Career choice and the strength of weak ties

Abstract

This paper argues that the structure (i.e., size and composition) of the informal search network is acrucial determinant of the career decisions of young workers. Building on the search-theoretic careerchoice and job mobility model proposed by Neal (1999), I compare the consequences of career advice byone's weak ties versus that by strong ties. The main result is that receiving help from weak ties isassociated with early career and job settlements, while the strong ties are more likely to lead to ampliŞedmobility and generate mismatch. Given a network size, IŞnd a strongly positive correlation between thefraction of weak ties among one's informal connections and the likelihood of settling on a stable careerpath early in the life course. I alsoŞnd that the sign of this correlation persists, while the magnitude getssmaller as the network size increases. I conclude that the strength-of-weak-ties hypothesis can shed lighton the complexity of job mobility patterns among young workers. The model can explain why it takesmuch longer for blacksdwhose informal networks are documented to consist of strong tiesdto locate astable career path than their white counterparts. It also predicts that young workers from closed andsegregated neighborhoods tend to spend more time before theyŞnd suitable careers.© 2017 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Central Bank of The Republic of Turkey. Thisis an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)