People have been fired over what they’ve said in blog posts or on social media sites. Sharing confidential information or making negative comments about a business have cost many employees their jobs. Some employees have even been fired over making positive comments about their company. What is grounds for termination in the cyber-world and how can social media affect your job search? Can having a personal blog, professional blog or social media account impact your job search? It most certainly could and probably will. If you post about how you conduct yourself in interviews or if you post about how you embellish your resume, potential employers will be able to see it. You want to have a profile that does not scream “bad employee” and that could be anything from bragging about excessive drinking to how you steal notepads from work. Is it alright for prospective employers to be reading your blog or social media account? Perhaps not, but, when you post something on the Internet, it’s there for anyone to see, no matter what their motives might be. Some people, who have taken extra steps with their job search, will list their personal site or social media address on their resumes. Again, you should only do this if there is nothing you want to keep from a prospective employer on your site. Who hasn’t Googled someone they were interested in? Well, HR managers do the same thing with prospective employees. If you have it on your resume, then the employer will definitely look at it. Most hiring managers will look at a prospect’s website if they list it. Others will try to find out as much personal information as they can. This is not the days of “3 references” anymore, now your 3 references are Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
If your blog is hidden or private and people in the office or a hiring manager finds out your identity, they can still look up sensitive information about you. They certainly won’t mind reading it, so don’t put anything negative about current coworkers or any past employers you have had. Once again, do not include a link on your resume to your social media site or personal website if it contains anything that might be damaging to your job search. Always be careful about what you put online. If you have a social media account, people will probably have no problem reading it, after all, you put your information out there, so it’s public domain now. Even if you think only your friends can access it, you still have to take caution and be proactive about what you put out. If you’re unemployed, consider putting together a website or social media site that’s specifically related to your job search. You can position yourself as an expert in your field. Attach samples of your resume, portfolio or any certifications you have.
People are searching, so when they find you, what do you want them to see?
How Has Job Hunting Changed in The Last Ten Years?
The Internet has changed a lot about our world in the last ten years─including how we look for jobs. The basics may be the same: the old finding an opening and applying for it, but the internet has completely revolutionized the employment process. With more than 9% unemployed, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, many people are going to be using every single tool at their disposal to find their next employment opportunity. Networking has been the traditional way to find a job, but over the last ten years this has changed to social networking sites like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. These sites are now the second-most effective tool in your job-hunting arsenal, according to job placement firms. Searching for jobs at trade fairs or by looking through newspaper classifieds has long been replaced by the internet. It’s not about the old school anymore, today’s job seekers have to be on the web to find a job. Social networking sites have exploded with popularity, people look to connect with old friends, loved ones and business partners alike, so there is always opportunity to meet someone with a job offer online. Facebook has over 500 million users worldwide, Twitter’s traffic has increased exponentially in the last year and LinkedIn, despite not being as robust as the other social media options, is perhaps the most useful of any social networking site when it comes to actual job hunting. LinkedIn’s traffic has nearly doubled in the past year, thanks to its usefulness as an employer posting site and networking capabilities. You all know how I feel about LinkedIn. Employment posting sites have been popular over the last decade as well. There are a lot of options out there for these sites and many are household names. Job posters look for these sites because they know prospective employees are going to frequent them in hopes of finding something. These sites experienced great growth early in the decade but social media sites and other factors have contributed to a loss of traffic. One of the factors in the decline of job posting sites has been the boom of Craigslist. Craigslist is a privately held company that specializes in free internet postings. It’s basically like an online classified section for the internet, users can post jobs or even garage sales. Much of Craigslist’s earnings come from job postings, Craigslist’s success has meant tough times for the newspaper industry. Total revenue from classified listings for newspapers has fallen by as much as 42.5% in 2008 to just $2.2 billion, which makes it the worst drop in the history of the industry. The internet is definitely where people look for jobs, but the ease at which prospective employees can send out resumes has made it tough for HR managers. They have to sift through a huge pile of resumes to find the right candidate and with jobs scarce at the moment, it can be hard to get through the clutter. People who rely on one method for their job search will find it much more difficult to find employment than others.
