What a great question!  It is one we often get in the Career Center, but it does not have a specific answer.  I often say it’s an art, not a science!  While I can’t give you a specific number, I can offer a few general guidelines: 

• You want to have a mix of people: advocates, allies, connectors, and truth tellers, many of whom are actively employed in your field. 
• You want to include professionals who have advanced beyond where you are in your career, and at a certain point you want to begin bringing in younger, less-seasoned people.  This will help insure you against becoming “stale” and gives you a chance to give back and help others who come behind you.
• Remember, you will continue growing and nourishing your network over the course of your work life and beyond; it is not a static thing.  So you are not going to reach a perfect number at which you will cap it off and stop engaging with new professionals.

Our networking resources will help you as you identify new connections to grow your network. I also want to encourage you to bring this question into your networking conversations, and gain perspectives from other professionals in many different fields.