Friends Before Connections

Last year, I had the opportunity to travel to Boston with other college students. I am a big extrovert and thrive on meeting new friends, so I was thrilled to attend. Many people I met shared their LinkedIn profiles with me so we could be each other’s new connection. As someone who does not spend much time on LinkedIn, I was taken aback. These students had 100 to 500 connections, and, at the time, I had around 35! After the trip, I made it to the big leagues of 75 connections, however, this had little value for me.

I made it a goal to learn something, outside of LinkedIn profiles, about my new friends on this trip. Of course, I loved hearing about their professional experiences and passions. But I became more interested in what they like to do outside of that. I met Jawanza and wish I could have talked about superheroes with him for hours! Megan and I talked about our experiences playing soccer and leaving our sport behind! These are just two tidbits I learned from two people out of the 30 who were on the trip. After having these personal conversations with my peers, I felt it was easy to ask them about their professional lives.

I loved learning about everyone on the trip. It reminded me of quality over quantity. Numbers can be intimidating; I say this as someone majoring in data analytics. Seeing people my age with more connections than I had was scary; I wondered if I was behind. The quality of your connections matters the most. Do they know something about you outside of your digital profile?

Recently, I had an interview for a summer internship. The first task my interviewer gave me was to describe myself outside of the workplace and college. I talked about my skydiving adventure, my love for the outdoors, and my passion for family time. I appreciated someone wanting to know about me.

Now, I encourage others to do the same. When you meet someone, find out what they are passionate about! Sending a friend or connection request is easy, but remember to have a real conversation. It is worth it.