Strong Ties in Your Job Search
Students everywhere know the importance of having strong connections in the workforce. Some students attend many networking events and are constantly and actively searching to make new connections. People in the workforce across many different professions are connected daily through social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and even through social networks that focus on connecting people in a professional setting, such as LinkedIn. In class as well as in the textbook we have discussed connections based on strong and weak ties. In an age where connections exist less and less in face to face interaction, research suggests that stronger, more quality connections lead to stronger, more quality job referrals.
Forbes contributor Adi Gaskell argues that students and those in the workforce looking for a job should seek to make quality connections rather than try to make as many connections as possible. The textbook discussed how one of the basic principles for triadic closure is that if two people in a social network have a friend in common, then there is an increased likelihood that they will become friends themselves at some point in the future. One of the primary reasons for such an occurrence is that in forming a connection with someone else, the person you form a friendship with gives them a basis for trusting someone else with whom you are friends.
Using this logic, someone is more likely to trust you strongly if you and that person have a close connection. Thus, as Gaskell argues, forming quality connections will be more beneficial in advancing your career. Some would assume that forming connections that are less strong and outside of your close network gives you access to a greater and more diverse wealth of information. This assumption is true; however, as research suggests and as Gaskell effectively argues, quality of connections, that is to say stronger ties, matters more than quantity of connections, many of which would likely be weak ties.
Forbes Article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/adigaskell/2017/09/11/using-social-networks-to-advance-your-career/#3e0895dc50a6