Doctoral Dissertation Research: Non-Searching for Jobs

社会学研究已经确定了社交网络和社会资本在劳动力市场优势配置中的重要性。 然而，虽然大部分的经验和理论的重点一直是人们通过他们的搜索活动获得他们的工作，很少有人考虑那些谁得到他们的工作没有搜索。 这些“非搜索者”在不积极搜索工作的同时接收工作信息和/或工作机会。 这些不找工作的人不仅在目前的求职者中惊人地普遍，而且他们也比那些积极寻找工作的人得到了更好的工作。 为了确定非搜索者的特点和他们获得的就业优势的性质超过积极的搜索者，我将分析两个国家数据集的调查数据。 此外，我将对一家跨国金融公司的新员工进行定性访谈，以更好地了解人们不搜索的过程，以及这些过程与人们积极寻找工作的方式有何不同。我假设，非搜索者之所以能得到一些最好的工作，是因为他们广泛的工作联系使他们能够获得独家的工作信息。 此外，与社会资本理论相反，非搜索者能够在不积极搜索工作的情况下获得这些有价值的工作信息。 通过这种方式，对非搜索者的研究有可能大大推进社会资本理论。 此外，对非搜索者的研究可以更广泛地增强我们对社会分层的理解，提供对种族，性别和阶级分层，工作分配以及获得精英劳动力市场职位的见解。

Sociological research has identified the importance of social networks and social capital in the allocation of labor market advantages. However, while much of the empirical and theoretical focus has been on the way that people access their jobs through their search activities, few have considered those who get their jobs without searching. These "non-searchers" receive job information and/or job offers while not actively searching for a job. Not only are these non-searchers surprisingly prevalent among current jobholders, they also receive better jobs than those who actively search for their jobs. In order to identify the characteristics of non-searchers and the nature of the employment advantages that they receive over active searchers, I will analyze survey data from two national datasets. Additionally, I will conduct qualitative interviews of newly hired employees at a multinational finance company to gain a better understanding of the processes by which people non-search and how these processes differ from the ways that people actively search for their jobs. I hypothesize that non-searchers receive some of the best jobs around because their extensive work contacts provide them with access to exclusive job information. Plus, contrary to social capital theory, non-searchers are able to procure this valuable job information without actively searching for their jobs. In this way, research on non-searchers has the potential for significantly advancing theories of social capital. Also, research on non-searchers can enhancing our understanding of social stratification more broadly, providing insights into race, gender, and class stratification, job allocation, and access to elite labor market positions.