No doubt that one of the most significant events that are happening in 2020 is the COVID-19. Every individual is being affected by this pandemic, the way of interaction with each other, and especially the way they work. According to Statistics Canada, In April the rate of unemployment had increased by 13% where 2 million Canadians have lost their jobs [1].
The high unemployment rate leads people to look for new jobs, but is it that easy to find a new job? The article by Robin Ryan had mentioned that for those who had referrals have a 50% chance of getting an interview, whereas others with no connections have only a 3%. Referrals are only 7% of the applicants, but Jobvite reports that 40% of new hires come from the referral pool [2]. It is clear that people who have no connections have a much lower chance to get a job compared with those who have connections.
The problem is how to build up connections especially with the employers? As you may guess, the easiest way is by social media networks such as LinkedIn. These social media apps are powerful, as you may notice they often recommend connections that you may really know or have heard about from your friends, and the main reason for this is due to triadic closure. Let suppose that person A knows person B and person C, this may imply that person B is likely to know C. This is how recommendations come from, and how you can build up your connections with others.
This connection found could be a strong connection or a weak connection. Often weak connections are very important, researches have shown that weak connections might provide a bigger job opportunity than strong connections [3] since people tend to have more weak connections than strong ones. The fact that the more connections you have imply more exposure and more opportunities to find a career path.
In a sense, building a professional network will allow people to have more opportunities than those who did not or have weak professional networks. Don’t wait until the future, start building your own professional network.
Reference:
[1] Canada lost nearly 2 million jobs in April amid COVID-19 crisis: Statistics Canada | CBC News. (2020, May 08). Retrieved October 02, 2020, from https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-jobs-april-1.5561001
[2] Ryan, R. (2020, August 31). How COVID-19 Has Changed Hiring And Job Search And How To Be Successful. Retrieved October 02, 2020, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/robinryan/2020/09/01/how-covid-19-has-changed-hiring-and-job-search-and-how-to-be-successful/
[3] (n.d.). Retrieved October 02, 2020, from https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200701-why-your-weak-tie-friendships-may-mean-more-than-you-think