For a lot of people, the Covid-19 pandemic changed what it means to network. Gone are the days when connecting with others meant hovering awkwardly around a plate of sweating cheese cubes, or trying to fit your whole name on a too-small name tag.
These days, we’re much more likely to gather in Zoom rooms than conference rooms or to ask questions by leaving a comment rather than raising our hands. In many ways, this is a good thing—it’s much easier to attend an event from your kitchen table than it is to deal with the hassle of attending in person.
But just because the way we network is changing doesn’t make it any less important. Research shows that networks lead to more jobs and business opportunities, greater knowledge, increased innovation, faster advancement and higher status and authority. According to LinkedIn, a staggering 85% of jobs are obtained through networking.
Now, AI is changing the game yet again, creating more opportunities than ever to network effectively. Here’s how to take advantage.
Overhaul Your LinkedIn Presence
ChatGPT has many uses, and one of them is its ability to assess users’ social media profiles. The popular “roast my profile” trend, of course, extends to LinkedIn, and in addition to being humorous (and maybe a little mean), it also offers genuinely helpful feedback.
To try it out, just copy the content from your profile and paste it into ChatGPT (Bard works well, too). If you want a response complete with Comedy Central-style ribbing, enter the prompt “Roast my LinkedIn profile.” Alternatively, you can also just ask for feedback on how to improve it.
In particular, AI can be especially valuable for reworking the ever-elusive “About” section, which is the first stop potential connections will make when trying to figure out what you’re, well, about. This section needs to be concise, catchy and make a strong pitch about who you are and what you can offer. When I tried it with my own profile, I was impressed how ChatGPT managed to retain the substance of who I am, but presented it in a more engaging, conversational way.
As with anything AI-related, however, it’s important to take any suggestions with a grain of salt, and avoid relying on it completely. As a tool, AI’s real strength is in refining the messaging that you’ve come up with yourself. You want your profile to be an authentic representation of your experience and skills, and that will always require a personal touch.
Test out talking points
For introverts like me, online networking is a blessing—schmoozing with big groups of people will never be my idea of a good time. As executive coach Kate Davis points out, introverts tend to favor online networking since it “allows them to better manage the in-person time, and it is always easier to be able to leave a networking call!”
But it doesn’t have to be one or the other—I actually think online networking can help lay the groundwork for in-person gatherings. Adding connections on LinkedIn, posting about your work, and crucially, boosting others’ work are all powerful ways to make connections within your industry, and take a lot of the awkwardness out of in-person conversations. AI-enabled event apps like Bizzabo and Brella even match attendees with similar interests, cutting out a ton of guesswork once you’re there IRL.
In the same way, it can help remake your LinkedIn profile, genAI is also super useful for generating and refining ideas for talking points and comments. Tools like Crystal can even assess other users’ profiles by analyzing their publicly available information like job titles, skills and experience, which it uses to make suggestions on how best to interact with them.
Strengthen Connections
When it comes to networking, making initial connections is just the tip of the iceberg. Fostering those connections and maintaining them over time is crucial, and often where things get tricky. As Dorie Clark, author of “Reinventing You: Define Your Brand, Imagine Your Future” writes for Harvard Business Review: “If you’re not staying in touch with people from your past, you’re cutting off a lot of potential opportunities.”
Maintaining an expansive network can be challenging and time-consuming, but here again, AI is proving to be indispensable. Connection Fox, for example, helps users keep track of important contacts, sets reminders to get in touch and even generates suggestions for ways to reach out, keeping important relationships from going cold.
Networking is not only an essential part of running a business, but existing in the modern world. AI can’t completely remove the sting of in-person small talk, but it can set you up for success by improving your online presence, helping kick off interesting conversations, and most importantly, keep them going.