New Graduates Social Capital: Nodes and Ties in the Transition from University to the Job Market

The role of interpersonal networks in the job market was brought to the in 1973 with Granovetter’s. Researches led so far in Italy show some data against international trends: strong ties seem to prevail over the weak ones. It is therefore useful to connect the general questions concerning the relation between social capital and employability to specific categories of candidates. In this paper we focus on graduates, who are now facing growing difficulties of placement in the job market. The analysis was conducted following three main questions: What is the importance of social ties in the job placement of new graduates? What is the morphology of social networks that result effective in job searching? What are the characteristics of people who were used as contact by workers who are professionally successful and satisfied? To answer these questions a specific survey was led on a sample of Graduates of 2008 who had participated to the Alma Laurea survey in 2011 stating that they had found an occupation. This survey was conducted via web between June and August 2012 and reached almost 6000 interviews.