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- Is Your “Net Working”? How to Build Meaningful Professional Connections
Is Your “Net Working”? How to Build Meaningful Professional Connections
By Richard Totten, Training Coordinator, Goodwill Industries of Northwest NC
Growing up, my dad loved to fish. I was terrible at it. The worms. The wiggly fish. Never being able to cast the line quite right. Fishing was just not my thing. So, my dad gave me a different job: net duty.
He had different-sized nets depending on what he was trying to catch, and my responsibility was to bring the right one at the right time. One day, I grabbed the wrong net. It was way too big. The first few times I tried to scoop the fish off his line, they slipped right through. My dad still managed to bring in some fish that day, but not nearly as many as he could have.
Now, before you panic and think you accidentally stumbled onto a Goodwill® outdoor sports blog, I promise there is a point to this. My experience helping my dad fish made me realize that networking can work the same way as “net working”.
Sometimes we think networking is simply about having more people. More contacts. More conversations. More connections. But just like fishing nets, bigger is not always better. The right network is not about size. It is about fit.
Connection Does Not Equal Relationship
One of the biggest misconceptions about professional networking is that success comes from numbers. If I connect with enough people, eventually opportunities will appear. But networking is not collecting. It is connecting.
A list of names is not the same thing as a group of people who know your work, trust your character or think of you when opportunities arise. Strong professional relationships are usually built gradually through consistency, curiosity and genuine interaction. That does not mean becoming everyone’s best friend. It means creating authentic professional relationships that continue to grow beyond a single introduction or exchanged contact.
Build Before You Need It
Many of us only think about networking when we are actively looking for a new opportunity. That makes sense. Career transitions naturally make us look outward. But the strongest networks are often built long before they are needed.
Ways to maintain a strong network:
- Check in with former coworkers.
- Congratulate someone on a promotion.
- Send a quick note after seeing someone share a professional milestone.
- Offer encouragement.
- Share resources.
- Stay curious about what others are doing.
Relationships built without immediate expectations often become the strongest ones over time.
Expand Your Range
Another thing helping my dad fish taught me is that different situations call for different tools.
Careers work the same way.
Professional connections do not only come from people with the same title, department or industry as you.
Sometimes the most valuable insight comes from:
- Someone in another department.
- Someone earlier in their career.
- Someone outside your field entirely.
- Someone with a completely different perspective.
Building a diverse network can expose you to new ideas, opportunities and possibilities you may not have discovered on your own.
Keep Your Network Alive
A network is not something you build once and put on a shelf. It needs attention. That does not mean constant communication. It means being intentional. Reply occasionally. Check in. Follow through. Offer support when appropriate. Small actions over time often create stronger professional relationships than one big networking event. Think less about growing your network and more about strengthening it.
Quality Creates Opportunity
Networking is not about trying to get to know everyone.
It is about making it easier for the right people to know the version of you that is genuine, capable and invested. The goal is not to become the most connected person in the room. It is to become someone people remember for the right reasons. Professional relationships often create opportunities in ways we never expected. Not because someone owes us something. But because trust has already been built.
Not Sure Where to Cast Your Net?
Your local Goodwill can help. Local Goodwill organizations offer programs, partnerships and community connections that can connect you to job fairs, resource fairs, workshops, classes and other opportunities to expand your professional network.
Whether you are looking to build new skills, meet people in your community or explore your next opportunity, those connections can help put you in the right places at the right times.
You never know which conversation, event or introduction could lead to the opportunity you have been looking for.
Build the Right Net
That day, helping my dad fish taught me something I did not fully understand until years later.
Having a bigger net does not automatically mean catching more fish.
And having more contacts does not automatically create more opportunities.
Build relationships.
Stay connected.
Be intentional.
Because sometimes success is less about casting a wider net…
and more about building the right one.
