it's not what you know but who you know
it's not what you know but who you know proverb: for success, and especially to obtain employment, one's knowledge and skills are less useful and less important than one's network of personal contacts.
Proverb
it's not what you know but who you know
- For success, and especially to obtain employment, one's knowledge and skills are less useful and less important than one's network of personal contacts.
- Eighty-four students referred to political influence as a disadvantage of federal employment with such remarks as: "There are too many political connections necessary . . . it's not what you know but who you know—in spite of apparent merit systems."1951, G. P. Bush, L. H. Hattery, “Federal Recruitment of Junior Engineers”, in Science, volume 114, number 2966, page 456
- "In Hollywood, it's not what you know but who you know," said Cross, who added that the awards ceremony was the perfect place to make connections.1993 August 25, Heidi Gruber, “Cross film earns recognition in Hollywood”, in Ellensburg Daily Record, retrieved 19 Jun 2009
Forms of it's not what you know but who you know
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Questions about it's not what you know but who you know
- What does it's not what you know but who you know mean?
- It's not what you know but who you know means for success, and especially to obtain employment, one's knowledge and skills are less useful and less important than one's network of personal contacts.
- What part of speech is it's not what you know but who you know?
- It's not what you know but who you know is a proverb.
Words near it's not what you know but who you know in the dictionary
- it's not over till the fat lady sings
- it's not over until the fat lady sings
- it's not the meat, it's the motion
- it's not the size of the ship, it's the motion of the ocean
- it's not the whistle that pulls the train
- it's not what you know but who you know
- it's not what you know but whom you know
- it's not what you say but how you say it
- it's not you, it's me
- it's nothing
- it's on
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: it's not what you know but who you know (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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