will begin the process of developing a professional network. Forward-thinking employees will keep track of their coworkers, supervisors, senior managers, and people who have made an impression on them throughout their careers. We can find these names and contacts in our Rolodex, address books, and day planners. Once we have a list, we should actively decide who we want to invest in to build a long-term relationship. All relationships must be developed and maintained, especially professional relationships.
How do we Organize our Network? We can organize our network by dividing our contact names into groups. The most influential group, often our Professional Network, is for those we have decided to make our top 10. We contact these people a few times a year in person, by email, or in other ways. When we invest in them, we ensure our contacts are not forgotten. Co-Workers, supervisors, customers, suppliers, and competitors are important names for your Professional Network.
As we go through the day and some interesting fact or observation comes to our attention that makes us think of one of these contacts, we can send an email or give them a call. Your professional contact is reminded of your personality and skills by following up and reaching out. Ask about them and commit to your investment in the professional relationship. Be a contact worth having for those you value.
Acquaintances and Friends are in the second group. Some from this group may even be on the Christmas Card list. Nevertheless, they are important contacts and are maintained at a different level. Pick a top 10 or 20 and hold a contact frequency. This list could include family, friends, neighbors, church friends, and coworkers, past and present.
Past work experience. Unless you’re at entry level, your work value is related to your experience. If you’re busy wishing you could start your career in a different direction, you’re likely in for some disappointments. The work-related network contacts will see you best about what you have done.
Pick people who inspire you and that you admire. Even in a professional network where we have chosen the people we want to stay in touch with over the years; it is possible to have unhealthy relationships that hurt us. Our lives are happier and healthier, and we even live longer when we have close, solid, positive relationships. Pick people who inspire you and that you admire. People you have learned from, and if you’re reaching out to those you knew and are not part of the network, be positive and don’t invite negativity. Everyone you contact deserves a thank you and some feedback. Some first-time contacts will be ones your want to add to your permanent professional network.
Face-to-face old-fashioned networking is better! Voice to Voice! LinkedIn can help. That said, networking is critical in finding a new job and even a new boss.
If you genuinely like people and the feeling comes naturally to you, then you already know how to network and are most likely already a part of a network. Win Friends and Influence People back in October 1936. He included a list of “Six Ways to Make People Like You.” Becoming genuinely interested in other people is key to his statement: “You can make more friends in two months by being interested in them than in two years by making them interested in you.”
In addition, I would add that you ought to value and even treasure those relationships while being interested. If you believe, as I do, that the only thing you will take with you or at least have at the end of your life is your knowledge and your relationships, then it will be easy. Carnegie’s other five suggestions were to smile, remember the person’s name, be a good listener, talk about the other person’s interest, and make the other person feel important. When we are both excellent listeners and genuinely like people, others respond better to us.
Sooner or later, we will need to reach out to our professional network, and these thoughts are not intended to suggest that the process is a manipulation process. Trust won’t exist if your motives are suspect and not sincere. If you don’t value the relationships, it can backfire on you instead. Everyone we meet is part of our life network, but the professional network I refer to here are those we turn to when we make a job change or seek information about our professional interests.
Article on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/brent-m-jones/detail/recent-activity/posts/