Networking tends to feel like a chore: formal, a little awkward and mostly transactional.<\/p>\n
As college students, we attend career fairs, networking lunches and connect with people on LinkedIn in hopes of advancing our careers, or just starting them. Sometimes those relationships end after one conversation, leaving us wondering if they were worth having in the first place.<\/p>\n
Part of what makes formal networking uncomfortable is the pressure to make a good impression in a short amount of time. These conversations can be a starting point, but meaningful relationships rarely develop from a single interaction.<\/p>\n
Recruiting events can help us meet professionals, but they\u2019re only one way of building a network.<\/p>\n
In college, we\u2019re networking all the time without even realizing it.<\/p>\n
Through our classmates, professors, friends and campus activities, we\u2019re forming connections that develop over time. We have opportunities to get to know people\u2019s personalities, interests and goals through shared experiences, something a 30-minute coffee chat can\u2019t always authentically offer.<\/p>\n
We often think of networking as something separate from our personal lives, overlooking how the relationships we build every day can influence our professional futures.<\/p>\n
A classmate might eventually become a colleague. A professor could become a mentor, or the person who convinces us to take a class we end up loving. A friendship might introduce us to an entirely new industry, or a new way of seeing things.<\/p>\n
These relationships aren\u2019t necessarily formed with professional intentions, but that doesn\u2019t make them any less valuable.<\/p>\n
We never know where they\u2019ll lead; our connections have connections.<\/p>\n
Wearing a Lehigh sweatshirt to the airport might spark a conversation with an alum. Maybe they work somewhere we\u2019d like to learn more about.<\/p>\n
Even something as silly as a cornhole competition can be networking in disguise. We\u2019re getting to know someone through a shared experience without thinking of it as networking.<\/p>\n
These moments might not lead to a job offer, a new internship or even a second conversation. That doesn\u2019t make them a waste of time. Not every person we meet has to play a role in our professional future for the interaction to have value.<\/p>\n
And there\u2019s nothing wrong with recognizing that connections can lead to opportunities. But that also doesn\u2019t mean we should approach every relationship wondering what we might get out of it.<\/p>\n
When we\u2019re so focused on making the right professional connections, we risk overlooking the relationships we\u2019re already forming. The relationships we build through ordinary interactions can be just as influential as those we deliberately seek out.<\/p>\n
Recognizing this might also change how we approach everyday relationships. We might be more willing to get to know someone we sit next to in class or continue a conversation with someone we just met.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Every interaction gives us an opportunity to learn something, whether it\u2019s about another person\u2019s experiences, a different perspective or an opportunity we didn\u2019t know existed. Not every connection will lead to something professional, but that doesn\u2019t mean we have nothing to gain from it.<\/p>\n