Many of the best jobs we get in our lives do not come after an exhaustive search through job boards, but rather through contacts. However, although it may be counterintuitive, The least intimate contacts, the weakest ties, are those that provide the best opportunities.
It is what already confirmed In 1973 the American sociologist Mark Granovetter, in what he came to call the “strength of weak ties.”
Social network structure
What Granovetter did was study the structure of the social network of those who had a good job. What he discovered is that the best jobs come from personal contacts, yes, but distant ones, such as old acquaintances from university or colleagues from a previous job.
Most recent studies that have been based on the registration of millions of mobile phones support Granovetter's thesis: the most important ties are often the weakest. As abounds in it Tim Harford in his book The power of disorder:
In retrospect, this seemingly paradoxical finding is obvious. In a clique everyone knows each other and will tell each other the same gossip. But the more peripheral the contact, the more likely it will be to tell something new.
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The news
The strength of weak ties or how to find the best jobs
was originally published in
Xataka Science
by
Sergio Parra
.