Anyone who thinks they can chart their own course for their career and make it all happen, without help along the way, is completely fooling themselves. You need a network of people to help you chart your career path or to find new opportunities and jobs as you move up the ladder.
In a 2016 article in the Washington Post by Paige Harden, she noted that “According to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Yale University report, 70 percent of all jobs are found through networking. A recent survey by CareerXroads shows that only 15 percent of positions were filled through job boards. The survey showed that most jobs are either filled internally or through referrals. People do business primarily with people they know and like. Resumes and cover letters alone are often too impersonal to convince employers to hire you.” (Harden, 2016)
Networks start from day one on the job and are cultivated at each level as you progress over time. If you can do this at the very beginning of your career then by the time you are at the senior level, it is likely that your network of contacts will be at the senior levels too and you will have someone in that network who wants to help you because they know you.
This can have long-term benefits to your career. When you are looking on a position, if the person you are going to work for (or replace) knows you on a more personal level, they don’t have to ask anyone else about you. They’ll already know you and know what you are capable of. That puts you at the top of their lists without having to explain who you are.
The Power of Three
When it comes to effective networking, there are three categories of networking and each has three types that define it. These are:
- The Types of Networks You Utilize
- Personal (Internal)
- Professional (External)
- Electronic (External)
- The Types of Networkers You Connect With
- Givers
- Takers
- Matchers
- The Types of Connections You Establish
- Strong
- Weak
- Dormant
Types of Networks You Utilize
There are three types of networks that you should be cultivating: 1) your personal network, 2) your external network, and 3) your electronic network.
Personal Network (Internal)
If you are in a large organization like mine, your internal network will help you as you move up the ladder to secure positions that give you greater responsibility and more visibility. It helps you with establishing and cultivating your professional reputation within the organization.
Professional Network (External)
This is the network of contacts you cultivate outside of your organization. It can start with trade fairs (e.g. Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Interop, etc.), alumni associations, or even IT specific job fairs at local colleges and universities. Staying in touch with people you know in the field is also an excellent way to cultivate your external network.
Electronic Network (External)
Another way to expand your external (and keep tabs with those inside your organization from an external perspective) is through professional social media sites and online job sites. These include:
Online Networking
- LinkedIn www.linkedin.com
- Largest and most used.
- Xing www.xing.com
- Opportunity www.opportunity.com
- Integrates with LinkedIn
- Meetup: www.meetup.com
Online Job Sites
- Monster www.monster.com
- LinkedIn Jobs www.linkedin.com
- Career Builder www.careerbuilder.com
- Dice www.dice.com
- For IT professionals.
- Glassdoor www.glassdoor.com
- USAJobs www.usajobs.com
- For Federal jobs. Powered by Monster.
- ClearanceJobs www.clearancejobs.com
- For Federal jobs that require a security clearance.
- UNJobs www.unjobs.org
- For United Nations and other International and Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) jobs.
The Types of Networkers you Connect With
There are three types of people you will be cultivating in your network: 1) Givers, 2) Takers, and 3) Matchers. (Grant, Give and Take, 2013) (Grant, In the Company of Givers and Takers, 2013)
Givers
Givers are those people in your network that are happy to share with you and others without seeking anything in return. Many of us are givers and anyone who is a good mentor certainly is a Giver.
Takers
Takers find people who will help them but do very little, if anything, to help others in their network. Don’t be a Taker and try to avoid them when you can. It won’t take long to spot a Taker.
Matchers
Matchers are also Givers. What distinguishes them is they are Givers with an extensive network that is often much larger than your own. Matchers act as a hub to connect you with people they believe can help you. Matchers can also “hold takers accountable for their behavior, helping them only if they reciprocate by helping the matcher – or others – in return.” (Grant, In the Company of Givers and Takers, 2013) Think of LinkedIn as an avenue for finding an Electronic Matcher.
Types of Connections You Establish
There are three types of connections you will establish in your network: 1) Strong Ties, 2) Weak Ties, and 3) Dormant Ties.
Strong Ties
These are your closest friends and family (Braun, 2015). These are your Personal Network. People with Strong Ties are motivated to assist and cooperate with each other and promote trust and a shared perspective. (Levin, Walter, & Murnighan, 2010, p. 925)
Weak Ties
These are people you know casually but aren’t close to (Braun, 2015). These are your External Network. Weak Ties require less time and energy to maintain. (Levin, Walter, & Murnighan, 2010, p. 925)
Dormant Ties
A subset of your Weak Ties, these are people you knew but haven’t spoken with in a long time (Braun, 2015).
Surprisingly, your Strong Ties likely aren’t going to help you move up the ladder or find a new job. They may have connections to help you but most research says that your Strong Ties will likely not be as effective as your Weak and Dormant ties. “Sociologist Mark Granovetter found in a classic study (Circa 1973) that you’re 58% more likely to find a job by cultivating your weak ties rather than your strong ones. Why? Both weak and dormant ties offer more novel information (useful information) than strong ties. They travel in different circles and are connected to entirely different people – unlike Strong Ties, who tend to travel in the same circles as you do.” (Braun, 2015)
Another study by Daniel Levin (Rutgers), Jorge Walter (George Washington University), and J. Keith Murnighan (Northwest University) amplifies this hypothesis and dives further to classify dormant connections as either 1) Dormant and Strong or 2) Dormant and Weak. (Levin, Walter, & Murnighan, 2010)
Dormant and Strong are once Strong Ties that have gone dormant over time.
