The play is based on the theory that any one of us can contact anybody else of our choosing, anywhere in the world, using a chain of contacts which on average contains six people. The theory has been confirmed by a scientific study, which places the typical number of links connecting us all as 5.5.

Six Degrees of Separation has become a slogan for advocates of networking. Because of the small number of connections needed to reach the person we are trying to contact, so the argument goes, we should all invest tremendous energy in building and maintaining our networks.

But there is a flaw in the theory. OK, theoretically it might only take six contacts or so for me to reach a tribesman in New Guinea. But actually reaching him is by no means assured, because I cannot guarantee that all six contacts in my network will call each other and pass on my request for an introduction. If our networking contacts always did as we asked then Osama Bin Laden would have been caught a long time ago.

This is not to denigrate networking as an activity, nor to suggest that job seekers should not make it the chief priority in their campaign. On the contrary, all the evidence shows that more jobs are won through networking than any other activity. But many people find networking an uncomfortable activity and it helps to reassure them of its practical merits using rational arguments, not extravagant claims. We may all be connected by an average of six degrees of separation. But to use that as the reason to network is unrealistic and generates false hopes. Life just isn’t that simple.

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