Your career is a balance between what you know and who you know. In most cases, it’s who you know that often leads to a new opportunity.
From a job search perspective, networking is seen as a web of connections beginning with who you know and moving toward meeting new people. The exchange of information and discovering hidden job leads paves the way toward countless job opportunities. In other words, your extended networking connections often will be be where you find your new job.
The power of extending your network is based on Mark Granovetter’s weak-tie theory of finding employment through acquaintances, those that are not as emotionally attached as a close friend. Most job search networking groups as well as social online sites are based on his weak-tie theory of meeting new people.
According to a Facebook study conducted by Moira Burke and Robert Kraut, your extended network might not be as powerful as those strong-ties. Their results might get you to thinking more about your strong-ties and the value of mutual relationships.
Facebook users who talked with their strong-ties consistently were twice as likely to find a job within three months compared to those who relied on talking with weak-ties. Their findings led to several possibilities as to why strong-ties have an advantage over talking with weak-ties:
People did not hear about job opportunities from their weak-ties on Facebook, instead lighthearted topics were more readily exchanged than employment issues.
The motivation of friends wanting to help friends made strong-ties on Facebook more willing to pass along resumes to hiring decision makers or make calls on the behalf of people they know well. Friends are more apt to take action in helping you.
The social support received from strong-ties grew as the length of a job search increased with each passing month, Facebook users reported an overall feeling of being cared for and a reduction in their stress levels even though there is a paradox with stress reduction. Weak-ties did not give users a general sense of support or influence stress levels.
Stress reduction is a mixed bag of emotions.
One of the most surprising results of the study had to do with stress reduction. When a job loss happens it might be your strong-ties who cause you the greatest stress early on due to their intentions of wanting to help you move along at a faster speed. Because strong-ties have an emotional connection to you, they are concerned about hurting your feelings and can at first seem less encouraging. However, after a period of time, they will end up being your strongest supporters.
Friends gave job seekers a mixture of both social support and some added pressure in talking about their search. It’s helpful to know ahead of time that you may encounter anxiety in talking with your close friends however the overall emotional support and motivation you receive doubles your chances of landing a job.
But does extending your network with those you don’t know still hold true in today’s ever changing job market? The answer is a yes — however different relationships will yield different kinds of support.
What are your thoughts about strong-ties versus weak-ties in job searching?
