If you aren’t on social media, and you’re looking for a job, you’re out in the cold. Literally.  As you probably know, most new jobs are found through networking – 80%+, whereas finding a job from a big job board has a success rate of around 3%-5%.  Social media is a great way to build and maintain your network, and thus is vital to your job search.

When I speak of social media, I include sites like Facebook™, Linkedin™, Twitter™, Plaxo™, Spoke™, FastPitch™, and the like. However, for purposes of this post, I will focus on Linkedin and Twitter.

A little background: I am a practicing career coach (www.trustworthycoaching.com) and a practicing human resources professional.  Recruitment and coaching have been a part of my career for over twenty years.  I wish social media had been around for that entire time. I certainly would have made my life as a coach and HR professional, and as a job seeker (when I’ve been one), much easier and more efficient.

Let’s start with Twitter. Yes, there is a lot of garbage on Twitter and no, I don’t care what you had for lunch today or that you’re driving down a nice street. But, if I post a new job opening or an article on careers, and you have interest, I’m interested in knowing that.  If I have an open job and I post it on Twitter, there’s a good chance you’ll see it before most others.  That gives you a distinct advantage in getting your materials to me. That cuts down my recruiting cost and time. It’s a win/win. If you read an article that I’ve posted and engage my coaching services, we both win.  If you post a tweet about your background and needs, and I have that need and contact you, we both win. What’s not to like?

Let me say upfront that I have no financial stake in Linkedin (unfortunately). I’m an evangelist for Linkedin. I love Linkedin.   Linkedin has taken, in my opinion, networking to a level not ever seen in the world of business.   With a few hours investment of time, you can build a compelling profile about your accomplishments, interests, and the like. This isn’t a rehash of your resume; it’s a separate branding tool (although some components may be similar or the same).   You can join groups of interest to you professionally and personally. You can solicit and give recommendations to your colleagues.  For an HR pro like me, I have the chance to essentially prescreen you before I ever reach out to you. I can check out who has recommended you, gauge their credibility, look at your accomplishments, see if we know anyone in common or are alumni from the same schools or organizations, and determine if you might be a good fit for a role. Given that roughly 45% of the members on Linkedin are headhunters, it’s the smartest move a job seeker can make. For an HR Pro, not to use Linkedin to help with recruiting is like shooting yourself in the foot.

In the world of HR, social media can provide a highly competitive ROI and value proposition for recruitment, and for sourcing vendors to provide HR services that you may not be able to provide on your own. For the job seeker – regular, contract, or service provider, social media gives you an immediate, fast edge in the highly competitive environment in which we now find ourselves (probably the most competitive in over 70 years).

In terms of job search specifically, you want to have a clean internet history – Google yourself and see what comes up. Get rid of anything that would leave a question in a hiring manager’s mind.  Linkedin, for example, will list you highly in most search engines fairly quickly.

There are potential legal issues and cases arising from the use and misuse of social media. This is still mostly uncharted territory and things like ownership rights to profiles, contacts, and such as they relate to non-compete, non-solicitation, and trade secrets are still being settled (although one court has ruled that contacts on Linkedin are not a trade secret).  In addition, disparaging comments about an employer may be grounds for a breach of confidentiality by the employee, or even defamation. On the other hand, employees have the right, by federal law, to engage in protected and concerted activities, so where is the line? It’s being litigated.   What happens if HR does a search of you and finds a photo of you and sees your race and doesn’t hire you? What if HR does a search of you and doesn’t like something non-work related and doesn’t hire you? Is that permissible? (in terms of race – absolutely not; in terms of social activities – probably not, but it’s still unsettled. At best, it’s a bad practice).

One of the downsides to social media for everyone is the apparent lack of privacy. Then again, you as the user can determine who can see what in totality or partially. Use the features.  They will pay off.

There is a feeling among some in HR and specifically in the search industry that professional social sites may make the big job boards, and recruiting agencies irrelevant. I don’t see that happening for some time, if at all, but I do think the nature of HR related to recruitment, employee and labor relations, and general policies will change due to the use of social media and that such change will be rapid and fundamentally shift how these functions get done.

Michael Trust, MPA, SPHR-CA, is a Certified Career Coach and a Certified Executive Career Coach, who helps people find their passion and fulfill their dreams as they relate to careers through his organization, Trustworthy Coaching®, www.TrustworthyCoaching.com.  Mr. Trust’s Coaching, Business, and Human Resources experience spans twenty years, and he has had major roles in staffing in all of his Human Resource positions. In addition, he has coached individuals at all career levels relative to their career paths, job search strategies, business strategies, and related areas. Mr. Trust is also a member of the International Coach Federation (ICF).

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