Gen Z grew up online. They can build a following, join a group chat with hundreds of people, and DM a stranger without a second thought. So why are so many of them stuck when it comes to something as simple as reaching out to a colleague for career advice?
New research from LinkedIn suggests it comes down to confidence, not connectivity. Almost nine in ten young Australians (89%) say they know a professional network matters for their career. But three in five (61%) admit they aren’t actually doing anything about it.
The Confidence Gap
The numbers tell a clear story. More than half of Gen Z (52%) say they simply don’t know how to start building professional relationships. Others hold back because they’re worried about being a nuisance (41%), being judged (37%), or coming across as fake (30%).
It’s not that they don’t want a network – they just don’t know how to build one without it feeling awkward or forced.
Part of the problem, according to the research, is that nobody ever really taught them. Over seven in ten Gen Z respondents (71%) say they’ve had little to no guidance on how to build professional relationships, and have mostly had to work it out on their own.
Why It Matters More Than Ever
With AI reshaping how people search for jobs, apply, and even do their day-to-day work, career paths are looking less linear than they used to. In that kind of environment, who you know can matter just as much as what you know.
Almost a quarter of Gen Z (22%) say they’ve landed their next role through a professional connection made online. And LinkedIn’s own data shows US job applicants with an inside connection at a company were 6.7 times more likely to be hired than those without one.
The Twist: People Actually Want to Help
Here’s the part that might surprise young professionals holding back from reaching out: older generations are far more open to helping than Gen Z assumes.
LinkedIn’s research found that 85% of Millennials and 87% of Gen X professionals say they’d be willing to offer advice or support to someone just starting out in their career — even if they’d never met them before.
In other words, the door is far more open than it looks from the outside.
Five Ways to Start Building Your Network (Without the Cringe)
LinkedIn Career Expert Brendan Wong shared some practical, low-pressure ways to start building professional relationships:
- Start with common ground. A shared school, university, industry, or interest makes it much easier to strike up a conversation. LinkedIn’s My Network tab and AI-powered people search can help surface people you already have something in common with.
- Follow before you connect. You don’t have to send a connection request the moment someone catches your interest. Follow them first, get a feel for what they post about, and let a more natural reason to reach out present itself.
- Skip the perfect message. You don’t need a beautifully crafted intro or a formal reason to say hello. A thoughtful comment, a genuine question, or sharing your own perspective on someone’s post is often enough. According to LinkedIn, members who engage with a connection’s post are almost three times more likely to receive a connection request, and nearly five times more likely to receive a message.
- Build the relationship before you need it. The best time to network isn’t when you’re job hunting — it’s before you need anything at all. A single conversation today can open a door you didn’t even know existed down the line.
- Remember: most people are happy to help. The fear of “bothering” someone is often bigger in your head than in reality. As the data shows, the majority of experienced professionals genuinely want to support the next generation.
The Bottom Line
Gen Z isn’t lacking ambition or awareness – they know relationships matter for their careers. What’s missing is the confidence and the know-how to actually start. And as Brendan Wong puts it, real networking rarely starts with a big gesture. It starts small: a comment, a like, a shared interest – the kind of everyday interactions Gen Z is already comfortable with online, just redirected toward their careers.
Source: LinkedIn research conducted by Censuswide, July–August 2026, among 18,050 full-time and part-time workers aged 18–80 across ten global markets including Australia.
