Job Hunters: Quality of contacts counts
New research in the INFORMS journal Management Science finds that it's not the quantity of LinkedIn connections that you have, but the quality, when it comes to helping you search for a new job.
We are drowning in numbers, and we no longer understand what they mean. Every day, headlines bombard us with figures meant to inform: billions in spending, trillions in debt, percentages signaling growth or decline. But for most of us, these numbers blur together. They register as “large” or “small,” but almost never as real. And that is more than a math problem. It is a civic one.
INFORMS has awarded Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) its 2026 Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Advanced Analytics, Operations Research and Management Science, for reengineering how global cloud infrastructure is planned and delivered, applying advanced analytics and AI to orchestrate complex fulfillment decisions across its rapidly expanding data center network.
In the rush to adopt artificial intelligence, many employers are now requiring that employees use AI tools. As you’re using AI, be intentional and selective. It’s critical that you know yourself. Research published in Management Science found that AI is most valuable for people who understand their own abilities and limitations. Assess yourself, so you can factor this into your process for incorporating AI into your work.
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New research in the INFORMS journal Management Science finds that it's not the quantity of LinkedIn connections that you have, but the quality, when it comes to helping you search for a new job.
Before online social networks came along, finding a job was often times a matter of who you knew. The digital age hasn’t debunked that conventional wisdom. But it has deluded some into believing that having hundreds of connections on LinkedIn or other professional social networks will make their next job search quicker and more successful. However, a new study in the INFORMS journal Management Science found it's the quality, not the quantity that counts.
A news study in the INFORMS journal Marketing Science finds that posting calories on menus in chain restaurants not only shifts customers towards healthier alternatives but also had broader spillovers by impacting consumer evaluations of the restaurant.
INFORMS, the leading international association for operations research and analytics professionals, offers its Essential Practice Skills for High-Impact Analytics Projects workshop. This intensive hands-on, workshop explores the concept of “structured problem solving” and provides participants with practical frameworks to go from ISSUE to ACTION. It combines approaches for analytical and creative problem solving, strategies for communicating and persuading, and processes for managing projects and working in teams.
CATONSVILLE, MD, October 10, 2017 – In the U.S. today, the majority of professional stock market traders are young males and new evidence suggests biology strongly influences their trading behavior. According to a new study in the INFORMS journal Management Science, this could be a significant contributor to fluctuations in the market, as high testosterone levels can cause these traders to overestimate future stock values and change their trading behavior, leading to dangerous prices bubbles and subsequent crashes.

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