If networking feels broken, it is because the social contract changed, not because you did.
LinkedIn inboxes are flooded. Cold outreach looks like spam. Even thoughtful messages often go unanswered unless there is existing trust or shared context. What used to work now produces silence, and most advice has not caught up to why.
This session is about working with reality, not fighting it. This is not a talk about clever messages, templates, or asking for referrals. It is about how credibility forms now and why context, not volume, opens doors.
In this session, we will cover
• Why cold outreach fails even when it is well written
• How spam, AI, and sales culture reshaped professional trust
• The difference between networking and context-building
• How opportunities surface without asking strangers for favors
• What to stop doing and where effort still compounds
Who this is for
• Experienced professionals and career switchers
• People exhausted by performative networking
• Anyone doing “the right things” and getting nowhere
What you will leave with
• A clear model for how trust works now
• Practical ways to build relevance without spamming
• Relief from feeling like networking failure is personal
