Tarpasmenini ry i tinklo formavimasis ir jo reik m migracijoje

This article focuses on the analysis of job-searching strategies based on the results of the interpersonal migration networks research. The analysis deals with the issue of migrants’ job-searching strategies based on different types of social ties. The attention is also paid to the analysis of the exchange of diverse resources in these networks (including the analysis of information, support, friendship, communication and kinship ties. The article not only examines the structural characteristics of migration networks but also analyzes the subjective experiences and reflections of migrants in the integration process in a foreign country’s labor market. The main analytical argument refers to Granovetter’s typology of weak and strong ties in professional mobility, including job searching processes (Granovetter 1973). Weak social ties are characterized by a high dispersion of information flows advantageous to migrants’ integration into the labor market. Networks of weak ties also provide the financial resources, personal contacts or emotional support in settlement, housing or job searching in migration country.We illustrate the theoretical insights by the empirical data from a qualitative migration network case study of lithuanian migrants conducted in march of 2010 in Copenhagen (Denmark). The general bulk of the data comes from the in-depth interviews with 20 respondents with different socio-demographic characteristics including gender, education, age, professional experience and family status. The empirical analysis focuses on the following issues: What kinds of job-searching strategies are advantageous in migration? how these strategies are related to weak and strong ties used by migrants? Who provides migrants with mutual assistance, basic information and other resources?To summarize the empirical data, the meaning of interpersonal migration networks is ambiguous in terms of its functions and significance for migrants’ adaptation. The main empirical results indicate that the formal and informal nature of migration networks becomes one of the main social, economic and cultural resources for the migrants’ successful adaptation. The interpersonal networks are advantageous in creating strong migrants’ communities largely based on ethnicity and collective identity. On the other hand, the weak ties in migration networks could be seen as useful strategies for the effective economic integration into labor market by fostering the information flows, encouraging the professional mobility and providing with other useful resources, such as housing, social benefits,