Using Social Networking Sites to Find a Job

How Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn Can Help Land a New Position

Sep 23, 2009 Deborah S. Hildebrand

Job seekers in the know, know that networking is important. And what better way to network than to use social networking websites.

Yes, it’s always been important to know people who know people. Networking is essential in every line of work. However, with the advent of social network sites, networking has taken on a whole new meaning. Now job seekers can network through social network sites.

Social network sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn all boast about how they offer people the opportunity to connect with friends and family, but job seekers can also connect with employers.

Using Twitter to Find a Job

According to the Wall Street Journal Twitter offers employers an alternative to big online job boards as a way to find and attract candidates. The benefit – besides the fact that it’s free – is that employers can post short job announcements and get immediate feedback from followers. Plus companies can convey a trendy image to users who are “social-media-savvy job hunters.”

For job seekers, Twitter offers a convenient way to interact one-on-one with recruiters. They merely need to know where they want to work and they can sign up to follow that employer’s tweets – that's the update the company posts made up of no more than 140 characters. In addition, Kara Nickels, Hudson Legal Recruiter recommends job seekers avail themselves of tools such as Tweetdeck, which allows job seekers to search specific topics relative to an industry and when someone tweets on that topic, they get a notification. Job seekers can also find out about jobs being posted at places such as Twitter Job Search and Tweet My Job.

How LinkedIn Can Help Job Seekers

One of the biggest complaints from job seekers about the on-line application process is the inability to set themselves apart from the crowd as their resume zips through Internet space never to be heard from again. That’s where LinkedIn can help.

Of all the social networking sites, LinkedIn is frequently cited as the top business networking website, the one most employers gravitate toward when looking for job hunters. Mainly because most members utilize it to network and make business connections; whereas Facebook and MySpace, filled with family photos, are more often used for strictly social purposes.

Job seekers need to keep in mind when using LinkedIn that they can improve their chances of finding a new employment opportunity if they create an up-to-date and professional-looking profile, make connections with current and prior colleagues, get recommendations from those they know and become an expert by participating in discussions and Q&As.

Facebook and Job Hunting

Yes, even Facebook can be used as a job hunting tool. In fact, conduct a Google search using Facebook and “career search” or “job hunting” and job seekers will likely find a link that will take them to a ton of posts at Facebook which include career articles, career links, resume design tools and even job openings. It’s a matter of taking the time to weed through and find the groups that offer what the job seeker is looking for in the way of support.

One way to do this is to use the "search" box at the top of their Facebook page. Try "career." This will take the job seeker to a list of potential pages which can then be further filtered using the menu on the left as well as the filter bar above the list. Of course, Facebook is also a great networking tool to keep in touch with friends and family while soliciting them for assistance in a job search.

Whatever tools job seekers utilize to find an employment opportunity, it’s important to realize the impact that not only the Internet, but social networking websites have in today’s market place. That’s why using social networking sites to find a job makes a lot of sense.

The copyright of the article Using Social Networking Sites to Find a Job in Career Advice is owned by Deborah S. Hildebrand. Permission to republish Using Social Networking Sites to Find a Job in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Social Network Job Hunt