Open up your network! Career opportunities depend on the people you might know, but not yet well enough

That you have to rely on friends for your career and development is a misconception. To be mobile in the job market, it is important to have an open network that includes people who are further away.

High time to take a fresh look at the network phenomenon. We see it all around us: economic sectors and professions are imploding, while new labour market trends are making their mark. People over 50 have to reconsider their professional identity because their skills are outdated, women are more welcome than before at higher levels. This also applies to people of colour. Young people are expected to direct their own careers.

Together these developments affect how opportunities for work and paid assignments arise. On how interesting information comes to us. And on how we can pass this information to others. And when we talk about those kinds of opportunities, abought insights and ideas with which we develop ourselves, we are talking about our ‘network’. Who do we know? Who can help us and who can we help? How can we continue to broaden our horizons? How do we get to know new groups of people that are not sufficiently on the radar?

Primal theory about networking

Because these types of networking questions are often asked in my conversations with clients, I decided to do some research. And soon stumbled upon the theory of Mark Granovetter, a professor of sociology at Stanford University. He wrote in 1973 a paper titled: ‘The Strength of Weak Links’. It soon became a base theory to which all current theories on networks refer. Upon reading it, you immediately realize why this is. Granovetter concludes that with networks we make the mistake of focusing on social circles overlapping.

When drawing two circles of friends of friend A and friend B who know each other well, Granovetter writes, everyone looks at the people who know A AND B. That is, the clique in the middle, where everyone knows everyone else. For a professional network, you need the outer edges of the circles, he explains. That is where the people are who have links to all sorts of other groups. They are the weak links: they connect people from different groups.

For a professional network, you need the outer edges of the circles, Granovetter explains.

Distribution

His comparison with a traffic network consisting of a motorway and a large number of smaller roads is also visual. If the motorway gets blocked, everyone stands still. If a small road is blocked, there are all sorts of alternatives for getting somewhere. The parallel with information traveling is apparent. Information and ideas are spread best via weak links. Through strong links between people who know each other well, the dissemination of a tip or a message stops more quickly. This is also how it works with a new job or assignment, according to Granovetter. You are less likely to get a golden tip from a close friend or direct colleague than from someone you haven’t seen for a while, for example someone you vaguely know from your studies or a previous job.

A network with only strong links can be suffocating. This applies to an old boy who does not know anyone outside his old boys network. But also for someone from a closed neighbourhood or village where everyone knows everyone.

Connection of the connection

Highly interesting stuff, especially now. Virus spreading; fake news; voting behaviour; discrimination; polarisation; closed networks as today’s social bubbles. All sorts of things flashed through my mind when reading Granovetter’s paper. It made me also think of how LinkedIn must have benefited from Granovetter’s ideas.

LinkedIn not only puts you in touch with the people you know but also with their networks. It gives you the connection of the connection. The weaker links make the platform open and relevant. LinkedIn itself often points out the importance of a diverse network, that you need to make sure you have connections with people from different worlds. In fact LinkedIn reminds us: make sure you have enough weak links that ensure diversity. And in saying so, it is absolutely right.