Gen Z is a notoriously networking-avoidant generation. (Be honest, when’s the last time you picked up a phone and called someone?) But as much as some try to avoid networking at all costs, it’s a time-tested skill that needs to be learned and honed, because while the job market may change, creating, having, and leveraging connections will always be crucial for career success — especially early career success.
According to Her Campus’s 2026 graduation survey, over a quarter of recent grads (26%, to be exact) got their first job out of college from word-of-mouth networking. As for the current graduating class, 50% said they hope to use word-of-mouth networking to land their first job out of college. It’s certainly a flex to say you didn’t have to spend hours of your life on LinkedIn or Handshake to land your role — but, like… how can you actually pull that off?
Enter: Erin McGoff (aka Advice With Erin), a content creator, Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, and New York Times bestselling author of The Secret Language of Work. McGoff’s work centers around sharing career advice to the over 7 million global followers she has accumulated across social media platforms. Her Campus spoke exclusively with McGoff to get Gen Z-specific networking hot tips and insights — because if there’s someone who can break this topic down and make it feel less intimidating, it’s McGoff.
College students have tons of networking opportunities.
Networking is a lot easier when you have at least the foundation of a network to work with. And you can absolutely create this foundation while still in college — pop into office hours of professors you admire, make friends with people in your classes who share similar professional interests, and stay connected to those you work with. “Interning is the first thing that comes to mind,” McGoff tells Her Campus.
Not only can an internship help connect you to people you can network with, but if you play your cards right, you might be able to network your way right into a job. According to Her Campus’s 2026 graduation survey, 13% of recent grads got their job from an internship program, and 39% of graduating seniors hope the same thing will happen for them. “Just ask,” McGoff says. “A lot of people are able to turn their internships into full-time offers by just asking. Even if the company doesn’t have an open role, they [may be able to] create one. If they have demand, you can pitch yourself.”
McGoff also recommends networking within campus groups you’re part of, like Greek life, student government, and model UN. “All of those [activities] are going to open you up to a network of people for the rest of your life, not just in college,” she says.
Get into a positive networking mindset.
For those who find networking awkward or overwhelming, McGoff has some key advice. “I always recommend being interested and interesting,” she says. “So, be interested in people: See everybody as an opportunity for you to observe and learn about somebody new. But also be interesting: When they ask you a question like: ‘What are you doing this weekend?’ don’t just say ‘I don’t know.’ Tell them, ‘Oh, I actually signed up for this volunteer opportunity. I’ve never done this before but I thought I’d give it a try.’ Give them something to work with. That’s a part that people forget, but it’s really, really crucial,” McGoff says.
Craft an elevator pitch.
You may have heard of the term elevator pitch — it’s a 30- to 60-second initial statement that provides an overview into who you are, typically when you’re meeting new people in a professional setting. You know what it’s not? A verbal recitation of your resume. “Students often think they don’t have a lot to offer when it comes to an elevator pitch because they haven’t yet joined the professional world, but I think that it’s actually a really great time to craft a fantastic story about yourself,” McGoff says. “Come up with something that’s compelling at the moment. I would sit down and think about: Why are you in your degree? Why are you in your major? Why are you studying what you’re studying? What problem in the world do you see that you want to fix with whatever you’re studying?”
This is basically your chance to fine-tune how you want the world to view you — your origin story, if you will. “Humans love stories,” McGoff says. “We’ve always loved stories since the dawn of time. So instead of just listing out, ‘I’ve interned here and here,’ people are much more captivated by you telling a story about why you’re doing what you’re doing and where you plan on taking it.”
Yes, AI can help you network — if you use it the right way.
Even though networking doesn’t really have to be a tech-related task, it’s a fact of life that AI has permeated so much of the Gen Z experience — so naturally, there are ways you can use it to improve your networking. “AI is a great companion for giving feedback,” McGoff says. “Obviously, nothing beats talking to a real person, but I’ve developed this app called StupidFish … and one of the things that it does is it can give you beautiful guidance and feedback in an objective manner. It’s not your friend or your mom or your dad, but it’s a hyper-intelligent algorithm.”
