From the time we began our first day of kindergarten to our last day of college, we knew we were at school for the purpose of acquiring knowledge to be successful later in life. However, networking should be talked about just as much because of the weight it holds in today’s society.

Building a network of valuable connections is a crucial part of becoming successful in a career and can make the biggest difference when job searching. Having the right connections can be the main factor between securing a job and submitting an application that will never be viewed by the hiring team. From my experience and knowledge I’ve gained from others, I think who you know is more important than what you know. 

I always knew that networking was important, but I recently gained a new perspective on the subject. In one of my classes, we were all told to think of our most recent or current job. We were told to raise our hand if we knew someone or had a reference at that job before applying. Everyone except one student raised their hand. The exercise showed that who we knew helped all of us land our current job. Clearly, we had to have the necessary job skill sets, but we didn’t specifically get the positions because of what we knew. I realized how important it was to have industry connections during my previous position and how different things could’ve been without that relationship.

Your personal contacts may be the reason you scored your first job and it also might be the reason you can move up later in your career. Everyone has connections whether you realize them or not. You have the opportunity to network withclassmates, former employers, friends, family and work colleagues. Connections can get you in contact with the right people and to the right places. 

I have been on the other side of the situation: having no connections for certain jobs. I have applied to numerous jobs and my application was never even seen. The reason for this was that I was applying to places where I didn’t know anyone. Many positions have hundreds of applicants at a time, so hiring teams rarely make it through every application. Having the right connection could be the reason your resume ends up at the top of the pile or how you make it to the first round of interviews. Granted, you can still apply for a job and get hired without having connections, but the odds of that happening are much lower.

Thinking from a hiring team’s perspective, it is so crucial to know who you’re employing. You can get a good sense of someone’s character through interviews, but there is no way to truly get to know a person from that alone. Hiring teams are looking for someone who is trustworthy. Ultimately, there is no better way to tell if someone has these traits than having a contact confirm your reliability and speak highly of you. 

A balance of who you know and what you know is the best way to lead to success. While your knowledge will help you remain successful, who you know should remain a priority, now more than ever before. When it comes down to it, your connections can open doors for you.