Gen Z workers are changing what it means to network

Gen Z is reframing professional networks as “internet friends.”

Traditional approaches to networking tend to focus on making strategic connections with people who can help boost your career. Meagan Loyst, founder and CEO of Gen Z VCs, notes that gen Z finds the idea of pursuing connections solely for professional gain insincere and off-putting. But this feeling hasn’t kept gen Z from participating on networking platforms like LinkedIn. Indeed, they’re more active on LinkedIn than any previous generation, making “28.7% more monthly connections than millennials, 54.7% more than gen X and 143.5% (over twice as many) than boomers.”

Gen Z’s motivations for networking and ways of making connections stand in stark contrast to their older colleagues, however. Rather than tallying how many links they can accumulate or worrying about presenting a polished professional persona, gen Z aims for authenticity...