Extensive research has shown that using social networks can significantly affect someone’s chances of getting a job. But how can people use this to their advantage? What types of social networks are most useful and how do they vary across different people?
Weak ties, strong ties
Groundbreaking work in the 1970s and 1980s[1] looked at how different types of relationships impact jobseekers. According to that research, ‘weak ties’ (such as links to acquaintances and colleagues) are better for getting a job than ‘strong ties’ (like links to relatives and close friends). Someone’s networks of acquaintances offer a wider range of contacts, with better information about job opportunities and more ‘non-redundant’ job information. In contrast, the work argued that people relying mostly on ‘strong’ ties ‘will be deprived of information from distant parts of the social system and will be confined to the provincial news and views of their close friends’.
There are counter-arguments to this view. Strong ties may have the potential to be more useful to jobseekers looking to move between industries. For those seeking to leave declining industries and move to entry-level posts in other sectors, connections with lower status employees in other industries are often more effective. Also these connections are more often linked to the ‘strong’ ties of the job seeker (as an individual’s family members are less likely than their acquaintances to have shared their occupation). In a less certain economic environment, with job seekers changing occupations on a regular basis, strong cross industry ties may be more important than the weak, high status ties that were useful in the more economically stable times.
Problems with ‘inside track’ routes
Work at Edinburgh Napier’s Employment Research Institute has found that the overall effectiveness of informal methods as a means of linking jobseekers and employers can lead to problems. For instance, there is potential for ‘information mismatch’ problems when employers and job seekers each use different search methods or channels when looking for staff or jobs respectively. An over-reliance, by employers in particular, on informal practices can exclude disadvantaged groups already more prone to unemployment and ‘lock out’ long-term unemployed people, who tend to have more limited access to social networks.
We also found that the role of social networks varies according to local circumstances and the characteristics of people.
Informal approaches to sourcing staff have been identified as playing a vital role within employers’ recruitment strategies in rural labour markets. Our research also found that SMEs located in the remote rural labour markets often did not use Jobcentre services to advertise vacancies, relying instead on a combination of limited newspaper advertising and word-of-mouth.
Many larger employers and public sector bodies saw the Jobcentre network as a means of communicating vacancies, while actually relying on personal recommendations and social networking to ensure that an ‘appropriate’ candidate was identified and selected.
There may be other factors affecting the use of informal networking within the recruitment process, such as employers seeking to avoid being swamped by applicants, and eager job seekers seeking to maximise the competitive advantage that can be provided by ‘inside knowledge’ or personal contacts.
Those who had experienced repeated or long-term periods out of work, as well as unskilled and young people, were significantly less likely to use such networks and connections.
Compositions of social networks
Other areas of our research found that the compositions of the social networks vary by age. Younger unemployed people (under 50 years old) were more likely to be in a better position than the older unemployed people, due to their wider social networks and the lower importance of knowing people who hold more senior jobs. However, those in work, whether older or younger, have larger and possibly more effective networks.
Younger people, who were in employment, have significantly higher number of contacts and more regular interaction within their social networks compared to the over 50s age group. However, for the younger people, the number of people they knew who were currently employed or held senior their positions was less important, the most important thing being how many contacts they have in general. Unemployed younger people also had much smaller long-term social networks than those in work and had relatively fewer contacts that were in employment.
Our research concluded that younger people have stronger links with their social networks in terms of the number of people they know (which offers a wider diversity) and the strength and quality of those relations, but the job status of their contacts was less important compared to the over 50s. One of the reasons for this could be their younger age and/or their greater use of new information and communication technologies, such as the internet and mobile telephones and also as senior staff tend to be older, they are more likely to be in the social networks of older people.
It appears that the importance of social contacts and the social capital embedded in these networks are extremely important for everyone, but more so for the older cohort, who generally have fewer qualifications and probably require more use of ‘word of mouth’ referrals to obtain a job.
Reducing barriers
Nowadays all groups need to consider how to improve their job search. But at a time of an ageing population there is a need to ensure that barriers to both younger and older workers’ employment are reduced. Many employers still widely use social networks in hiring, therefore there is a high chance that the unemployed older people would remain out of this searching process and thereby out of work. Employment agencies, including Jobcentre Plus[2] , can play a bigger role in filling the gap resulting from low social capital by helping provide bridges to better support and introduce older unemployed people to job opportunities.
About this research
A case study was undertaken of a local labour market in Scotland. Data were collected by interview using a semi-structured questionnaire from 194 people divided into four groups. This included information on individuals’ socio-economic characteristics and on their networks. A four-way comparison was made by age and employment status. The research was part-funded by the Equal programme of the ESF Objective 3[3].
This research has been published in the following papers:
Gayen, K. (University of Dhaka), McQuaid, R. and R. Raeside (2010) ‘Social networks, age cohorts and employment’, International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Vol. 30, No. 5/6, pp.219 – 238
Lindsay, C., Greig, M. and R. W. McQuaid (2005) ‘Alternative Job Search Strategies in Remote Rural and Peri-Urban Labour Markets: The Role of Social Networks, Sociologia Ruralis, Vol. 45, No.1/2, pp. 53-70.
[1] Research carried out by Mark Granovetter into social ‘ties’ and effects on job seeking.
[2] www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Jobseekers/LookingForWork/DG_10030134
[3] www.esf.gov.uk/info_for_cfo_and_projects/gender_equality_and_equal_opportunities.asp