When Networking, the World Might Not Seem So Small (After All)

by Duncan Mathison

Disneyland’s “It’s a Small World” ride is where guests ride passively in a half-sunken barge through a darkened canal to an endless choir of animatronic dolls singing the same verses over and over and over again. I wonder in awe at the ability of that darn song to get trapped in the subconscious. Can you hear it now?

The ride first appeared, not at Disneyland but rather at the 1964 New York World’s Fair in the Pepsi Pavilion. The original plan was to have each section of the ride play a different national anthem but Walt Disney said he wanted one song. We can credit the Sherman Brothers, who wrote “It’s a Small World (After All)”. As a result of their creative efforts, the song is believed to be the most performed song ever without even counting the lyrics you are now listening to in your own head since I brought up this topic.

I can’t prove this, but I suspect one of the riders in 1964 Pepsi Pavilion ride was social psychologist Stanley Milgram (he did live in New York) as he is credited with the original experiment to establish how small the world really is, or more specifically, what is the average number of connections between you and anyone in the world.

This is called the “small world” problem. His conclusion as published in the first issue of Psychology Today in 1967 was “six” – thus the term, “six degrees of separation”. (If you really want to learn more about this check out Duncan Watts wonderful book, “Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age”.)

There have been a number of follow-up research pieces including using on-line social networking and the average still appears to be the same – six degrees. This of course the foundation of networking in the job search. Since there is an average of six connections to connect you to anyone with the power to hire you into your next job, networking would be a simple solution – right?

Well maybe. If you think about it the real problem for a job seeker is – which six?

This is the catch. Not all attempts to make the connection are successful. Most are dead-ends. The six degrees of separation only counts when calculating the steps it takes to make a successful connection.

If you are looking for a job this means your networking has to take into account the actual structure of social networks and how they operate. If you don’t, networking can make you feel lost in a huge random garden maze surrounded by very tall hedges.

So sharpen your networking to get better results to reduce the number of dead-ends:

Not all connections are equal. You will network with people that are darn near useless then meet with people who are gold mines of information. They are hard to make out at a distance but make sure you appreciate the gold mines when you find them.

People have to care about you to actually make the introduction to others. This seems obvious but the way some people treat networking contacts – like stepping stones, it is no wonder they never get very far in their networks. Enlist people in your mission to find your perfect job. Show that you care so that they will care.

People need to understand your objective. The more specific about your objective, the more likely they can be helpful. Help them help you by being clear about the job, the list of organizations that might use your skills and what type of hiring managers you need to meet who might value what you do.

Cluster jump. Social networks form in social clusters. Often people that know you also know each other. This can become a closed loop or closed cluster of connections. Therefore you must make efforts to jump out of your cluster. Tell people who are not obvious connections about your quest to find your next job. Introduce yourself to people who are experts in your target field not just people you know today. Work outside of your comfort zone a bit to get into the same network cluster your hiring manager might belong.

It is a small world but it can be overwhelming unless you have a systematic way to look at all those happy dolls to find the right one.

Tags: 6 Degrees of Separation, hidden job market, job search, luck, networking, positive psychology, prospective boss

This entry was posted on Friday, January 22nd, 2010 at 4:24 pm and is filed under Blog, job search, networking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.