Global Recession: The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review

 

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HOW TO FIND A (GREAT) JOB DURING A DOWNTURN

by Claudio Fernández-Aráoz

Unemployment rates have spiked around the world owing to the Covid-19 crisis and its economic fallout. The landmark research on how people find good jobs was conducted in the early 1970s by Mark Granovetter and remains relevant today despite the big changes in roles and recruitment that we’ve seen since.¹ Studying professional, technical, and managerial job seekers, Granovetter found that most jobs (and especially good ones) were attained not through direct application or other formal means—that is, submitting a resume in response to a listing (which then might have been a print ad but is now online)—but through “personal contacts,” who told the applicant about the ...