In a tight labor market, building and maintaining an online presence is essential for networking and job search.
Done right, it can be an important tool for the present and the future of networking and value to potential employers try to get an idea of who you are, your talents and experience.
Done wrong, it can easily get out of the race for most positions. Here are five mistakes job seekers make online:
1. Forgetting manners
If you use Twitter or you write a blog, you should assume that hiring managers and recruiters to read your updates and messages. In December 2009 a study by Microsoft Corp. revealed that 79% of hiring managers and recruiters review the information online about candidates before making a hiring decision. Of those, 70 said they% rejected candidates based on information they find online. Key reasons listed? Concerns about lifestyle, inappropriate comments, and inappropriate photos and video.
“Everything is indexed and able to search,” says Miriam Salpeter, a job search, Atlanta-based coach and social media. “Even Facebook, which many people consider a more private network, can easily become a trap for job seekers who post things they would not want a prospective boss to see.”
Do not be lulled into thinking your privacy settings are foolproof. “All it takes is one person sharing the information that you might not want to share, send a message, or breach of trust for the illusion of privacy in a closed network of be eliminated, “says Salpeter, who recommends not post anything illegal (even if it’s a joke), criticism of a boss, colleague or client, information about an investigator or anything sexual or discriminatory. “Suppose that your future boss is reading everything that you share online,” she said.
2. Overkill
Inerting social media networks with half-profiles does nothing except to annoy the people you want to correct that impression: potential employees try to find more information about you.
An online profile is very much more effective than many others do not and incomplete, “said Sree Sreenivasan, dean of students at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He decided early to limit to three social networking sites: Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. “It is simply not enough time” he said. “Pick two or three, then cultivate a presence there.”
Many people make the mistake of joining LinkedIn and other social media sites and then just let their public profiles sit unfinished, says Krista Canfield, a spokesman LinkedIn. “Just signing up for an account is not enough,” she said. “At a minimum, make sure you are connected to at least 35 people and make sure your profile is 100 percent. Members with complete profiles are 40 times more likely to receive offers of LinkedIn. ”
LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are the three most popular social networking sites for human resources managers to use for recruitment, according to a poll released last month by JobVite, a recruitment software company.
3. Not getting the word out
When the accounting firm Dixon Hughes had recently opened a business development manager, Emily Bennington, company director of marketing and development, posted a link to the occasion on his Facebook page. “I immediately received emails deprived of many people in my network, none of them I knew were on the market for a new job, she said. “I understand there are privacy issues when it comes to job search, but if nobody knows you’re looking for is also a problem.”
Change what may be as simple as updating your status on LinkedIn and other social networking site for people to know that you are open to new positions. If you are currently employed and do not want your boss to find out that you need, you will need to be more subtle. One way is to give potential employers a sense of how you might fit in, “said Dan Schawbel, author of” Me 2.0 “and founder of the millennium mark. “I would recommend a placement, or the personal brand statement which describes who you are, what you do, and what audience you serve, so people an idea of how you can benefit their business.”
4. Quantity over quality
Choose wisely connections, only add those you know or you do business. Whether on LinkedIn, Facebook or other networking site, “it’s much more a game of quality and quantity of a game,” says Canfield. A recruiter may choose to contact one of your connections ask your subject, make sure that person is someone you know and trust.
And there’s really no excuse for sending an automatic, general introduction, Ms. Canfield said. “Take five to 10 seconds to write a couple lines on how you know the other person and why’d you want to connect them can mean the difference between accept or decline your request to connect she said. “It does not hurt to mention that you are more than willing to help them or present them to other people in your network.”
5. Exclusively online
Beginning last year, Washington Tacoma utilities posted a meter reader position of water on his website. The answer? More than 1,600 people have applied for a position $ 17.76 per hour.
With the greatest number of persons currently unemployed (or underemployed), many employers are flooded with large number of applications for the positions they post. To limit the pool of candidates, some have stopped job postings on their Web sites and job boards, “said Tim Schoonover, president of the career consulting firm OI Partners.
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