Interaction of Weak Ties

Humans have always been social animals. The need for belonging has been ingrained in them from when humanity first wrote history. In 1995, two researchers, Baumeister and Leary, proved that. They said that if humans don’t feel like they belong, they experience lower physical and emotional well-being. This feeling of ‘belonging’ doesn’t have to be overt either. In fact, even minimal signs that they don’t belong can have compounded negative consequences.

Past research has shown that social interactions and positive feelings are connected. But it’s only recently that the benefits of social interactions with casual friends or acquaintances — called ‘weak ties’ — is being studied. 

Weak ties are generally those interactions that involve less frequent contact, low emotional commitment requirement, and limited intimacy requirement compared to other ties with friends and relatives. Past studies have emphasised the positive effects of strong ties more because of humans’ general recall tendencies.

In a normal day, people interact with between 11 and 16 weak ties on their way to work, running errands, or on a break. But, since weak tie interactions don’t happen simultaneously, the onus to initiate them lies on the individual. 

One great way to do that is by sending messages rather talking over the phone. Messages give them the comfort to reply at their leisure. It allows the relationships to flow easily and prevent them from being taxing or being considered a chore.

Imagine how it feels greeting the barista at the coffee shop or the cashier at the breakfast place. Or, imagine how it feels when the waiter smiles when you walk in or when they know your ‘usual’. Imagine how you would feel when the stranger walking a dog down the lane every night nods his head in your direction. Maybe, imagine what it’s like when the stranger on the metro you get on with every day looks and smiles at you one day.

There’s no limit to the types of small interactions that happen this way. Now imagine if you made small talk with any of those strangers. These interactions with ‘weak ties’ improve overall positivity significantly because they make one feel belonged — feel happy because someone noticed them or thought of them.

Socializing with Weak Ties

What’s implied here is Homans’s idea that “the more frequently persons interact with one another, the stronger their sentiments of friendship for one another are apt to be.” 

The best thing is that the chances of rejection when you’re reaching out to weak ties for casual interaction are very less. In one study, they were as low as 12%. However, the same rejection rate went up when people reached out to their weak ties for referrals or job search. The reason isn’t that people are hesitant. It also has to do with the greater access to technology and the nature of referrals that jobs need. But we’ll explore that a little while later.

Intuitively, any tie’s strength depends on four different elements — the duration or the length of association, the intimacy (like the level of confiding), reciprocity of services, and the emotional intensity. 

Some individuals also characterise a relationship through the frequency of interactions with each other. On a base level, they appear to be correlated in one way but there some among them that are independent of each other. There can exist scenarios where the presence or absence of one or the other characteristics might not influence a tie’s strength. 

Quick Relations with Weak Ties

Can quick and informal check-ins provide a means to satisfy individual needs for social belonging and connection without having to consider socialising as a chore? The answer seems to be a resounding ‘yes’. Research shows that when individuals personalise routine transaction like getting a coffee or hailing a cab can significantly improve a person’s happiness. Things as simple as smiling as the waiter, greeting the cab driver, and smiling at the watchman can significantly improve self-confidence.

The reasons for that are twofold: One, our interactions with weak ties go exceptionally smoothly because we are always on our best behaviour. Two, weak tie relationships give us short, minimally taxing, and informal interactions that provide a fresh perspective and relevant information, and give us social variety.

Popular research has always focussed on the benefits of strong ties because of the time commitment involved and the depth of interactions. However, weak ties also provide new insights and non-redundant information that foster creativity.

Networking and Job Search

How do these weak ties translate into networking and job search for individuals? In the olden days, before the wide-spread prevalence of technology as we know today, networking has always relied on face-to-face interactions. 

But what sort of relationships get you jobs? In the early1970s, sociologist Mark Granovetter conducted a study which yielded results that weak ties have facilitated white-collar job shifts. 

These weak ties are important for reasons: Your strong ties are probably in similar social and professional circles. They would know the same jobs that you do. Weak ties, on the other hand, provide variety and opportunities for job search. In the 1970s, therefore, it made sense to make as many weak ties as possible.

Moving on to the new, technology-driven age, this might not exactly be the case. A study conducted later showed that only 17% attributed a successful job to a weak tie.

What about the rest of the respondents?

At least 60% of the respondents said that the people they formerly worked with helped them secure a job. This doesn’t necessarily have to be co-workers. It could be former bosses, current or ex-clients, or any other professional acquaintances. 

So what did people here have that made them good job referrers? 

They could all talk knowledgeably and convincingly about your work ethic. They can talk about what you were like as a colleague or a client, or just a professional.

What’s different?

The difference has primarily to do with the current media ecology. In the 1970s, the major hurdle was finding that a job existed. At that time, job boards, classifieds were less common. So the only sources were ‘help wanted’ notices and word-of-mouth information dissemination about the job itself. 

Now, knowing that a job exists is the easy part. Job aggregators, job portals, social media channels, and e-papers are all information sources about the job itself. This doesn’t include the corporates’ websites. The problem today is that too many people are applying to the same job. 

Recruiters have limited tools and resources to filter through hundreds, if not thousands, of resumes for the same position. Standing out from the pile of resumes becomes a tedious chore now. But how do you stand out from the crowd?

What those hiring most value in times like this is someone they know vouching for you because they know how you are as a professional. Recruiters need someone who can convince them that an individual will be a good hire. 

In this article, we don’t look at the implicit bias that recommending creates or how referrals create a barrier to diverse workplaces. How reliance on workplace ties shifts the locus of the problem of creating a diverse workplace is something that we don’t contend with here.

Conclusion

Just because most job applications happen through workplace ties, doesn’t mean individuals should stop networking. 17% is great odds too when one is looking for a job. The kind of relationships that weak ties allow you to nurture ease not only the working conditions in your present job but also help your chances at a future job. Clearly, the best way to increase your chances of finding a job is by maintaining healthy relationships with the colleagues at your current workplace.