What kind of social connections matter (in the context of job seeking)? Karon Gush, James Scott and Heather Laurie University of Essex The State of Social Capital in Britain Festival of Social Science, 11 th November 2015

2 Social connections and jobseeking

3

Strong ties and weak ties 4 Social connections and jobseeking

Strong ties and weak ties 5 Social connections and jobseeking

Strong ties and weak ties 6 Social connections and jobseeking

Strong ties and weak ties 7 Social connections and jobseeking

How does ‘who you know’ matter for job searching? Methodology  In-depth qualitative interviews  Length = approx 30 mins – 1 hour  17 Couples (30 respondents) interviewed individually (where possible) 11 separately, 2 together, 4 one partner only Research question and data 8 Social connections and jobseeking

Advent of the internet  Strong ties can have access to information outside the normal remit and prove crucial for successful job-matching Labour market structure  Networking in declining industries Dormant connections  Not always easy to measure but can be very important Tie strength in 21 st century UK 9 Social connections and jobseeking ISER Working Paper: Gush K, Scott J and Laurie H (2015) Job loss and social capital: the role of family, friends and wider support networks.

Formal channels (4) Self-employment (3) Still looking (2) Acquaintances/industry contacts (5) Mix of formal channels and family support (1) Routes to finding a new job 10 Social connections and jobseeking

We just talk about it in general. Would I fancy doing that? And if I said no, that was the end of discussion. We'd move on to something else. We'll look for something else in a different area. [My wife] must have spent more time on the computer looking at different websites than I did. [Dave, 50s, Health Care Asst] Hours online. 11 Social connections and jobseeking

People who I had been working with are now out of work as well, because they’re are out of work, they don’t have the sort of the opportunities to offer... I think networking, it’s great if everyone is in work and everyone is working on things that are growing because there obviously is a need for more people. But if you’re working on areas that are sort of in decline, it’s not great. [Ian, 40s, IT Specialist] sdf 12 Declining industries and tie strength. Social connections and jobseeking

There’s not jobs in the paper or anything like that, and you look online and it’s qualifications, of course age is another concern because I’m 58 years old...I know there’s not supposed to be, no discrimination for age but there is...I think people find more jobs by word of mouth or whatever than anything that is advertised in the paper because it’s who you know … Well, the guy. I walk the dogs and we’d meet. I’ve known him for years, I went to college with him years and years ago … he said, “If anything goes comes up, do you want me to let you know?” And he did … and they gave me the job. [Bill, 50s, Paint Engineer] sdf 13 Dormant connections. Social connections and jobseeking

No agreed definition of what social capital is  Strong ties, weak ties? Social capital is not like other forms of capital  Just because you cannot detect it does not mean it is not there Contextual dependency  Situational factors largely determine the value/relevance of social capital Implications for measurement 14 Social connections and jobseeking

References 15