Eighty-percent of professionals consider networking important to career success

According to new LinkedIn global survey results, almost 80 percent of professionals consider professional networking to be important to career success. Not only that, but 70 percent of people in 2016 were hired at a company where they had a connection. Despite the importance of networking, the survey revealed gaps in how professionals feel vs. their behavior and how they stay in touch with their network. Here’s what we found:

Key Findings:

Networking attitudes don’t match networking behaviors

• 38 percent globally said they find it hard to stay in touch with their network.
• The leading cause? Nearly half (49 percent) globally say it’s because they don’t have enough time.
• Interestingly, despite the majority (79 percent) globally agreeing that professional networking is valuable for career progression, less than half (48 percent) globally say they keep in touch with their network when things are going well in their career.

Tap your connections to find your way in

• More than one third (35 percent) say that a casual conversation on LinkedIn Messaging has led to a new opportunity.
• What type of new opportunities? Business deals for one. One-quarter of professionals globally have established a new business partnership through having a conversation on LinkedIn Messaging.
• Nearly two-thirds (61 percent) of professionals globally agree that regular online interaction with their professional network can lead to the way in to possible job opportunities.
  

Methodology:

The LinkedIn online survey was conducted Feb. 6 to March 18, 2017 among 15,905 LinkedIn members across 17 countries.