In his 1973 article, “The Strength of Weak Ties,” sociologist Mark Granovetter, after interviewing dozens of people, determined that most jobs were landed through “weak” interpersonal ties — not friends telling friends, but acquaintances telling friends.

In other words, if you’re mostly asking friends to send you job leads, you won’t succeed as fast as asking acquaintances, who then ask their friends to help you.

Counterintuitive, yes, but aiming your networking efforts at people you don’t know well is a faster way of gaining access to new social groups, where new job leads may be.

To quote Granovetter: “[T]hose to whom we are weakly tied are more likely to move in circles different from our own and will thus have access to information different from that which we receive.”

Weak ties include “an old college friend or a former work-mate or employer, with whom sporadic contact had been maintained,” according to Granovetter.

Here are three ways to turn weak ties with acquaintances into solid job leads …

1) Throw out “hooks”

An easy way to help people latch onto your ideas is to give them mental hooks.

About 6 weeks ago, I got a networking email from Cleo P., which began as follows:

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From: Cleo [mailto:cleo@XYZ.com]
Subject: Networking Favor Request from Cleo – Hey, Do You Know . . .

I have entered into a very targeted job search campaign which focuses on a select list of potential employers; and I was wondering if you could lend me a bit of help. Could you let me know if you know anyone who works at any of the companies on the following list so I can ask for a referral?

=========

Now. I get dozens of emails like this every week. Most I can’t do anything with. But for some reason, I decided to check Cleo’s profile on Zoominfo.com. It turns out that she and I graduated from the same university.

This changed everything. I’m more likely to refer a fellow alum to people in my network than someone out of the blue, because we share an affinity.

So, the more “affinity hooks” you give to people you barely know, the more likely they are to latch onto your message and forward it to people they know.

Example “hooks” to use in networking messages:

* schools you attended (alumni ties can be strong)
* companies you’ve worked at (former co-workers are another form of alumni)
* fraternities, sororities, other non-religious and non-political groups
* charities or non-profits you’ve volunteered at

In Cleo’s case, I know the director of alumni career services at my alma mater very well, so I forwarded her email to him. I don’t think it hurt her chances.

2) Offer a reward

One way to get people to pay attention is to pay them cash.

That’s the angle M. Shane Smith, a marketing professional from Bloomington, Minn., has taken. He’s offering a $1,000 reward to anyone who gives him a warm introduction to a senior-level executive that leads to a job.

What is a warm introduction?

“Networking for many people means just getting a name, but a warm introduction is when someone does a little ‘gushing’ about you to others. For someone to gush, we need to meet,” says Smith, who hopes his $1,000 bounty produces more meetings.

In about 6 months, it has led to 6-8 warm introductions, 80% of which produced conversations with decision makers, according to Smith.

Smith also encourages referrals by including talking points in his networking emails, so recipients can speak about his skills specifically. How does he do it? By including quotes from executives in his emails.

Example: “Challenging and problem situations do not intimidate Shane and I often referred to him as: Mr. Motivation, Mr. Communication and Mr. Innovation.” – Chief Operating Officer.

3) Mail out letters

If a networking email sent to 40-100 people can produce 2-3 job leads, that same message — printed and mailed to only 10-20 people — can produce an equal or greater number of leads.

That’s because, in my experience, a snail mail letter merits more attention than an email. Perhaps because paper letters imply that you took the time, effort, and postage to get in touch.

So, I suggest you make a shortlist of 20 “weak networking connections” you want to get the word out to by U.S. Mail.

What can you write?

One Guerrilla Job Hunter, Jeff D., from Oxford, Michigan, wrote and mailed a four-paragraph letter and hit pay dirt this past November — his 20 networking letters produced three solid leads and a job, within four weeks.

His letter had three key parts:

1. Introduction: “I have recently left XYZ Co., where I was a JOB TITLE, and handled THESE JOB DUTIES.”

2. Achievements: “I played a pro-active role by _______________ that added __________________ to the bottom line and reduced costs by _________________________.”

3. Employment goals: “I seek a significant leadership role where my ___________________ skills and experience are required.”

The words aren’t as important as the fact that you’re clear about what you’ve done, what you want to do next, and what you’d like the reader to do.

Whom can you write to?

Well-connected school friends, former co-workers or managers, former clients or vendors, attorneys, real estate agents, bankers, old neighbors, and the like.

