How to do it
- List the loose ones, not only close friends. Old colleagues, clients, suppliers, a neighbour.
- Ask for a name, not a job. A name is what a loose contact can actually give you.
- Message one today. People say yes to direct requests more often than you'd guess.
- If you work in a trade, ask the close ones too. Outside office work, close contacts did more.
How the introduction works
- Weak tiereaches other circles
People you know a bit move in circles you don't. In a five-year LinkedIn experiment, they did more for landing a new job than close contacts.
- Direct askgets more yeses
In lab and field studies, people underestimated how many others would agree to a plain request for help, by as much as half. Those were mostly strangers and small favours.
- A namean easy yes
"Who should I talk to?" costs the other person almost nothing, so it's easy to say yes to. That step is my guess, not a tested finding.
- Youa new door
The name leads to a conversation you couldn't have booked yourself. Whether this exact ask gets people into work faster hasn't been tested.
Why it works
"Have you got anything?" gets one answer, and it's usually no. "Who should I talk to?" is easy to say yes to, and a name is what a loose contact can actually give you. Asking for an introduction, not a job, is my addition. Evidence: worth trying
The people you know a bit are worth more to a job search than you'd think. In a huge LinkedIn experiment, they did more for moving to a new job than close contacts. Evidence: decent
The long readEvery step of the chain, each study with its numbers, and what's still unproven. 2 min read.
What happens in your brain
This chain is behaviour, not brain areas. Nobody has scanned it.
Loose contacts reach other circles. Researchers ran an experiment on LinkedIn, the work networking site, with more than 20 million users over five years. The site randomly varied how many loose contacts people were shown. Contacts people knew only a bit did more for moving to a new job than close ones. Evidence: decent
Direct asks get more yeses than you expect. In a series of studies, people underestimated by as much as half how many others would agree to a direct request for help. They thought about what saying yes would cost the other person, and forgot that saying no costs something too. Evidence: decent Those were mostly strangers asked for small favours, not old colleagues asked for a lead. Evidence: worth trying
A name is an easy yes. "Who should I talk to?" asks for a minute's thought, not a job. That it's easier to agree to is my guess. Evidence: worth trying
You get a new door. The name leads to a conversation you couldn't have booked yourself. Whether this exact ask gets people into work faster hasn't been tested. Evidence: worth trying
The proof
- Across more than 20 million LinkedIn users over five years, with about 600,000 new jobs in that time, the site's "people you may know" suggestions were varied at random. Looser contacts led to more job moves than close ones, but only up to a point. Evidence: decent
- How loose counted depends on how it's measured. By shared contacts, the middle did best: people you know, but not well. By how often two people interacted, the weakest ties did best. Evidence: decent
- The catch: it's LinkedIn, so mostly office work. And in less digital industries it flipped: close contacts did more. Evidence: decent
- In three studies, in the lab and in the field, people underestimated by as much as half how many others would agree to a direct request for help. Evidence: decent
How to do it
- List the people you know a bit, not only your closest friends: old colleagues, clients, suppliers, a neighbour.
- Message one today. Ask for a name, not a job.
- If you work in a trade, ask the close ones too. Outside office work, close contacts did more. Evidence: decent
I've left [company] and I'm looking for work in [your field]. Is there one person you think I should talk to?
Watch out
The job finding comes from one site built for office work. Evidence: decent The request studies mostly used strangers and small favours, not job leads. Evidence: decent And asking for a name instead of a job is my reading of both, not something anyone has tested. Evidence: worth trying