Use Social Networking Sites To Groom Your Career

Today, almost everyone who is connected to the internet, is present on at least one networking Website, be it Facebook, Twitter or Myspace. For workaholics, the most popular professional networking site is LinkedIn. Realising the vast number of candidates that can be easily tapped on these portals, companies and head hunters have begun to rely on them to find potential employees.

Here are some tips that can help you leverage networking sites :

Join specific groups

All networking sites have groups formed by people with specific skills or in a particular industry. You should join these as it will help to expand your network and tap these contacts when you need to start a job search. Also, recruiters often post vacancies on the pages of such groups.

However, don’t think that once you join a group, you will be flooded with job offers instantly. It will take time to build a network as well as rapport with the members. After all, it is difficult to trust someone whom you have never met personally.

Keep an active profile

You should post a detailed profile as this is the first thing that a potential employer will read about you. Highlight your professional capabilities and skills, but be brief about personal information. The headline or ‘about me’ information should be succinct and interesting. For instance, don’t just say ‘marketing professional’. Write adjectives to enhance this, such as ‘innovator’, ‘problem solver’ or ‘result-oriented’. Use keywords which will help your profile to pop up when someone is trawling the site looking for a candidate. Contact information should be updated so that recruiters can easily get in touch with you.

Be active on the site. Give solutions to enquiries posted by people and regularly post news about what’s happening in your industry. If you are looking for a job, frequently post messages regarding your search as this will keep it fresh in the minds of people within your network.

Most networks are linked to each other, which helps to further expand your pool of contacts. For instance, what you Tweet can appear on Facebook and LinkedIn, while on your Twitter site, you can have a link to a video resume on YouTube.

Recommendations

Your profile should carry positive feedback about your work. Recruiters prefer it if the recommendations are written by senior colleagues. These are considered as good as verbal or written references. While requesting a colleague to write one for you, ask him to focus on the positive aspects and achievements in the past one to five years. Don’t ask someone who has known you for less than this period as it will come across as a biased view.