That said, McGoff doesn’t want AI to be your only source of feedback. “I think that people should also set up mock interviews with a friend, with a mentor, because nothing replaces that actual human connection.”
Cold outreaching is fine, but warm connections are better.
Cold outreaching is a way to virtually network with someone you’ve never met. Basically, if you’ve ever messaged a hiring manager you have no shared background or mutual connection in common, you’ve done a cold outreach. It’s not necessarily a bad thing to to, but it doesn’t often pay off.
“I actually recommend against just blasting off cold messages,” McGoff says. “When DMing somebody on LinkedIn that you don’t know, it’s really hard to get a response from them.” That doesn’t mean your professional circle is limited to people you’ve only met IRL, though. “I always recommend you start with your warm connections, your weak ties. These are people that you have something in common with, whether that’s where you went to school, or your sorority, or some other organization that you’re a part of, or a friend, or a company that you interned at. Those are the people that you want to exhaust first and kind of saturate all of those connections.” Really dig deep — do you know someone who knows someone whose cousin’s sorority sister founded a company you want to work for? It’s time to hit them up!
Of course, you can still do those stone-cold outreaches. “If there’s a scenario where you’re applying for a job, and you can see the recruiter on LinkedIn, you’ve nothing in common with them, but you just want to reach out and introduce yourself, just send them a message and say, ‘Hey, I just applied for this role and I’m really excited about it. I think I’m a really great fit. I just wanted to reach out and put a face to an application. Thank you so much for your consideration. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to strengthen my application,’” McGoff says. Nothing wrong with that at all!
But one of the most crucial aspects of any kind of outreach? The follow-up. “Follow up a week later,” McGoff says. “The message doesn’t count until you follow up.”
Networking doesn’t always have to be a whole big thing.
Even though networking often involves face-to-face conversation, that doesn’t always have to be the case. Sometimes, you can do it from the comfort of your home (while wearing sweatpants). McGoff likes “couch-networking,” which she finds really resonates with Gen Z. “It’s basically where you watch YouTube videos or listen to podcast interviews with people in your industry. That’s a good way of meeting people without actually meeting them, because then you can listen to their takes on things, their opinions, their career, their life,” she says. But you can’t just stop there — you also have to engage. “You can reach out afterwards and just say, ‘Hey, I really liked what you said about this.’ But it doesn’t require you actually meeting the person to get to know them, so it’s kind of one of my favorite networking hacks.”
Be yourself. no, seriously.
A reason Gen Z as a whole doesn’t like networking is because it can feel performative. McGoff explains that a really simple way to make networking feel authentic is to just be authentic. Networking is a way to develop relationships — not just a way to get something you want. “People say, ‘Oh, I don’t want to network because I don’t want to use people’ and I say, ‘OK, then don’t use people,’” McGoff says. “Don’t make it transactional. Networking is just making professional friends.”
And remember, networking can be done anywhere, not just in career-oriented settings. “People think networking is messaging people on LinkedIn or going to a career fair,” McGoff says. But that’s not always the case. “The best way to network is at a friend’s birthday party, or at a wedding. It’s what I call ‘out-of-context networking.’ It’s when you’re in an environment that’s not necessarily professional, but maybe there’s somebody there who knows somebody in your industry and you just naturally make friends with them.”
McGoff references the six degrees of separation theory, which essentially posits that all people on Earth are six or fewer social connections apart from one another. (“For example, I could get to Barack Obama through this girl who went to my college and her uncle is Obama’s neighbor,” she says.) The point is, you never know who’s going to end up being helpful to you, and vice versa. “All you have to do is expand the number of people that you know and that you genuinely impress. This is why reputation is so important,” she says. “You need to be kind to people and not burn bridges because the more people that you impress in any setting, the wider and wider your network grows.”