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Connected dots with people

A decade of teaching people how to build relationships

That work has produced insights for the field on how social capital actually gets unlocked. And we share them here.

We stand on the shoulders of groundbreaking social capital research

In 1973, Mark Granovetter discovered that weak ties — people we don’t know well — make as many referrals to jobs as strong ties. Decades of research since, from Nan Lin to Raj Chetty, has built on that insight.

Strong Ties Diagram
Strong ties

Close friends & family.

Weak Ties Diagram
Weak ties

Casual acquaintances.

Our goal is to map how social capital actually works in practice, then translate those insights into an AI experience so our partners can help everybody land good jobs and internships.

Then we translate those insights into an irreverent AI experience that educational institutions and employers can embed into their curriculum and training programs.

Over the last decade we have learned a lot about teaching the art of relationships

To read about all of our insights - download the full deck here.

1

Most learners don’t know why they should care about building social capital.

of learners don’t believe in — or don’t know what is — social capital.

2

There is a social capital funnel: ~13 outreaches become three career chats, and three career chats become one referral.
Social Capital Funnel Diagram

3

Career chats lead to referrals, provide career clarity, and help with career navigation.

CAREER CHAT OUTCOMES

  • Information/advice

  • Introductions

  • Referrals

4

After blending Goldi with human career chats, students had far more concrete ideas about careers they could pursue.
Before

~5%

of learners mentioned a specific job
After
of learners mentioned a specific job

5

The hardest part of having a career conversation is asking for the career conversation.
Before
“Fear of rejection.”
“Fear of being a burden.”
“Feeling like an imposter.”
“This isn’t my cultural norm.”

6

What works is assigning mandatory career chats, which kick-starts new habits.

2

Mandatory career chats

3

Average career chats conducted

7

Repeated exposure to social capital concepts during a program leads to more real-world action.

+1%

Single exposure

Repeated exposure

See all our social capital insights

The full deck walks through the research behind every insight, the funnel numbers in detail, and what we are testing next.

Dot Connections

Get more social capital insights

Sign up to learn what we learn as we learn it — or contact us to compare notes.

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