Job-seeking spotlight: Social and professional networking through the Internet

Your job as job seeker is Chief Marketing Officer; the product
you are marketing is YOU!

Job seeking through LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter

As job seekers, it is important to give yourself every advantage in searching for a new job.  In today’s world, job seekers are finding more and more opportunity through online social and professional networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

For novice users of these online networks, it can be intimidating at first.  First time users may get nervous about posting their information online for the world to see.  After all, once you post something online, you have no control over who has access to your information.

Here’s what I tell my job-seeking clients:  your job as a job seeker is Chief Marketing Officer; the product you are marketing is YOU!  As such, you must create a job-seeker ‘brand’ that is credible, powerful, substantive and illustrates in meaningful ways your experience, talents and expertise.  At this point, you begin promoting awareness of  your brand.

In today’s world, we are fortunate to have a variety of ways to promote ourselves as a job seeker through social and professional networking websites.  In fact, according to a study just released last week, the share of adult internet users who have a profile on an online social network site has more than quadrupled in the past four years -- from 8% in 2005 to 35% in 2008.

For job seekers, there are thousands of creative ways to promote your job search, your resume and portfolio online through simple interaction on the most popular social and professional networking websites.  Today’s article is a primer on how you can give your job search a boost on three of the most popular social and professional networking sites.

Next week, I’ll be discussing how to promote your job seeker brand through the creation of a blog.

About LinkedIn

LinkedIn was founded on May 5, 2003 when the five founders invited 300 of their most important contacts to join. At the end of the first month in operation, LinkedIn had a total of 4,500 members in the network.  At the end of 2008, LinkedIn reported more than 33 million members.

LinkedIn is an interconnected network of experienced professionals from around the world, representing 170 industries and 200 countries. You can find, be introduced to, and promote your job search to qualified professionals across a broad range of professional sectors and networks.

Why LinkedIn is important for your job search

Recruiters are starting to use LinkedIn as the main place for sourcing candidates because it’s free and the top professionals are on there.

Go to LinkedIn.com and sign up for a free account. Then begin completing your professional profile. To use LinkedIn to the best of your ability, complete your entire profile so that it says “100% complete.” Keywords that describe your best talents, level expertise and types of industry experience are extremely important.

Another neat feature is that LinkedIn allows you to solicit recommendations.  Reach out to former supervisors, colleagues, vendors or friends.  Doing so will give you a “1″ next to a “thumbs up” graphic when people search for you.

Then, you should import all your contacts from Outlook, Gmail, etc, so that you can start to build your network or grow your existing network. The more people you’re connected to the better because you’re only able to reach other people in your network (1st, 2nd & 3rd degrees) by having these connections.

You can search for specific people at specific organizations to look for connections.  You can also track down former colleagues, vendors, clients and others that can be of help to you in your job search.

In addition, research the LinkedIn groups.  There are thousands of groups on LinkedIn, many of which represent your job sector, industry or city in which you are searching for a job.  As a member of a group, you can start discussions, respond to discussions and connect with folks in meaningful ways by following these groups.  There are also settings that allow you to be alerted via email when someone responds to the discussion you started.

LinkedIn also allows you to search for jobs.  Many recruiters post jobs open at their companies on LinkedIn, but in addition, LinkedIn has a partnership with the large job aggregator website SimplyHired, which will also show jobs available.  Remember to go to “Advanced Search” so that you can tailor your job search to specific areas of interest and location.

LinkedIn is one of the most powerful research tools for your job search.  With millions of professionals on LinkedIn, you can enter search terms for companies and titles of individuals at these companies to find out more information about individuals as you prepare for interviews or to determine connections you may have in common.  I’ve heard numerous times of job seekers who were able to get a personal introduction because they were able to identify a LinkedIn connection between a friend and a person at the company they were applying.

Bottom Line:  LinkedIn is without question the most powerful tool for online job seeking and networking.  There are literally hundreds of creative ways to network, promote yourself and look for job opportunities.

About Facebook

In February 2004, two Harvard students launched a new computer network called Facebook that allowed them to share profiles, picture and information with each other.   Initially spread throughout Harvard campus and then throughout other Ivy League schools.  By end of the 2004, 1 million college students around the nation had created online networking profiles.

In 2008, there are 120 million Facebook profiles from users around the globe.

Why Facebook is important for your job search

While Facebook's massive reach is definitely its biggest benefit, there are dark sides about Facebook’s potential impact on your job search.

If you have a Facebook profile, you might have posted obnoxious pictures, joined silly or potentially offensive groups, or made outlandish comments all in the name of ‘fun.’  Well guess what. Employers are using Facebook to discover things about you and it’s high time for you to clean up your Facebook profile. 'Nuff said.

The good side is that Facebook provides you tremendous opportunities to connect you with long lost friends, former colleagues and can even help introduce you and your talents to a world of folks that might have an interest in your background and skills.  On your Facebook profile, you can describe your background and provide links to other places on the Internet (websites, blogs, news articles) that features you and your experience.

In addition, there are numerous Facebook ‘Groups’ that connect people in your city who are in the same industry or job sector and, in addition, promote new job openings.

Bottom line: Facebook’s biggest benefit to job seekers are the many creative ways you can utilize its features to look for a job and to promote yourself as a job seeker.  Don’t get tripped up, however.  Clean up your Facebook page so that it looks as professional as possible.  Monitor who posts what on your page and get rid of those drunken pictures of you from your friend’s bachelor party.  You might also want to get rid of those images that show you in the ‘80s with a mullet.

About Twitter

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users' updates, otherwise known as tweets.  Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.  Once you've signed up to the service you can sign up as a 'follower' of an individual or organization, and receive "tweets." Twitter is completely free of charge, and advertising-free as well.

Why Twitter is important for your job search:

Twitter has become a great utility to connect directly with recruiters and employees at companies you want to work for.  Many companies are posting new jobs on their Twitter accounts and by conducting Twitter searches and following corporate recruiters on your account, you start to learn a lot about them and their companies.  You can also follow my twitter account by typing AHJobslist in the search box of Twitter.  By following me, you will be able to be alerted when a new job is posted on my site throughout the week.

Before you follow anyone on Twitter, you HAVE TO have a completed profile. This means, you should have a short bio, the location where you’re from, a link to a site that recruiters can go to for more information (I recommend your blog or your LinkedIn profile) and a photo, a logo or an image of some sort. This way, you stand a better chance of securing an opportunity or a relationship with people who care enough to read your profile.

Most people get jobs on Twitter by developing a following and building trust, credibility and relationships with their followers. If you find yourself in a jam, these followers will feel more inclined to come to your rescue. The more followers, the more opportunity to connect with someone who has or knows of a job opening.  There are stories of people getting a job by tweeting “just got laid off, looking for a job!” and then receiving a few direct messages with people who want to help them.

A great feature is that your Twitter has a setting that synchronizes your Facebook updates with your ‘Tweets’ so every time you update your status, on Twitter, your followers on Facebook will also be alerted.

Bottom line:  While Twitter is a relatively new social networking tool, it has an amazing capacity for reaching thousands of people at one time allowing you to market your job search to a wide audience and allows you to connect and 'follow' fellow twitterers that could influence your job search.