“The friend is the man who knows all about you, and still likes you.“ – Elbert Hubbard, The Notebook, 1927
According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, a friend is “one attached to another by affection or esteem”. Where would we be without our friends? I suppose we don’t give it too much thought until we lose our jobs or are desperate. For job search a friend is anyone who: gives you a lead, introduces you to people who can help in your job search, provides advice, writes a recommendation or is simply there to listen. Then, of course, there are your “connections”, which are all of the people that you are linked to on LinkedIn (and if you are not on LinkedIn than stop everything you are doing and join now). Today’s post is about leveraging your friends, social networks and connections in your job search.
- Five Strategies for Leveraging Your Online Social Networks – Beyond your usual use of social networks, this article (from QuintCareers.com) outlines a few strategies for leveraging your social networks. Most are common sense, but you may not think about them until you read them in the article. The first strategy, “Be Selective”, is great advice in terms of who you might use for recommendations, but I’m not sure I agree if you are looking for people who can provide leads. There is additional advice on the right hand sidebar regarding Twitter which is worth a read as well. Don’t forget to visit their Art of Career Networking section as well.
- New job search techniques leverage power of social networking sites – This article, posted on Careerkungfu.com and written by Jessica Dickler, indicates that the best way to find a job is by building your online presence. The article provides some tips and comments from individuals who have benefited from doing this. Keep in mind, the article is not only talking about leveraging social networks, but your entire online presence. This is somewhat akin to my advice getting as many people as possible to know you are in the job market (my Job Search Marketing Toolkit).
- Top Social Media Sites for Job Searching – Okay, but what are the best job search social networks? Alison Doyle, from About.com, provides a short list in the article. So what are they? Well I’m not going to give them all away, but the list does include well known sites such as LinkedIn and Twitter but also includes some sites you may not have heard of. There is tons more advice both on this page (with links) and on the site as well.
- Don’t let friends ruin your job search – Like just about everything in life, there is always the flip side (which is always the negative side). CNN.com’s living section provides this article. The great thing about this article is that it gives you both the positive and the negative. The article provides some basic advice and then a list of “Do’s” and “Don’ts”. Visit the site to view the article.
- When Social Media Bites – The good, the bad and the ugly. This article, posted on Forbes.com, gives you the low down on both the bad and the ugly. The article reminds us that we need to protect our image when using our name on the internet and the statistics provided in the article indicate that almost half (45% to be precise) of employers check out applicants’ on social networks. Your know the saying, “if your mother would be embarrassed by what you’ve done” then there is a pretty good chance any potential employer will take a pass on you.
Good luck in your search.
More From careeralley
- Job Search Marketing Toolkit – Networking
- Stay Connected – Is Your Job Search Wi-Fi Ready?
- Who’s Your Daddy? – Leverage Your Job Search Network
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Thanks for the list. Linkedin, Twitter are what I see to be the most important for establishing an online presence. Facebook might be another one to use, but more often than not, that’s for more personal affairs between close friends etc.
Creating a personal website about yourself and your endeavours is a good way to score extra bownie points, especially if you appear high up in the search engines when someone searches for your name.