Dormant and Weak are once Weak Ties that have gone dormant over time.
Levin, Walter, and Murnighan then posit six hypotheses and their conclusions: (Levin, Walter, & Murnighan, 2010, pp. 925,926)
- Hypothesis 1A (H1A). Reconnecting and consulting with Dormant and Strong ties will be more efficient than consulting current Strong Ties. (Levin, Walter, & Murnighan, 2010, p. 928)
Conclusion: Those reconnecting with Dormant and Strong Ties spent significantly less time consulting with these people than with their current Strong Ties.
- Hypothesis 1B (H1B). Reconnecting and consulting with Dormant and Weak ties will be more efficient than consulting current Weak Ties. (Levin, Walter, & Murnighan, 2010, p. 930)
Conclusion: Those reconnecting and consulting with their Dormant and Weak ties were only marginally more efficient than consulting with their current Weak Ties; ; however reconnecting and consulting with Dormant and Weak Ties was more efficient than consulting with current Strong Ties. (Levin, Walter, & Murnighan, 2010, p. 930)
- Hypothesis 2A (H2A). Reconnecting and consulting with Dormant and Strong ties will provide greater novelty (useful knowledge) than consulting current strong ties and, as a result, more useful knowledge. (Levin, Walter, & Murnighan, 2010, p. 930)
Conclusion: Those reconnecting and consulting with their Dormant and Strong Ties had significantly higher receipt of useful knowledge than with their current Strong Ties.
- Hypothesis 2B (H2B). Reconnecting and consulting with Dormant and Weak ties will provide greater novelty (useful knowledge) than consulting current Weak Ties and, as a result, more useful knowledge. (Levin, Walter, & Murnighan, 2010, p. 930)
Conclusion: Those reconnecting and consulting with their Dormant and Weak Ties had significantly higher receipt of useful knowledge than with their current Weak Ties.
- Hypothesis 3 (H3). Reconnecting and consulting with Dormant and Strong ties will provide greater trust than reconnecting and consulting with Dormant and Weak, ties and as a result, more useful knowledge. (Levin, Walter, & Murnighan, 2010, p. 931)
Conclusion: Dormant and Strong Ties had significantly higher levels of trust than did Dormant and Weak Ties. Dormant and Strong Ties not only were more positive in levels of trust but also in the receipt of useful knowledge than that of their Dormant and Weak Ties.
- Hypothesis 4 (H4). Reconnecting and consulting with Dormant and Strong ties will provide greater shared perspective than reconnecting Dormant and Weak ties and, as a result, more useful knowledge.
Dormant and Strong Ties had significantly higher levels of shared perspective than that of the Dormant and Weak Ties. Dormant and Strong Ties were not only more positive in levels of shared perspective but also in the receipt of useful knowledge than that of their Dormant and Weak Ties.
What Does All of That Mean in Plain English?
It all boils down to this: Your Strong and Dormant Ties and, to some extent your Dormant Strong and Weak Ties, can be more effective in helping you secure a better job than your existing Strong and Weak Ties. Why is this? People that know you now must have better information than people you haven’t connected to in years; right? The science says no and here is why:
The one thing that reconnecting with Dormant Ties does is to give you a fresh perspective. Those you are actively engaged in inside your network are likely thinking the same thing you are. Reconnecting Dormant Ties opens the possibilities to new ideas, jobs you hadn’t thought of, or connections your Dormant Ties have now that you may not know exist.
Start with your Dormant and Strong Ties first as you reconnect, but don’t discount those Dormant and Weak Ties. Yes, the levels of trust their willingness to pass on more useful knowledge is likely going to be harder to get from them, but you never know what information or new paths that the Dormant and Weak Ties can offer. That is why you have a network in the first place, so use it to your advantage.
Then, don’t forget to give back to the network when someone in it comes to you for advice. Unless you’re a Taker, then…well… shame on you!
Works Cited
Braun, A. (2015, January 7). Strong Ties, Weak Ties, and the Surprising Power of Dormant Ties. Retrieved from AdamBraun.com: https://adambraun.com/strong-power-weak-ties/
Grant, A. (2013, June 17). finding the Hidden Value in your Network. Retrieved from LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20130617112202-69244073-finding-the-hidden-value-in-your-network
Grant, A. (2013). Give and Take. New York: Penguin Books. Retrieved from AdamGrant.net.
Grant, A. (2013, April). In the Company of Givers and Takers. Retrieved from Harvard Business Review: https://hbr.org/2013/04/in-the-company-of-givers-and-takers
Harden, P. (2016, May 23). How to Land a Job by Networking. Retrieved from Washington Post: https://jobs.washingtonpost.com/article/how-to-land-a-job-by-networking/
Levin, D., Walter, J., & Murnighan, J. K. (2010, September 30). Dormant Ties: The Value of Reconnecting. Retrieved from Rutgers University: http://www.levin.rutgers.edu/research/dormant-ties-paper.pdf