While online networking sites allow people to increase their professional connections, to what extent do these connections actually lead to employment? A new study has found that, despite the ability to significantly increase the number of professional connections and identify more jobs with limited effort on these sites, unless the connection is strong, it usually won't lead to a job offer.
The authors surveyed 424 LinkedIn users (all of whom were graduates and current or recent job seekers) across five major search sites:Internet sites (e.g. Monster.com), online social networks (e.g. LinkedIn), offline friends and family, newspapers and others. print media, and recruitment agencies and career centers.
The study found that the highest number of job offers were generated by internet job boards, followed by LinkedIn. And while on LinkedIn, weaker ties offer marginally more jobs than strong connections, real conversations and job offers came mainly from strong connections.
