Facebook Can Be Just As Important As LinkedIn For Finding A Job

When you’re looking for a new job, you’re probably not heading to Facebook first. However, the biggest social network might still be important for finding new jobs. After all, everyone you know is there.

Photo by Sarah Marshall.

As business site Entrepreneur points out, the role Facebook plays in helping people find jobs shouldn’t be surprising. Any time you can connect with someone who works in your industry, that’s one more person who could potentially help you get a job. Research from Facebook itself shows that both strong and weak ties on the site can lead to jobs:

In a new paper appearing in the Journal of Labour Economics, using de-identified, aggregated U.S. data based on employment start dates people choose to list in their Facebook profiles, we find a seemingly contradictory set of results:

1. Most people find a job through one of their numerous weaker ties
2. An individual stronger tie is more likely to help than a individual weaker tie

How is this possible? Well, weak ties are important collectively because of their quantity, but strong ties are important individually because of their quality.

In other words, having a lot of friends on Facebook, and also connecting regularly with a few people can increase your chances of finding a job. To put it even more simply, Facebook is a social networking site and networking with your social group shockingly yields more jobs.

How strong and weak ties help you find a job [Facebook Research via Entrepreneur]