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This paper explores the use of a wide range of social media tools for online identity management, job search and career advancement and makes specic recommendations for their effective use. It reveals ways to make a favorable impression in the virtual world before you even ofcially communicate with employers.
Consider where youre likely to get the greatest exposure in todays world. Would it be in a newspaper ad? Would it be through a recruiter? How about on Facebook with its 600 million registered users? Social media is todays most efcient way to connect to the world.
The social media explosion. Social networking became possible when Web 2.0 put the power in the average users hands to post and control content in the early years of the 21st century. Tim OReilly is generally credited with inventing the term following a conference dealing with next-generation Web concepts held by OReilly Media and MediaLive International of San Jose, California in 2004. The former Web, which was considered useful only as an information source, was left in the dust. And social media sites exploded in number as well as popularity around the globe. The world not just its programmers started controlling the Web and its information. Hence, the power of social networking became ours. In 2006, Time magazine named You as Person of the Year acknowledging the millions of people contributing anonymously to Wikipedia, MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, SecondLife and other user-generated content on the Web. For people around the world, this was a life-changer. The number of social media sites ballooned overnight, much like the number of apps (application software) being offered. Wikipedia, the user-generated encyclopedia, maintains a list of the 200 top social networking sites, but even that only scratches the surface. Consider four of the most popular social media sites today that should be taken into account when assessing your online image: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Combined, they had more
than three billion unique visitors in a recent month according to Compete.com. Facebook continues to lead the pack in popularity, but LinkedIn recently has been making a strong surge. It reported a recent monthly growth of 14.83% whereas Facebook increased only 4.97%. Think about the power of Twitter a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week networking opportunity where anyone with a device and a connection can virtually mingle with the likes of Bill Gates or Ashton Kutcher. The world is always watching consider that YouTube has surpassed the mark of more than 700 billion playbacks. Even this phenomenon of social networking got the attention of mainstream media. In 2010, Time magazine once again recognized the global implications when Mark Zuckerberg the creator of Facebook was voted Times Man of the Year. In his own Facebook entry, Zuckerberg proclaims to be trying to make the world a more open place by helping people connect and share. What began as a small project by a Harvard student, Facebook now boasts a membership of 41.6 percent of the U.S. population, according to a recent report from Social Media Today. Facebooks overwhelming popularity has even supplanted MySpaces once elite status in the social networking chain. Web 3.0 the next wave. The future of social networking promises more change. The next big thing in the Internet is already underway Web 3.0. Many believe this will be the Semantic Web a place where a new generation of search engines could instantly know which Jane Doe you are and pull everything ever published about you into a single coherent document. Make sure that you are the principal author of that document. And make sure its good.
Most corporate recruiters and hiring managers are realizing the power of social media and are turning to websites to source and screen their candidates. When you get past the virtual process and into the ofce for an interview, you might be amazed at how much they already know about you. Gerry Crispin from CareerXRoads, an international consulting business, predicts even more companies will begin using social media as part of the recruiting process: I would certainly expect that the percentage of recruiters using social media in some form as a part of their recruiting process is rapidly approaching 100%. Among the social networking sites, LinkedIn is the site of choice. The professional networking site has attracted the likes of Microsoft, eBay, Netix and Target to facilitate their recruiting efforts. The site is so effective that sometimes passive candidates posted on LinkedIn are even approached by the companies rst.
Fifteen years ago, it would have been silly to ask recruiters what percentage of their hires involved the use of a phone. Five years ago, it would have been silly to ask what percentage use e-mail, and within a couple years it will be as silly to ask what percentage of hires involve social media. It isnt a replacement but an enhancement of the means to communicate and gather relevant content, analyze options and execute your decision.
Gerry Crispin, co-founder of Career XRoads
The dominance of LinkedIn is shown in these numbers from Jobvite. This industry barometer gauges how employers are using social networks to recruit.
LINKE D IN: 7 8%
FA C E B O O K : 5 5 %
BLOGS: 19%
M YSPACE : 5%
How does the virtual world see you? Are you somebody that hiring managers and recruiters would consider a good potential employee? Think about whats posted about you.
Getting LinkedIn
The most professional of the big three social media websites (Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn) is LinkedIn. Surveys show that hiring managers and recruiters tend to rely on the information on LinkedIn the most.
Providers of career transition services recommend that creating a prole on LinkedIn be one of the rst things you do when starting your job search. These proles are business-oriented, focusing on education highlights and past work experience. Getting your name out there on this site is a must and could potentially go a long way toward landing that next job. Employers are drawn to the recommendations that are posted on the profiles. Of course, these are something that job seekers must gather from their peers and bosses (past and present). The job seekers ultimately control these whether they send them back for revisions or decide not to post at all.