For those of you who have talked to me, you know that I unabashedly love LinkedIn. As social networking goes for professionals, it’s my favorite. LinkedIn has a much cleaner interface than other sites such as MySpace, Plaxo or Facebook. Setting up a profile on LinkedIn can put your name at the top of the Google search rankings and can help you get connected and ‘be found’ in ways you might not have imagined. LinkedIn is one of the best social networking sites to help you increase your online visibility. Because of its popularity among millions of people, the site has gained a significant presence in Google page rankings. Typically this means that when people search for your name specifically, they can find your LinkedIn profile as one of the first results. If you have a particularly common name, like mine, there are a couple of ways to help further boost your profile in Google searches. Specifically, you should include your LinkedIn profile link in each signature you use from discussion boards to blogs to other social networking sites. You can also use your actual name in the URL you select for your profile. Or, you can differentiate yourself by what you do. My LinkedIn name is: erinkennedycprw. The “cprw” stands for Certified Professional Resume Writer and also sets me apart from the other 212 Erin Kennedy’s. Ideally, for SEO purposes, you really want to have just your name, but if it is already taken, like mine was, you have to figure out something else that will work for you.
Once you have built your profile and included your job history and experience, you can start networking. Chances are that you will find many of your colleagues, classmates, and former university instructors. You can even branch out to the people who are connected to those in your existing network. For example, if you live in Austin and your spouse’s job is requiring that you relocate to Denver, you might not have contacts there. In this case, you can tap into your network to see with whom they’re connected. Chances are that somewhere among your connections, you’ll find someone who lives and works in Denver to forward your resume. The most important aspect of networking on LinkedIn is building that network well before you need it. Usually, the “pay it forward” concept works here – give out help before you need it yourself. Always make yourself available for LinkedIn recommendations as well as a good word toward HR when a contact wants to apply for a job at your company. By doing this, you highly increase your chances of getting your own recommendations when you need them.
There is another way to use LinkedIn to your advantage. If you know your interviewer’s name in advance, you can look up his or her profile to get an idea of what to talk about during the interview. If you find something that the two of you have in common, such as the same university or previous job, you can bring it up during the interview. However, this should be done carefully. Only you can determine whether the tone of the interview is somewhat light or very strict. While talking about the things you have in common can help set a lighter tone, this tactic should be approached with caution.
Learning the basics of how to use LinkedIn for networking will help you maximize your networking potential. When you make yourself more visible in Google, make connections with your contacts’ networks and use LinkedIn for research, you can find your way to the next big opportunity.
Social media is changing the landscape of how people relate to each other. Before the advent of keeping track of people online, it was harder to maintain an extended network. Now, it’s possible to catalog all the people you’ve known through previous jobs – and to keep in touch with them as well, which is amazing when you think about it. This has had numerous impacts on the workplace, and how people get jobs. In the early days of the internet, people would search job boards. Remember when Monster.com and Yahoo!Jobs were touted as the hot new thing? I remember telling my clients to go to them to look for job openings. Those job boards were also huge for the recruitment industry. Here was a (relatively) cheap way to reach thousands of people across the whole world with news about your job opening. While still extensively used, job boards seem to have fallen to the baseline, with the exception of a few good ones. They require little to no personal interaction to apply for a job. On the recruiter’s side, they often have to deal with spam bots which send out limitless replies to job advertisements. Not as bad as spam bots, but still very annoying, are people who apply on every job on the board, regardless of how qualified they actually are for the job. The entry-level recruiter who spends their day sifting through hundreds of applicants for an administrative assistant’s job is practically tearing their hair out.
