Social media Sites and the Job Search

In this modern computerized world, most everyone knows a little something about the various social media sites out there, but we may not always think about the way that those sites can impact us during our job search. While we know the present economy is making finding a suitable job that much more difficult, we may not see how social media can affect things too.


In the old job market, most companies relied on either word of mouth (networking) from other peers in the field, or just from resume and background checking facts. Networking contacts can always provide a solid start for a hiring agent, since it usually comes from other co-workers who have things to say about a candidate based on personal knowledge. The old saying "it’s all about who you know," can still play a big part in this type of scenario when applied to networking.


Now, however, through social media sites like LinkedIn and even Facebook, hiring agents can find out a bit more about you. Hopefully if you participate in job related sites like LinkedIn, you have kept all of your profile facts up to date. Since this type of site is more focused on your professional side, there is not as much of the "silly" personal goings on that more frequently get posted and found on other sites. You can take advantage of the additional facts and information your LinkedIn profile contains, by adding a link on your resume for that profile.


When it comes to sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or the many, many other types of sites, you should give some thought of how they may be relevant to your specific job, and decide if an active link to them is desired. Since there are so many topic/interest specific sites out there, you may actively belong to one that is more directly related to the position you are seeking to acquire. Of course, be sure if you do decide to use such links, that the profile linked to is going to be viewable by them when they get there. If you have maximal security set on things like Facebook, where no one can see any of your information unless they are a friend, then linking to it is useless.


If you have decided to link to such a site, be sure to go through the site and "clean up" anything that may come across as unprofessional or be counterproductive to your job search. More and more, social media sites are being used by potential employers and current employers, to keep an eye on your public life, so be more careful as to how you represent yourself on these sites. Also, make sure all of the sites in question reflect consistent professional information. If you list certain skills and job history information on your resume, make sure it is not contradicted by your social media sites that can send off red flags to employers.


Most social media sites have a place you can insert biographical and other information about yourself, and most of these fields are accessible to major internet search engines. Use this to your advantage by adding job specific keywords in these fields to potentially provide hits on your profile by prospective employers.


There are so many new "tricks" that can help you use social media sites to your advantage, so do what you can to add that little extra push to the job search game.


Jeff McCormack resides in Virginia Beach, VA. where he works as a web designer by day. In his off time he is a husband, father, and musician. Aside from being a freelance writer for this Customer Service Jobs blog, he also seeks to assist in career choices and information by contributing to other Nexxt blog sites.