You may have heard your children, grandchildren, and even your friends mention chatting with friends on Facebook or tweeting about their daily activities on Twitter. Now it's your turn to take advantage of these free social media tools to aid in your job search and simply to stay connected to your community near and far.
Traditional media outlets – books, magazines, and newspapers – are a one-way street. They only communicate to you, but don’t let you communicate back. Social media, however, is a two-way communication hosted on dozens of websites. Many job leads today start with connections made through social media networks. The most popular social media websites include LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
While many social media websites may lend a hand in your job search, LinkedIn.com originated as a professional networking tool to exchange information, ideas, and opportunities. LinkedIn’s thousands of members comprise 130 different industries, and include 130,000 recruiters.
The AARP Foundation WorkSearch Program developed training videos on how to best use LinkedIn to build your online network, look for jobs and get them. Click on the links below to see some sample videos:
Facebook started out as a college networking site but now includes more than half a billion people of all ages from all over the world. You can use Facebook to build relationships with friends and family – and to search for a job by reaching colleagues, friends, and the people they work with.
Your personal Facebook profile can serve as an online career profile that will promote what you’re doing and what you’re looking for professionally. As you write your profile, decide what you want business contacts or prospective employers to know about you, and include information that is relevant to your job search or career.
Employers also use Facebook to connect with prospective employees by creating Facebook groups. You can join these groups to get in touch with the companies and learn more about the job openings they have.
Twitter is another helpful social networking tool that lets you send and view updates from friends and colleagues using instant messages. An instant message is the sending of real-time messages to other Internet users. People and companies use Twitter in a variety of ways, including professional needs. Like Facebook, you can use Twitter to keep in touch with friends and contacts about your job search. You can also look for prospective employers by searching for the particular company you’re looking for. Click here to enter a Twitter Job Search site.
Even if you haven’t heard the term Web 2.0, you are probably familiar with its various forms: social networking Websites such as LinkedIn and Facebook, blogs, micro-blogging sites such as Twitter, video sharing sites such as YouTube, and wikis such as Wikipedia. They are tools that allow users to edit, contribute, interact, and collaborate with each other within the site, rather than just read the content, as with traditional Websites. They encourage open communication within communities of users.
Many job seekers and employers use Web 2.0 tools as new and creative ways that improve upon traditional approaches. Business Week reports that 87 percent of recruiters use Google and social networks to decide about candidates.
You can use Web 2.0 in your job search by networking, voicing your opinion, demonstrating your expertise, and engaging in discussions about your profession. Your Web 2.0 networking can connect you with contacts you may not otherwise find. Try to stay on top of Internet job-hunting trends, but don’t abandon your other approaches. The best job-seeking techniques will always involve personal connections, and you can use Web 2.0 to enhance those connections.
For more online job searching resources, click here to see a list of LinkedIn videos on our Tutorials and Tools page under Tutorials and Demos.