Now, a lot of recruiters are on Facebook, and there are some people who exclusively advertise job openings they’re working to their Facebook friends. This is helpful, because friends can direct their friends to connect with recruiters – and people that are recommended for a job are much more likely to get it than a random faceless applicant. Twitter is another way that job news is getting out. Becoming a part of the Twitter community or subscribing to a Twitter feed is an easy way to get information on a job – even if it’s only 140 characters. A job title and a few keywords are often enough information for a job seeker to determine if they’re interested in an opening. LinkedIn (my favorite!), which is a site dedicated to professionals looking to maintain their personal business network, is also another place that has exploded with opportunities. At first, LinkedIn was just a way to keep track of people – now, you can post pictures, what you’re up to, and complete an entire professional profile. You can even upload your resume and indicate how open you are to finding new opportunities.
At first, people created groups for job-seekers. Then, recruiters made groups through which they would post openings. Groups such as, “Jobs for Software Developers” attracted only the niche market they were going after – people who were looking for software development jobs, and friends of people who might be interested. LinkedIn capitalized on this phenomenon by creating a job board integrated with their website. Now, people can pay for a job ad, and have their links recommend their friends for a job. If you have been avoiding social networking, maybe now is the time to jump on the bandwagon and “be seen”.
Using LinkedIn to find a Job and Network in your Industry
If you’ve never heard of LinkedIn, you’re already behind.
According to their homepage, over 55 million professionals belong to the networking site, including every chief executive of a Fortune 500 company! Right now, every second, LinkedIn gets a new member. The masses have spoken with their profiles: LinkedIn is a necessary resource to increase the number of contacts you have in your own industry as well as others, and if you want to be a successful businessperson in the new decade, you’ll have to join.
Fortunately the site is free, so there’s no investment other than time in joining the site. The first step you’ll have to take is creating a profile for yourself. Remember, LinkedIn is not Facebook. You don’t want to be sloppy here. In fact, the more professional-looking your profile, the better.
Just as with a resume, triple check your spelling and punctuation to ensure there are no gaffs or typos that could damage your public image. Because even though the only people who can see your entire profile are within your contacts list, this profile will be public in the sense that it will be used to help you get new jobs, new clients, and new contacts. If you want to ensure you have a job through the next decade using LinkedIn, don’t be lazy on your profile.
You’ll have to give your employment status, your industry or trade, and your location, as well as your educational history. You then have the option to allow LinkedIn to use your email contact list to find contacts for LinkedIn. I recommend letting LinkedIn do this if you want an aggressive strategy for finding new contacts in industries other than your own, or even within your own industry. However, random contacting is kind of like shooting buckshot into the sky, and hoping it hits a bird. Sniper targeting for efficiency is a bit better. But everyone is different, and you may like to play the numbers game with contacts. The more you have, the more likely one will be of benefit to you.
Once you have your profile set up, you can begin inviting other members and non-members to link up with you. What this feature does is give you a pool of contacts through which you can invest some time in discovering whether any could be potential employers or clients. You’ll use these people as references in your other business contacts, as well as reconnaissance for jobs out there that are right for you.
Now that you have set up your profile (with a flattering photo!) and made a large coterie of contacts, start inspecting the job listings everyday, which you can find under the jobs tab at the top of the screen. Also, join a group that is pertinent to your field. For example, I joined the Twitter for Sourcing and Recruiting group because I wanted to keep up with recruiters and how they use Twitter to find new candidates so I can pass the advice on to my clients. These groups are great ways to meet people in the industry you’re interested in breaking into.
Gone are the days of searching for a job the old fashioned way… knocking on doors.
Today’s job seekers are leveraging the power of the internet to network with colleagues through online profiles, make connections with decision makers, and apply for jobs through a company’s website online. Social media is changing the landscape of how people relate to each other. Before the advent of keeping track of people online, it was harder to maintain an extended network. Now, it’s possible to catalog all the people you’ve known through previous jobs – and to keep in touch with them as well. This has had numerous impacts on the workplace, and how people get jobs.
In the early days of the internet, people would search job boards. Monster.com and Yahoo!Jobs were touted as the hot new thing, and these job boards were huge for the recruitment industry. Here was a (relatively) cheap way to reach thousands of people across the whole world with news about your job opening. While still extensively used, job boards seem to have fallen to the baseline. They require little to no personal interaction to apply for a job. On the recruiter’s side, they often have to deal with spam bots which send out limitless replies to job advertisements. Not as bad as spam bots, but still very annoying, are people who apply on every job on the board, regardless of how qualified they actually are for the job. The entry-level recruiter who spends their day sifting through hundreds of applicants for an administrative assistant’s job is practically tearing his/her hair out.