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As compared to the other social media sites, LinkedIn focuses more on job search and industry news. It is especially useful for making second-and third-degree contacts in the professional world. As you add contacts, LinkedIn calculates your total connections under the heading Your Network of Trusted Professionals which includes:
There are LinkedIn members from all 500 of the Fortune 500 companies. LinkedIn members comprise 130 different industries and include 215,000 with the title of recruiter. Then add in all those LinkedIn people with different titles who also do recruiting. Thats a lot of networking potential. Not convinced? It also has a special jobs section where you can nd job listings. In fact, it even automatically brings up suggested jobs for you according to your background.
1st degree
Your friends and colleagues
+ 2nd degree
Friends of friends
+ 3rd degree
A friend of a friend of a friend
= Total users
you can contact through an introduction
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Where can you build almost instant exposure to other recruiters and executives? For most people, it doesnt come with the rst tweet, but over time you can get your name out there and be recognized through Twitter.
The free social networking and micro-blogging service allows users to send tweets of up to 140 characters to the Twitter website, via short message service (SMS). If youre highly wired and time-challenged, Twitter may be your best online choice for social communicating. Relationship building is one of the keys to good networking. With 190 million users tweeting 65 million times a day, Twitter is a force to be reckoned with. Since its launch in July 2006, it has proven that its not going away. More and more HR managers and recruiters are paying attention to its users.
So unless youre an experienced writer and have a wealth of professional information to share, its probably wiser to spend your job search time otherwise. If a blog is still what you want to do, then remember to keep it current. An item that is six months old is considered outdated. Also remember, this will be revealing a lot about you. Consider your topics and how its written carefully. Showcasing yourself on a website If youre in a profession where a portfolio is expected, youll need your own personal website. For architects, art directors, photographers, illustrators or graphic designers, it would be important to showcase your expertise and market yourself through the work you have done. Of course, it also would be important if you have a career in website design. Otherwise, a personal website is not really necessary. Its up to you if you think its worth the time investment. If you have enough good things to display, it could act as your online CV. It also could counteract any negative things that might have slipped through the cracks on the Internet.
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Creating your own personal website has become easier. Whereas rudimentary websites were previously hard to create now customized, professional looking sites are fairly easy. For example, Ning.com allows you to create a mini social site with a 10 bandwidth for only a small monthly fee. If you need more advanced versions, it will cost more. The Ellen Show, Smart Cars, Hersheys, the Epilepsy Foundation, musical groups and even political campaigns have used Ning to get their messages across. There are many other services such as Wix.com, Yola.com or even Yahoo where you can create your own site without having a full-blown Web design program such as Adobes Dreamweaver. You also dont necessarily have to pay large fees to outside sources to create your website anymore.
If you do decide to have your own website, remember youre shouting your online brand louder than ever. Make sure youre exhibiting what you want the world to see. This website must be kept on a professional level. Spelling and grammar are important. If youre not the best writer or grammarian, enlist the help of a friend or a service. Also, remember to keep your information, including your resume, updated. Your personal website is a true reection of your image. If it is done appropriately and is important for your career path, you may even want to add your Web address on the hard copy or electronic version of your resume.
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Gathering the best and most relevant information is a key to the success of most undertakings, and career management is no exception. Whether you are in active job search, or happy in your current employment, access to information about potential next employers is essential to your future success.
The problem is nding a way to easily locate the appropriate amount of the information. Employed managers and professionals have limited time. They need to be selective. And they cannot afford the time to go hunting for career-related information every day.
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Looking beyond RSS Some companies, however, have started to remove the open standard RSS in favor of a more closed workow which forces users to use their websites to access information such as new content updates. Twitter, for instance, no longer offers RSS feeds. It switched to OAuth, an authentication method that lets you use apps without them storing your password. Twitters own blog says this means increased security and a better experience. You have to keep track of updates through Twitters website or through a third-party application like TweetDeck. The easiest way to nd people or companies is by typing their name into the search box at the top of your Twitter homepage. Twitter allows you to keep a list of searches of the people, companies or trends you want to track. Tweets from users you follow will show up in your Timeline, and any saved searches you create will be available from your searches dropdown. Facebook also no longer provides RSS feeds for its content. It allows you to set up notications, either by e-mail or by text message to your cell phone in its account settings. You will need to Like something in order to get updates. So if you want to see updates from Company X, nd its Facebook page and click the Like button. LinkedIn, which still uses RSS technology, offers two types of feeds public and personal. Public feeds offer the same content to all LinkedIn members. Personal feeds contain private information from your LinkedIn network.
Want to go even further? A cutting-edge job search campaign might involve sending out links to your visual CV an Internetbased, multimedia resume that will ensure that you stand out from the crowd. With this, embedded charts, documents, samples and even video can be added to your resume presentation. Two different versions for students and professionals can be accessed through www.visualcv.com. One good feature is that this visual CV allows users to control and track who views it. Another good feature its free. Tech-savvy job seekers also might see the value of inserting barcode-like QR (quick response) codes in their resumes, which can be scanned by an iPhone to call up a website displaying a visual CV, work samples, or a LinkedIn prole. You can also hyperlink your resume to your LinkedIn prole. A hyperlink is a word, phrase or image that you can click on to jump to a new document or a new section with the current document. Such links show that you are media-savvy and also give potential employers your complete picture.
