Study: Facebook Users Have Better Luck Getting Jobs Through Friends
MENLO PARK, Calif. (CBS Sacramento) - A new study indicates that job seekers who have stronger ties to the social networking world around them are more likely to find a new opportunity.
Researchers at Facebook made the discovery while examining the different types of support offered by friends to one another in a given social network.
"People who talked more with strong ties were twice as likely to find a new job within three months," the study found. "And those who talked more with weak ties were less likely to find a job."
Users who maintained relationships with strong ties are reportedly 33.2 percent more likely to find a new job.
Conversely, the average user experiences a mere 15.6 percent probability of finding new employment. And those who associate most with their weakest ties are only 6.5 percent more likely to land a new role - despite the fact that weak ties make up a greater majority of a given user's social network.
The statistics were based on the probability of finding a new job within a three-month time period, the post noted.
Researchers offered several potential reasons for their findings.
"One possibility is that people don't actually hear about job openings from their weak ties on Facebook," the post noted. "People may not reveal their employment plight to contacts they don't feel close to."
Researchers added, "Another reason why strong ties are more useful has to do with motivation, not information. Strong ties may be more willing to put in the effort to be helpful, asking contacts about new openings, forwarding your resume and persuading others that you're the best candidate – or even hiring you themselves."
In addition to job support, the study also examined the sort of support offered by users to one another in times of stress.