Now, a lot of recruiters are on Facebook, and there are some people who exclusively advertise job openings they’re working to their Facebook friends. This is helpful, because friends can direct their friends to connect with recruiters – and people that are recommended for a job are much more likely to get it than a random faceless applicant. Twitter is another way that job news is getting out. Subscribing to a Twitter feed is an easy way to get information on a job – even if it’s only 140 characters. A job title and a few keywords are often enough information for a job seeker to determine if they’re interested in an opening. LinkedIn, which is a site dedicated to professionals looking to maintain their personal business network, is also another place that has exploded with opportunities. At first, LinkedIn was just a way to keep track of people – now, you can post pictures, presentations, your blog posts, Twitter feeds, daily ‘status’ and so much more. LinkedIn is ripe with job opportunities.
At first, people created groups for job-seekers. Then, recruiters made groups through which they would post openings. Groups such as, “Jobs for Software Developers” attracted only the niche market they were going after – people who were looking for software development jobs, and friends of people who might be interested. LinkedIn capitalized on this phenomenon by creating a job board integrated with their website. Now, people can pay for a job ad, and have their links recommend their friends for a job. I am going to stop right here with LinkedIn. You all know how I could talk about its benefits 24 hours a day.
What has made social media a great outlet for finding a job is the fact that the internet has changed from a broad scope to a niche marketing tool. Take advantage of it.
Social networking has become deeply rooted in the vast majority of everyday life. People use it for entertainment, communication and now, increasingly more for work. Yet, there are still many people who don’t want to either invest the time or don’t know how to set up profiles and use these different sites. It is not a passing fad that will be gone in a few months—it’s here to stay, so why not make the most of it?
Initially it may seem absurd, but social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook are actually an ideal way to take the employee screening process a step forward. It is a way to get a glimpse into the lives of employee’s or potential employee’s lives. These personal pages are often rife with information. Just note that employers using social networking sites as a screening tool must be cautious. This technique is fairly new, and the legal issues surrounding it are evolving slowly. Until the legal rules regarding this practice are solidified, it is definitely always wise to err on the side of caution.
To stay legal while using networking sites and personal blogs for screening, it is mandatory that the business stay in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act, or FCRA. This act does not prohibit this type of screening, but is does require the employer to disclose to the employee or potential employee when information gathering using this method results in a negative employment decision.
Creating a set of company rules regarding social network screening is also very necessary. It will give those with the power to hire and fire something concrete to go by. If not, it will be very hard to keep all actions legal. It is also highly recommended that this person not be the one doing the research. This information needs to be gathered, and any non relevant data should be censored, as is does not pertain to the business. These words of caution should not be a deterrent from using this method. As long as the employer stays smart about it, social network screening is an invaluable tool.
Social networking can also be used to create an online presence for a company. It is not an uncommon practice for businesses to have their own page on popular networking sites. Blogs and Vlogs (video blogs) are also very common. It is a great way to communicate with Internet savvy customers. As this customer base is likely online as much as possible, an easy way to interject your business into their lives is through what they love: social activities on the Internet.
Use social sites such as MySpace to create a page for your business. It is a great promotional tool. Give your customers, both current and potential, an inside glimpse into your business’ world. Let them meet the people behind the scenes. Done correctly, this technique will bring a contemporary vibe to your company. Drive customers to your site offering promotions to those who choose to be your online “friend.” It creates a type of personal relationship with the customer. Into day’s market, an online presence is expected.
Social networking has become deeply rooted in the vast majority of everyday life. People use it for entertainment, communication and now, increasingly more for work. Yet, there are still many people who don’t want to either invest the time or don’t know how to set up profiles and use these different sites. It is not a passing fad that will be gone in a few months—