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As important as online tools are, they are not a complete solution for job search or career advancement. Its essential to combine them with traditional career advancement and job hunting activities. The most important of these continues to be networking. Check out the book, Highly Effective Networking, Meet the Right People and Get a Great Job, by Orville Pierson, to nd out more about the importance of networking activities. Whether its through a social media site or through a casual conversation at the grocery store, connecting with people is the key to landing a job.
Web tools can map your contacts and the contacts of people you know. They can also enable you to identify the people you should meet and provide information on those people who will make meetings more successful. But there is still no substitute for those real-time conversations on the telephone or over lunch. Organizational users of career transition services are in clear agreement about the importance of integrating Internet and traditional tools in job search assistance programs. In a recent LHH survey of 968 companies, 86% expressed a preference for career transition programs using a blend of technology and in-person resources, while only 1% favored technology alone.
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As important as online tools are, they are not a complete solution for job search or career advancement. Its essential to combine them with traditional career advancement and job hunting activities. The most important of these continues to be networking.
Whats ahead? Its a brave new job-hunting world. The Internet has made job-hunting a highly automated, lightning-fast endeavor with social networking, online searching and researching, and even hyperlinked resumes. Our ever-evolving technological world is sure to bring more changes and other opportunities to make job search even more efcient. Web 3.0 is right around the corner.
Job hunters must be diligent in updating their hightech skills so they can take advantage of social media opportunities on sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Even more importantly, job seekers need to manage their online image. Just as job seekers are utilizing online tools to nd employers recruiters and hiring managers are doing their research to make sure their next hire is a good t. Paying attention to the trends and using all the cutting-edge technology right at your ngertips will be a big key to your success.
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Monster CareerBuilder
TheLadders
TheLadders focuses on jobs with six-figure salaries, but charges a fee to candidates.
Indeed SimplyHired
Aggregators like Indeed and SimplyHired are job boards of job boards, sites that collect listings from wherever they can.
YouTube
Myspace
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Search Engines
You need to be well informed about the internal or external organization where you will work next, so go beyond their websites and search them. Popular Web Tools Career Applications Different search engines may produce different results on the same subject. Dogpile aggregates the results from several search engines into a single list.
Career Applications There are more than 100 million blogs, all searchable at Technorati. Writing one may advance your career, but its time-consuming and hard to attract readership. Twitter is a popular micro-blogging site that can also be seen as a social networking site.
Technorati
Bing
When networking, search people using Wink, Spoke and ZoomInfo as well as the general search engines.
RSS
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds automatically send you the latest information from websites where you subscribe.
Tips: Search your own name to see how effectively you are
managing your personal brand on the Internet.
Tip: Use RSS to stay up to date on targeted companies, network contacts, advances in your field, and relevant job openings.
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Step
Step
Step
Step
Google yourself and remove any content not consistent with the brand image you want to project. Remember that website privacy controls work only when theyre turned on, and even then there are numerous ways that content can move to other unprotected sites.
Create a marketing plan for yourself, including a list of organizations where youd next like to work. Adjust your brand image to appeal to decision makers in this market.
Use LinkedIn. If youre unemployed, complete the entire prole, including several recommendations. In any case, get linked with 100 or more reputable people that you actually know.
Select a blog to follow, preferably one written by an expert in your profession or industry. If unemployed, follow several.
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Step
Step
Step
Post your resume on job boards specializing (or at least including) your profession and industry. Include a revision date as text, not in a footer, so readers will know whether its current.
Set up RSS feeds. Its like having a journal subscription. If youre unemployed, set up enough to cover all segments of your target list.
Do not waste time with websites that are not relevant to career progress or, worse yet, could undermine your career progress. Remember, material you publish on the Internet text and photos both can be viewed by any current or prospective future employer. If youre in job search, balance Internet use with proven traditional methods.
For more information on using the Internet and social networks, in particular to advance your career, please visit LHH.com or contact your local LHH representative.
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Lee Hecht Harrison offers talent development solutions throughout the entire employee lifecycle from on-boarding, through career and leadership development, engagement and retention to redeployment and transition. We help organizations maximize their return on investment in developing people, while assisting individuals to achieve their full potential. With over 270 ofces worldwide, Lee Hecht Harrison is the global talent development leader. We connect people to jobs through innovative career transition services and help individuals improve performance through career and leadership development. Lee Hecht Harrison is a part of Adecco Group, the world leader in workforce solutions with over 6,600 ofces in over 70 countries and territories around the world. For more information, please visit LHH.com.
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