78% of college students believe networking is more important than academics

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A few days ago, Chen Shan from Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics conducted a survey on the university’s intranet: Which is more important – acquiring professional knowledge or building networks and developing social skills? As a result, 78% of the students chose the latter. 　　Why conduct such a survey? Chen Shan said that seeing her classmates around her actively building networks, both intentionally and unintentionally, she wondered if this phenomenon also existed in other universities, and whether building relationships was considered more important than studying. Chen Shan posted the survey on the university students’ communication platform—the campus website—and as of last night, 128 people had taken part in the survey. 　　On this topic, Chen Shan also interviewed some students from finance schools. 　　Some college students are creating their own talent pools. Zhan Zhiyu, a freshman, posted a blog entry on the university’s website a few days ago titled “41 Talent Pool,” in which he listed details about several “talented” people he knew, and encouraged his friends to reply and share their own information so as to enrich this talent pool. 　　“I think such a talent pool will be helpful both during my time in school and for my future career. ”Zhan Zhiyu, who is only in his first year, has already met quite a few people at school. He keeps updating his talent pool, organizing the information systematically and creating electronic talent profiles. ““This will be a valuable asset for my university years,” he said. 　　Feng Liqin, a sophomore majoring in marketing, is also working on this project; she created a QQ group called “Finance College Talent Pool,” which already has 97 members. “They are mostly the leaders of student organizations, and they can share experiences with each other,” said Feng Liqin. 　　To build networks, students also print business cards. Yu Guozheng is a student majoring in Business Administration at Zhejiang Finance University; when he entered college as a freshman, he went ahead and had business cards printed, which he could give to the leaders of various student organizations, as well as use when attending university forums. In less than a year, 100 business cards were used up. 　　Are business cards really useful? “Of course! ”Yu Guozheng said that some time ago, the head of the outreach department at the Youth Association of Hangzhou Normal University got in touch with him; “While organizing his business cards, he remembered that it had been a long time since they last communicated.” We’re getting along well now. ”Recently, another business owner got in touch with him to sponsor an event at the school. “I’ve forgotten when I gave him my business card; it shows that it’s still useful to distribute more business cards.” ” 　　Meeting three people a day and starting a “Snack Hotline” – Hua Leiyang, who majored in marketing, set himself a goal: to meet three people every day. “Whether it’s for interviews, competitions, or even taking elective courses, I always try to meet as many people as possible. Over four years, it is definitely a huge amount of wealth. ”Hua Leiyang said that his business card book is already quite thick now. 　　He set up a \"snack hotline\" at the school, assigning agents in each dormitory building; students simply made a call, and the agent would deliver the plums, drinks, etc. they wanted within 3 minutes. In addition to the school’s own business, there are also nearby universities; a total of 32 people act as his agents, with monthly sales reaching nearly 20,000. Many of these agents are friends he has made over time. 　　Views of corporate HR managers Last night, we conducted telephone interviews with several corporate HR managers— Chen Zengqing, manager of the Recruitment Management Department at Ningbo Oaks Group: We often say that one’s diet determines what kind of work they do. If you are in R&D, you should prioritize learning professional knowledge ； If you are in sales, you can appropriately build relationships. However, it’s a bit early for college students to focus solely on building networks; their primary responsibility is still studying. Employers pay more attention to academic performance, and secondly, to an individual’s creativity and talent. It doesn’t matter how many connections you have; moreover, the networks built up at school are of no use at all in society. 　　Mi Jianhua from the office of Zhejiang Fuyuan Real Estate Investment Co., Ltd.: The two cannot be discussed separately. The knowledge acquired and the networks established by college students during their time at school are, after all, limited; they need to keep developing these skills in order to apply them at work. An important task in university is to acquire useful knowledge and learn to build professional networks. 　　Zhao Hong from the Human Resources Department of Hangzhou Yijiaxian Catering Management Co., Ltd.: I believe that it is still more important for college students to focus on learning professional knowledge. An academic attitude reflects one’s overall attitude toward life; when recruiting, we usually choose candidates recommended by schools, focusing on their grades. One should not prioritize building relationships over acquiring professional knowledge; true competence lies in having both expertise and the ability to interact well with others. 　　Cai Chaocheng, Marketing Manager at Hangzhou Donghui Human Resources Training Co., Ltd.: I am fairly in agreement with the results of this survey. In my opinion, during college, 30% of the effort should be devoted to studying, while 70% should be spent on building networks. In addition to studying, students can meet more people through summer internships and part-time jobs. 　　Netizens’ opinions: At 9:16 last night, we conducted a survey on the Quick News 19th Floor website. Two hours later, the results were as follows: 1. Building a network of 183 contacts: 41.22% 　　2. Cultivating social communication skills: 220 people, 49.55% 　　3. Learning professional knowledge: 41 people, 9.23% 　Meng Xi: Interpersonal relationships are the most important! Although I don’t agree! But reality is right before our eyes! 　　Ding Ding: It’s been a few years since I graduated, and from my own experience, networking is far more important than knowledge. 　　Yawning Fish: Although I also think knowledge is important now, relationships and skills are even more crucial. After all, how much of this knowledge will be useful once you go out into the world? 　　Zi Yu Youran: College students are starting to mature. 　　Manson: From one perspective, Chinese universities simply don’t have anything worthwhile to study seriously*. 　　The fickle cat: I think this is just a rather pragmatic viewpoint; to some extent it’s true, but if all college students across the country thought this way, it would be a terrible thing – everyone would have high aspirations but lack real skills!