A growing majority of Americans say networking feels more like a thinly veiled transaction rather than relationship‑building — and a recent survey by Express Employment Professionals and The Harris Poll shows just how pervasive that discomfort has become.
According to the survey, 79% of U.S. hiring managers and 75% of job seekers say networking today feels more like a business transaction than a genuine personal connection. At the same time, 84% of job seekers say networking is primarily about identifying job opportunities — not building relationships — revealing a widening gap between what professionals want networking to be and what it has turned into.
The problem goes far deeper than awkward small talk.
Tech Is Making Networking Worse
Online platforms were supposed to make meeting people easier but, instead, they’ve introduced a new layer of artificiality. Seventy-eight percent of job seekers say online networking platforms have made interactions more transactional, and 84% of hiring managers agree.
Even though 59% of hiring managers think these platforms make authentic connections easier, most admit the interactions still feel impersonal and opportunistic. And 72% of job seekers say it’s difficult to form authentic relationships in environments where the goal feels transactional from the start.
Perhaps the most telling figure: Eighty-five percent of hiring managers now evaluate networking contacts based strictly on their influence or usefulness.
In other words, the “what can you do for me?” energy is unmistakable.
Gen Z and millennials — the generations most fluent in digital networking — are also the ones most likely to say it feels shallow, performative or forced. Their concerns echo a broader trend. In separate national research last year by Freeman (“New Research Reveals Gen Z Digital Natives Crave In-Person Events for Building Connections and Advancing Their Careers”), 91% of Gen Z professionals say in‑person events are essential to building real interpersonal skills and more than two‑thirds believe technology has left them feeling less connected at work.
“Technology can help us meet,” says Bob Funk Jr., CEO, president and chairman of Express Employment International, “but it’s our human commitment to listen, engage and invest in people that gives those connections lasting worth.”
