Job Searching With Social Media For Dummies

Job Searching With Social Media For Dummies, Joshua Waldman, John Wiley & Sons, 2011

Everyone says that using social media is the contemporary way to find a job. This book attempts to painlessly take the reader through the process.

First, do an online search of your own name to see what the Internet says about you. If there are any drunken or racy photos of you on Facebook, for instance, restrict their availability, or delete them, now. You can count on a potential employer doing the same search. If an online search comes up empty, the author explains how to fix it. Why should a potential employer consider someone who doesn't exist online? Next, you need to come up with your own personal brand. What do you want potential employers to know about you? How will you distinguish yourself from the millions of other online job seekers? Use keywords that search engines will recognize, but don't go overboard.

For those interested in any sort of professional job, LinkedIn should be the first site to visit and fill out a profile. Consider joining, and contributing to, a few groups, to let as many people as possible know that you exist. Put your resume online, with an appropriate number of search engine keywords. Target it for different companies. Find some way to tell a potential employer what you can do for them, how you can make their lives easier. Don't tell them what you have done in the past. Consider a video resume, especially if you are interested in an arts or creative position.

Strongly consider signing up for Facebook and twitter, if you have not already done so. They are both good ways of expanding your network, of letting more people know that you are job hunting. Be sure to follow your target company/companies. The book also looks at connecting with the specific hiring manager at your target company. In more and more cases, they will be doing the hiring, not the Human Resources Department, which has been scaled back, or abolished.

There is a lot to job searching online, and this book does an excellent job at explaining it, clearly and succinctly. Even if you do only a few things in this book, and not all of them, you will be far ahead of most job seekers. It is very much worth the money.