“It’s not what you know; it’s who you know.”
I’m not sure who coined this common expression on the value of networking, but I bet you’ve seen it a hundred times before. It hits on something important and often overlooked by young professionals, but also provokes a lot of misguided attempts at networking.
As a result of schooling, most young people are focused on “what you know.” For 16 years (of school and college) our teachers assign tasks or projects and we compete to demonstrate our skill on those projects. School ignores the crucial part of work projects in the real world–the fact that you need to actually get the project.
What you know matters to a point. You can think of that point as a minimum viable skill level. No one is going to trust you with a project if they don’t think you have the skill to pull it off. If you have no arms, your friends aren’t going to ask you to help them move. If you’ve never used a computer, you’re not going to get a job designing websites. But you don’t have to be a master of a skill to get opportunities. All work is a matter of relationships and trust is an important part of any relationship decision. So if a stranger appears to have better skills than your friend, you are still likely to ask your friend to help with a job.
Once you have skills develop to a certain point, then relationship become critical for two reasons.
1) They help you get opportunities to make money using the skills you have
2) They give you a chance to improve and develop new skills
The best way to develop skills is through working on projects that stretch your boundaries. In any project you work on, there will be elements that are new and help you learn. As you build trust with someone, they are likely to continue to ask you to work on projects that you don’t know how to do, but can figure out.
When it comes to getting projects (or jobs) in the real world, who you know is important, but not exclusively and not exactly. Simply knowing someone doesn’t matter, what is important is that they know the skills you have and trust your ability to follow through. Misunderstanding this is why there are so many misguided attempts at networking. People run to networking events, shake hands, give out business cards, and send LinkedIn connections, but all that work doesn’t help them build trust with anyone.
It’s not what you know, and it’s not who you know, it’s who knows and trusts what you know.
Truly valuable “networking” is something that happens over a long time, and happens mostly by focusing on doing good work and documenting your work. Early in your career, building a website for one friend is much more valuable relationship building than meeting 100 people one time at a networking event. When you don’t have skills or connections, working for a year at a company and investing time in building relationships with your coworkers it unmeasurably more valuable than going to a series of conferences.
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