Step aside Tinder, there’s now a LinkedIn twist on the swiping game. Piggybacking off the familiar “swipe right or left” functionality for finding the perfect match, the five apps below help connect you to career mentors in order to launch your dream career. Before you know it, you’ll be grabbing lunch or coffee with an aspiring businessperson in your field of interest. With graduation behind, or right around the corner, for most of you, we strongly suggest you check out one of the below and download sooner rather than later.
Let’s Lunch: Make your lunch break a productivity power hour. This app connects to your calendar, and displays network connections with the same scheduled breaks. If you have an hour to kill, just swipe through professional profiles until you find someone who you’d like to grab coffee or food with. Drag and drop their photo into the available spot on your digital planner, set a time and place within the app, and let them know what part of their experiences you’d like to know more about. It’s simple, straightforward, and is the perfect excuse not to eat lunch at your desk.
Shapr: As a professional matchmaking app, Shapr is more casual than LinkedIn but more formal than an off-the-cuff email. Based on your specific career interests — you can select up to 10 — Shapr helps you find mentors. Think of it like professional speed-networking. Each user has a profile, and you can swipe right or left after reading their professional bio. If it’s a match, Shapr encourages people to reach out, have high-quality conversations, and keep the dialogues going about meaningful career advice.
Hey! VINA: This female-only app promises to help girls find their new office BFF. Take a six question personality quiz to discover your work style and lifestyle quirks, and then get introduced to potential connections with similar passions and goals. Look through profiles, see if you have mutual connections, and check your shared interests. If the friendship seems like a fit, message each other to grab coffee. Before you know it, you’ll be kicking through the glass ceiling together.
Weave: Do you have a brilliant idea to make your community a better place? Check out the “Looking for a Co-Founder” tab on Weave. The app connects passionate entrepreneurs in the same locale via “Rooms,” which are their version of matchmaking categories. The categories makes it easier to connect with people who have similar career objectives. Weave’s other categories include Hiring, General Networking, Fundraising, and Services. Each category allows you to swipe until you find someone you’re interested in working with or helping.
Treatings: It’s time to treat yourself by exploring a new career path — at least that’s the mentality behind Treatings. Treatings breaks down the swipe-right networking barrier by allowing you to search through all users and their specific expertise. Treatings still provides you with Recommended Profiles to swipe right or left on, but ultimately, you can message whoever you want. The one-on-one connection means you get to take fate into your own hands and decide who is the right person to help kickstart your career.
This story was originally published on Teen Vogue.
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