Getting a Job: Resources and Individual’s Chances on the Warsaw Labour Market

Individuals engaged in the labourmarket use a range of resources embedded in personal networks to improve their chances of getting a new job. Family, friends and acquaintances give access to various resources such as information, knowledge, trust, recommendation, money, etc. that may affect individual’s position on the labour market. Based on data collected with the Resource Generator tool among 9063 residents of Warsaw, we checked how embedded and mobilizable resources of family members, friends, acquaintances (social resources), as well as private resources owned by respondents (personal resources) affect individual’s perceived position on the Warsaw labour market. It was confirmed that chances of getting a job depend on the amount of embedded and mobilizable resources present in personal networks. However, relationship between embeddedness and usability of resources rely on the type of relation (family, friends, acquaintances) maintained by individual. We found that mobilizable resources are perceived as an asset on the labour market, while resources embedded in acquaintances network, that could be just accessed but not used, are considered a threat. At the same time, personal resources of respondents improve perceived chances of getting a new job inWarsaw. The observed dependencies between social and personal, embedded and mobilizable resources prompt a discussion on the shape and role of social capital in the urban labour market.