Job Search – LinkedIn and Connecting with Weak Ties
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kim-keating/job-strategy-the-human-si_b_4660430.html
Kim Keating describes the best strategy to finding a job in her article “Job Strategy: The Human Side of Digital Networking.” She advises that people should begin searching for jobs by consulting their acquaintances or people with whom you have lost contact with for a few years before their close friends, family, colleagues, etc. Her support for this advice comes from a sociology study by Mark Granovetter. In this study, Granovetter concludes that contrary to popular belief one is more likely (in fact 58% more likely) to find a job by cultivating your weak ties rather than your strong ones. Keating states that both weak and dormant ties travel in different circles and are connected to people you would not usually associate with. Hence, these weak and dormant ties offer new information and a new network of people that you would otherwise have had no access to. In contrast, strong ties tend to travel in the same social and professional circles as you do. Hence, these strong ties are unlikely to offer any new information. Keating continues by suggesting that LinkedIn is “the most useful weapon in your modern job search arsenal.” LinkedIn makes it easier to connect and cultivate your weak and dormant ties. She suggests to use LinkedIn as the first method of reestablishing a dormant tie or to build upon a weaker tie. Additionally, LinkedIn offers group discussions and forums which are both great ways to build rapport with weak ties before making a more personal outreach. In summary, Keating suggests that LinkedIn is a great strategy to finding new jobs because of how easy the networking site makes it to connect with weak or dormant ties.
This article relates directly to the topics we covered in this course. Specifically, our discussion on the strength of weak ties supports the information Keating cites in her article. In class we discussed the Granovetter study in detail. We saw that social networks are likely to form clusters of strong connections that are related to each other by weak ties termed local bridges. Each cluster of strong connections are likely know about similar information and similar opportunities. However, it is likely that a cluster of strong ties has different information and different opportunities than another cluster of strong ties simply because they operate around different social circles. Hence, if one could tap into a cluster of strong ties besides their own cluster than one would have access to new sources of information and new opportunities. It just so happens that weak ties are usually the “bridges” between clusters of strong ties. Hence, it is not surprising that weak connections tend to offer newer or unknown information than strong connections. Keating uses this principle to offer support for her suggestion that connecting with weak or dormant ties on LinkedIn is the best place to start when looking for a job.