Why Job Seekers Avoid Networking
And Why Applying for Jobs May Be the Harder Road
I once worked with a compliance professional who landed a new job through someone who wasn’t a hiring manager, wasn’t a recruiter, and didn’t even work for the company that hired her.
Years earlier, she had worked closely with an outside professional to address a serious business risk. They developed considerable respect for one another and maintained their relationship even after their companies stopped working together.
When she eventually began looking for a new position, that contact was working with another organization facing similar concerns. His professional responsibilities prevented him from sharing confidential information about the situation with her. But he knew firsthand what she could accomplish and was able to recommend her to the company.
She got the job. And here’s what makes this story particularly interesting.
There was no advertised opening, no arduous application process, no screening interviews, and no job description listing the qualifications she needed to possess. The employer recognized that she could solve a problem and created a position around her capabilities. The entire process took weeks rather than months.
Why Applying Feels Easier Than Networking
Most job seekers I work with instinctively know that networking could produce better results than relying on job postings. They don’t need another career coach telling them to network. They need to overcome the discomfort of doing it.
For many, networking is the most uncomfortable part of the job search. Reaching out to people can feel awkward, particularly when you’re unemployed or considering a career change. You worry about imposing on someone, appearing desperate, or putting a professional relationship at risk. And because there’s no visible job waiting at the end of the conversation, it’s difficult to imagine how the effort will pay off.
Applying for advertised jobs feels different. There’s a real position, a description of the work, and a straightforward way to express interest. You can apply for several jobs in an afternoon and feel you’ve accomplished something.
But applying quickly and getting hired quickly are two very different things.
According to recruiting technology company Ashby’s 2026 Talent Trends Report, fewer than 5% of applications for business and technical positions resulted in interviews. The study analyzed more than 109 million applications across 247,000 jobs.
Think about that. More than 95% of applications in those categories never resulted in an interview, much less an offer.
Yet job seekers return to that process day after day, enduring automated rejections, unanswered applications, multiple rounds of interviews that go nowhere, and employers who simply disappear. The seemingly easier approach can gradually erode the confidence of even highly accomplished professionals.
The irony is that people who instinctively know networking could produce better results continue relying on a process that subjects them to rejection after rejection. The discomfort of reaching out to someone they know feels more threatening than the repeated disappointment of being rejected by employers they don’t.
When Helping You Helps Someone Else
There’s something else about networking that job seekers often overlook. They tend to think of it as asking someone to help them find a job. They hope a contact will know of an opening, pass along a résumé, or introduce them to someone with hiring authority.
But the most powerful opportunities sometimes develop because the other person has a reason of their own to recommend you.
Consider the professional who helped my compliance client. His primary motivation wasn’t helping an old colleague find employment. He was working with an organization that had a problem, and he knew someone who had successfully addressed a similar problem before.
Recommending her helped him serve the organization that was paying for his expertise.
The same dynamic can occur with consultants, vendors, customers, and other professionals who encounter business problems through their work. They may have no hiring authority and no knowledge of an advertised position. But they may have excellent reasons to introduce someone whose capabilities could help.
That’s the essential difference between asking someone to do you a favor and becoming someone they have a reason to recommend.
And networking may be your best tool for pursuing advertised jobs, too. The right connections can get you into that elusive top 5%, while making much of the conventional application process a formality.
Easy to Start Doesn’t Mean Fast to Finish
The compliance professional’s experience was unusual, but it wasn’t unique. I’ve worked with other clients whose networking conversations led to employment within weeks, including opportunities they would never have discovered through conventional job postings.
That doesn’t mean everyone who networks will find a job quickly, or that applying for advertised positions is a waste of time. It means we shouldn’t confuse the ease of beginning a process with its likelihood of producing the result we want.
An online application offers the immediate satisfaction of having done something. A networking conversation may not produce anything tangible that day. But it can establish something far more valuable: a relationship with someone who understands what we can accomplish and has a reason to recognize where those capabilities might be needed.
And those relationships can continue creating opportunities long after a particular job search has ended.
The question isn’t whether networking involves discomfort. Of course it does. The question is whether avoiding that discomfort is worth the frustration, rejection, and missed opportunities that may come with relying almost entirely on advertised jobs.
Source: Ashby, 2026 Talent Trends Report, “Recruiter Productivity” (April 28, 2026). https://www.ashbyhq.com/talent-trends-report/reports/2023-recruiter-productivity-tre
