Distant Connections May Help People Find Jobs Better Than Close Friends, Study Suggests

Topline

Weaker social connections may be more helpful in finding new employment opportunities than close friends, according to a new study published in the journal Science, which conducted a large-scale experiment among more than 20 million LinkedIn users around the world over the course of five years.

Human figurines stand in front of an Apple iPad monitor displaying LinkedIn’s logo.

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Key Facts

Researchers at Harvard, Stanford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and LinkedIn conducted the experiment by using LinkedIn’s “People You May Know” algorithm to randomly suggest more distant connections for some users and more close connections for others, using the number of interactions and mutual contacts to measure the strength of a relationship.

They found that those who received more recommendations to connect with so-called “weak ties,” or distant connections, had more job mobility than those who received more recommendations for close connections.

Researchers found the greatest job mobility came from “moderately weak ties—social connections between the very weakest ties and ties of average relationship strength,” according to study co-author and Harvard Business School Professor Iavor Bojinov, suggesting the most helpful connections are likely people you share mutual friends with but who are also distant enough to lead to new information.

This was especially true for workers in digital and high-tech industries such as machine learning, artificial intelligence and those involved in remote work, researchers found.

Suggesting users connect with weak ties more frequently than with close friends led users to fill out more job applications, which may have helped them achieve better job outcomes, researchers found.

Surprising Fact

Anywhere from 50% to 80% of all jobs are filled through networking, while some 70% of jobs may not even be posted on public sites, research has shown.

Key Background

The Science study marked the first large-scale test of the social theory “The Strength of Weak Ties” and its relationship to employment. The theory comes from a 1973 paper by Johns Hopkins sociologist Mark Granovetter, which focused on the spread of information through social networks. The paper suggests that people are more likely to get new ideas from acquaintances and distant connections rather than close friends, and has proved strongly influential in the field of sociology, with dozens of studies examining the role distant connections and close friends play in social networks, social movements and human cooperation. In the context of employment, the theory suggests that arm’s-length relationships are more beneficial for job opportunities, promotions and wages than already established connections because they provide people access to newer and more diverse information, especially about the job market. Granovetter also found in later research that weak ties are more likely to help people find jobs that come with higher compensation and satisfaction.

Contra

Some previous studies have suggested closer connections may actually be more helpful for employment opportunities than “weak ties.” Researchers in these studies have found that weak ties collectively may be more helpful than strong connections because people have more distant connections in their social networks than close friends, but a single close tie is more likely to be helpful in finding a job than a sole distant connection. Scientists in the Science study noted this previous research was correlational in design, and therefore could not determine the exact cause and effects of weak versus strong social ties as well as a randomized experimental study.

Tangent

Granovetter’s weak ties theory has also been used in recent years to examine online social networking. New Yorker journalist and author Malcolm Gladwell cited the theory in his 2010 essay “Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted,” in which he claims social media will not do much to help fuel widespread social change and support activism. In the essay, Gladwell argues that social media platforms are built on “weak ties,” or acquaintances who give us new ideas and information. But, he argues, a network of weak ties is much more helpful for small things such as finding someone’s phone rather than affecting meaningful social change, which he contends requires stronger connections.

What To Watch For

The Science study could be used to help social media companies improve economic opportunities on their site for employers and employees, especially as digital platforms and algorithms “become essential labor market drivers,” according to study co-author and Stanford University Professor Erik Brynjolfsson.