Jeff mailed his letter to 20 such people he knew professionally. It was a “weak tie” — a former vendor — who ultimately helped him find a new job.

Now, go out and make your own luck.

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities

“UNIX is basically a simple operating system, but you have to be a genius to understand the simplicity.” - Dennis Ritchie

Statistics, we love to quote them. And you know what they say – “so many statistics, so little time”. But there are some interesting statistics regarding Tech jobs like, did you know that Phoenix is a “top ten place for tech jobs“? Yes, you are reading this correctly (doubt me?, click the link). I’m sure that most people would never guess Phoenix. So what’s my point? You need to be open-minded in your job search and leave no stone unturned, you just never know where an opportunity will turn up. How about Omaha Nebraska – “Union Pacific Corp. will move 300 information technology jobs to Omaha“. Another example of a great opportunity, because I can guarantee you that a fair number of Tech employees decided not to move to Omaha. Another opportunity if you are willing to make a move.

Job search is an art. In addition to the traditional search (job boards, headhunters, etc.) that EVERYONE is doing, you need to think outside of the box and look for opportunities where fewer people are likely to look (like Omaha). Leverage your search engine skills and look for those unlikely combinations that will translate to better odds for you. Go where “few men have gone before” and there will be less competition and more opportunities.

Tech Job posts are among the most popular, so I thought it would be a good idea to both recap and provide some interesting links to help in your search.

• Technology Jobs – HotJobs – Most of the top job search sites have focused job search pages for many job functions, and HotJobs is no exception. Their Tech job search page is well put together and easy to read. Top of the page has a listing of Tech related jobs functions (Applications Engineer, Data Analyst, etc.). Click any of these to view a page listing jobs for this function. You can narrow the search (location, etc.) by using the additional criteria on the left hand side of the page. Below this are featured jobs, click on these to link directly to the job. The bottom of the page has additional career advise and services, right hand side of the page has a basic search function.

• hitechNY.com – While this particular site is focused on NY (and indicates that there are over 40,000 tech jobs in NY), most states and many cities have similar sites dedicated to Tech (and other careers). Not much on the main page here, and if you can’t figure out how to get to the next page, perhaps Tech is not a career for you. The next page has tabs at the top for Job Seekers, Partners and Job Fairs. Click on Job Seekers to link to a page with additional links to Search for Jobs, Search for Employers (don’t forget the strength of applying directly on employer sites), Training and more. Click on Search for Jobs, put in your criteria and off you go.

• .tech_centric – “Computer, Tech & IT Jobs Search, Careers, Employment, Postings” is the tag line for this website. Top of the main page has tabs for Job Search and Post resume. The left hand side of the page has the basic job search function as well as links for Create a Resume, Set-up Job Alerts and Review saved jobs. Featured recruiters are also listed on the left. The center of the page has Browse Jobs by job function followed by jobs by location and Latest News in Technology. The right hand side of the page has the latest jobs as well as a salary survey.

• information-technology Thingamajob – This is another job search site with a targeted search on information technology provided by Thingamajob.com. The top of the page has tabs for Create an Account, Post your Resume, Login, Find a Job and more. There is a basic search function right below the tabs, followed by Information Technology jobs by subcategory. At the bottom center of the main page has a listing by state. Left hand side of the page has a number of links to subcategories by function and state as well

• Articles about “find a new job” in Technology – These links, provided by About.com, has a number of links to articles and resources to help you in your Tech job search.

• JustTechJobs – This site, as you might suspect, focuses on job search for Technologists. There are tabs at the top for Searching Jobs, Posting a Resume and “About Us”. Clicking on the “About Us ” link launches an amazing page with 120 related websites which are specific to your technology specialty (like JustOracleJobs.com). The main page lists Recent Tech Jobs on the left-hand side, with a quick search at the top Tech news feeds below. There were 1,253 tech jobs when I checked the site.

• Hewlet Packard – HP’s career website provides an overview of the company with links to Search Job and Submit your Profile on the left of the page. Their are separate tabs for Students & Graduates and Diversity. Searching all HP jobs returns over 2,245 opportunities with Information Technology returning 155 jobs (additional technical jobs can be found under other categories).

• Where Are the Tech Jobs? - This article, produced by Internetnews.com, gives a little more information on where to find jobs. With any luck you will source a number of interesting job search ideas.

Good luck in your search.

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.