3 Apps That Take the “Work” Out of Networking

You know the importance of networking. You understand how a good connection can land you a new job or move you up in your company. But your time is limited and networking can be a real time-suck.

Hey, no worries. We’ve got you covered. Check out these three apps that make networking simple, painless and fast.

1. Shapr

The idea behind this networking app is simple: Every day, Shapr curates a list of top contacts using your information such as location, interests and career seniority.

Swipe left to pass on a connection or swipe right to “meet” the person. Then, if the feeling’s mutual, you’ll engage in conversation via Shapr’s chat.

The best part? Since you only receive a list of top possible matches once a day, you’ll save plenty of time. The app’s developers say checking your matches takes just a minute, so add it into your morning routine or maybe do it while you’re waiting on your salad order during your lunch break.

2. Weave

Think of Weave as the friend who’s always saying, “I’m getting you in touch with a buddy of mine. You’ll meet him Saturday. No excuses.” Don’t have a friend like this? Well then maybe you need Weave.

In a classic Tinder-style, once you’re matched with a person of aligning interests, and Weave sets up a meeting time and date. After the meeting, you share your thoughts with the app, which helps refine your future matches.

The great thing about Weave: It brings the human element back to networking. No LinkedIn messages back and forth, just a real, in-person meeting. Terrifying thought, right?

3. Lanyrd

Before you get all “but this is a conferencing app,” hear us out: Lanyrd might not cut down on the time it takes to attend a conference, but it can help save your precious conference-planning minutes by making it incredibly fast and easy to discover upcoming conferences and events in your field.

Because if you’re looking to boost your network, you really should attend conferences.

When you’re at the conference, Lanyard provides important networking information like who’s speaking, who’s attending and it even provides you with the conference’s official hashtag.

And if you’re killing it on social, this app might be perfect for you as it shows the events your LinkedIn and Twitter followers are interested in attending.

Boost your networking efforts with insights of one of our experts, who can help you learn how to develop and maintain your professional network to help you achieve your goals, in a one-hour career counseling session.