Reasons for weak relations

There are many explanations for the difficulty of college students' employment, some of which are attributed to the decline in the level of higher education, some to the lack of new jobs, and some call on college students to look for opportunities in rural areas and backward areas in the central and western regions. However, these explanations are all from the perspective of outsiders. Few people pay attention to the process of finding a job, what impact it will bring to the whole society, and no one puts forward suggestions on how to avoid being employed. Two sociological works help us answer the following four questions.

Mark granovetter is a famous figure in contemporary sociology, especially in economic sociology. His papers "The Power of Weak Relations" published in 1973 and "Economic Action and Social Structure: A Preliminary Study on Embeddedness" published in 1985 had a very far-reaching impact on the later labor market research. At the end of last year, "Looking for a Job: A Study of Relationship and Occupation" published by Gezhi Publishing House is actually an expansion and further development of the power of weak relationship.

In the book The Power of Weak Relationships, Granovett focuses on the starting point of the job search process: how to get job information. Granovett found that the strong relationship between family and friends played a very limited role in the flow of work information. On the contrary, those classmates, former colleagues or people who have only known each other for a long time can provide useful clues for job hunting. The reasons are not difficult to understand: the members of strong relationships have high similarity and the information between them is highly repetitive, so the information spread through strong relationships is more likely to be confined to a small range; Information dissemination in weak relationships can make information popular because of the long social distance.

Looking for a job, continue to analyze the role of relationships in job hunting. Granovett divides the methods of finding a job into four categories: those found through formal channels (such as job advertisements in newspapers or employment agencies), those found through personal relationships, those found by applying directly to employment units, and other methods. The results of Granovett's sample survey are as follows: "Personal relationship is the main way to find a job. About 56% of the respondents have used this method; 18.8% uses formal methods (9.9% uses advertisements, 8.9% uses other formal methods), 18.8% uses direct application, and 6.7% is mixed (including' uncertainty'). "

The reason for this situation lies in the information asymmetry in the labor market: job seekers often don't know where there are suitable positions, although in fact many organizations can't find people to fill vacant positions. For employers, there are two factors that urge them to use personal relationships to recruit employees: first, they can save recruitment costs without paying advertising fees or intermediary (employment agency or headhunter) service fees; Second, you can learn more about the applicant's situation; Employers are more likely to use this method when the position to be recruited is important, such as financial personnel or sales supervisor.

In the second chapter of "Looking for a Job", Granovett classified interpersonal relationships. He found that only 3 1.4% of those who found jobs through relationships were trained through strong relationships (relatives and friends) and 68.6% were trained through the workplace. This once again proves the "power of weak relationships."