Job Seekers Employing Social Networking  

Posted by Anonymous in , , ,

The economy may be dwindling but social media use is booming. Job seekers have discovered that using both professional and social media sites such as Facebook or LinkedIn may prove to be their savior. With job openings so rare and the amount of qualified college graduates being pumped out of the system every year, job hunters have to switch their traditional hunting approaches for more modern ones.

According to Investors Business Daily, "Forrester Research estimates that 51% of U.S. online adults use social networking sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook, up from 25% in 2007." The old idea used to revolve around who you knew that could get your foot in the door. Now it is not only who you know, but who your friends and family know as well. Connections are being made online between complete strangers who only have one shared Internet friend.

Job seekers who choose to use this path must be careful. Presenting yourself online in a professional manner is important and making connections should always be done appropriately and professionally. When used correctly it can just land you a job. Link to article below:

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=515914&Ntt=LinkedIn

3 comments

Carolina Tarrazo   says January 14, 2010 at 3:18 AM

Is incredible the BIG impact that is having Social Media in society. People don't usually think about having presentable pictures in a web page where the people that see you are your friends and relatives (such as Facebook); but since companies are looking for professional profiles I think that a new Social Media webpage should be invented. If there is one already, the owners should give it promotion in order for businesses to know where they better look for. Facebook will not always show a professional image of a person (almost never).

Chelsea Bruha   says January 14, 2010 at 1:27 PM

I wonder if this will encourage social media site owners to perhaps allow users to make two profiles in their sites, one that is professional, and one that is personal. For example, you would have two Facebook Profiles, under the same account.

I think that would be important for sites to look into because personally, I do not like the idea of coming home from a long day of work, checking my Facebook messages, and having to worry about my professional reputation at home. Many experts have made a point to make sure that the professional and personal lives are separate. If the sites cannot separate that for us, and we spend so much time on the Internet, then how will we even be able to "take a breather" from being professional?

Danielle Flaro   says January 15, 2010 at 1:01 AM

Even if you do have two websites for facbook who is to say that the company is not going to look at the nonprofessional one too in order to see what you are really like.

Which is why it is a person's responsibility to make sure that their Facebook page doesn't have any pictures that they don't want their future employers to see, or their current ones for that matter.

So before you start contacting your future employers through Facebook make sure you clean it up a bit.

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