Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Will I get a job through LinkedIn? Five tips on finding a job through social networking.

by Suzy Griffin Community Manager on October 4, 2010
If you are currently unemployed, a freelancer, self-employed or just interested in ways to boost your income, the chances are you are always on the look out for new job opportunities.  So are you wasting your time on social networking sites or can you really increase your chances of landing a great job on sites like LinkedIn?
Michael Hickerson quotes findings from the Nielson report in his article, ‘Time Spent On Social Networking Sites Is Rising’, Americans spend nearly a quarter of the time they’re on the Internet from their PC on social-networking sites and blogs.  That’s a significant gain over the average time spent on sites from the study last year…  If you’re keen to make some money out of all this time spent on social networking sites here’s a few things you should keep in mind.

1. Connect – In About.com’s article ‘How to Use LinkedIn to Get a Job’  by Gregory Go, we’re told,  You can use LinkedIn as a resume, a virtual rolodex of networking contacts or as a way to meet others in your industry.  Storing contacts and introducing yourself to others by inviting them to connect is a good way of bulking up your online rolodex, but if you’re keen to grow your earnings immediately this is quite a passive approach.

2.  The inside track – Guy Kawasaki advises a more aggressive approach to using LinkedIn in his post ‘Ten Ways To Use LinkedIn To Find A Job’, Job listings rarely spell out entirely or exactly what a hiring manager is seeking.  Find a connection at the company who can get the inside scoop on what really matters for the job. This approach could work really well if you can find a genuine connection to someone in the company, but contacting somebody in a company that you are not really connected to for this kind of information may be ineffective.

3. Recommendations – LinkedIn offers this service.  Alison Doyle advises it in her post ‘LinkedIn And Your Job Search’, Recommendations from people you have worked with carry a lot of weight. Quotes endorsing your ability can give you a degree of credibility, but such endorsements may be met with a level of scepticism.

4. Detail – It’s really important that you include plenty of detail about exactly what your area of expertise is.  This includes all your qualifications, experience, etc.  Why not show off how much you can do as opposed to how little?

5. Friends – Thanks to the world of online social networking we’ve got ready-made circles of friends online just waiting to be used to our advantage!  As we all know, people prefer to do business with people they know - you can use Weedle to connect with people who need your skill through your trusted network of contacts which is already established through sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn.

Original Article

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