The festive season brings a unique mix of professional holiday parties, casual family gatherings, and community events. In 2023, 64 percent of companies reported they were hosting in-person holiday parties,1 with this number expected to rise in the coming years.
While most people focus on enjoying good food and catching up with friends, job seekers who think strategically can transform these relaxed social settings into valuable career opportunities. The key is approaching these gatherings with the right mindset and techniques to help you build genuine connections without coming across as opportunistic or desperate.
Transform Festivities into Networking Opportunities
Festive gatherings offer networking advantages that formal business events cannot match. People are more relaxed during holiday celebrations and more willing to have extended conversations beyond superficial small talk. The informal atmosphere makes it easier to build authentic relationships and have meaningful conversations that reveal potential opportunities.
These connections matter more than most people realize. Research shows that up to 70 percent of job openings are filled without ever being advertised.2 When played right, these casual interactions can open doors to opportunities that never appear on public job boards.
Don’ts: What to Avoid
Before focusing on building connections, avoid the following:
1. Don’t Lead with Your Job Search
Starting conversations by announcing that you are looking for work makes people uncomfortable and immediately puts them on the defensive. Nobody wants to feel ambushed at a holiday party by someone treating them as a job lead rather than a person. This approach makes you seem desperate and transactional rather than genuinely interested in connecting.
2. Don’t Monopolize Conversations
Talking exclusively about yourself or your career goals without showing interest in the other person creates negative impressions that work against your networking objectives. People remember those who made them feel interesting and valued far more than those who delivered impressive monologues about their own accomplishments. Remember that balance is essential in networking conversations.
3. Don’t Distribute Business Cards Like Candy
Handing out business cards to everyone you meet can feel pushy. It signals that you view people as potential leads rather than individuals worth knowing. This scattershot approach also rarely produces meaningful follow-up because recipients have no context for why they should remember you among dozens of other holiday party interactions. Reserve business cards only for conversations where genuine connection happened and both parties expressed interest in staying in touch.
Do’s: What to Practice
Now that you know what to avoid doing, here are some tips that can improve your networking efforts:
1. Do Ask Genuine Questions and Build Real Rapport
Show authentic interest in the people you meet by asking thoughtful questions about their work, interests, and experiences. What do they find most rewarding about their current role? What projects are they excited about?
Many recruiters consider the quality of conversation when hosting interviews because they want to assess how you communicate and connect with others.3
Building rapport and connection at gatherings follows the same principle. Just as interviews are a two-way street where both parties evaluate fit, networking conversations should feel like genuine exchanges rather than one-sided pitches.
Read more: Interview Advice for Finance Leadership Roles
2. Do Find Common Ground Beyond Work
Build connections through shared interests in hobbies, community involvement, or personal passions that have nothing to do with careers. These authentic connections create stronger foundations for professional relationships than purely transactional networking. It also fits better within the context of more casual and personal gatherings.
3. Do Be Ready to Share Your Value
When conversations naturally turn to your career interests, be prepared to articulate what value you bring to organizations without sounding boastful. Focus on problems you solve and results you deliver rather than listing qualifications and achievements. For example, instead of saying you have ten years of project management experience, explain how you help teams deliver complex projects on time by identifying potential roadblocks early and coordinating resources effectively. This value-focused approach helps people understand how you might fit into their organization or network.
Holiday networking success comes from genuine relationship building rather than aggressive job hunting. The connections you make at festive gatherings may not immediately result in job offers, but they expand your professional network in ways that create opportunities over time.
Read more: Find Your Dream Job in 2025 with Masis
Ready to turn holiday conversations into career opportunities?
Don’t let those festive gatherings pass by as mere small talk. Grab the opportunity and take action.
Reach out to Masis Staffing to explore how your local connections and community ties can be leveraged into real leads. Our team specializes in connecting candidates like you with employers in your area who value not just skills, but relationships and reputation.
References
- “Holiday Party Survey Report: Companies Are Partying Like It’s 2018: Highest Level of Companies Planning Parties Post-pandemic, but Caution Remains.” Challenger, Gray & Christmas, 13 Dec. 2023, www.challengergray.com/blog/2023-holiday-party-survey-report-companies-are-partying-like-its-2018-highest-level-of-companies-planning-parties-post-pandemic-but-caution-remains/.
- “The Hidden Job Market: How 70% of Positions Are Filled Before They’re Ever Posted.” The Interview Guys, 25 Mar. 2025, blog.theinterviewguys.com/the-hidden-job-market/.
- “An Ex-Meta Recruiter Says One of the Biggest Mistakes Job Candidates Make in Interviews Is Not Asking Questions.” Business Insider, 21 Feb. 2024, www.businessinsider.com/ex-meta-recruiter-job-interview-red-flags-always-ask-questions-2024-2.
