In recent weeks we’ve seen the sheer number of resumes that arrive on a daily basis increase exponentially. Because the job market has continued to soften and analysts are predicting a potential increase in the Unemployment Rate to possibly as high as 9%, more and more job seekers are asking us, “What can I do to improve my chances of landing a new job?”
Tim Hayden, the Founder and CEO of GamePlan Marketing is both an advisor to American Workforce as well as a close friend. While at dinner with him last night we devoted a significant amount of the conversation to the topic of Social Media and Social Networking. There are so many people who are marketing themselves as “social media experts” and virtually all of them agree that they can’t agree on anything.
One aspect of social networking has become abundantly clear in the past months and years: it might help your ability to land that job but it can definitely destroy your chances if you’re not paying attention to your online reputation.
Jeremy Toeman wrote a tremendous Blog Entry a couple of weeks ago that I don’t think I could have written any better. Some snippets for those who want a short version:
SMART MOVES:
*Comment (thoughtfully – don’t just suck up) on a recent blog post. No need to leave a comment on all the blog posts, but one or two is a good move.
*Send a Tweet to the company’s twitter account (or individual’s) before/after your interview. There’s no “rule” to the content, but a cleverly handled message can be impactful.
DUMB MOVES:
*Don’t “friend” someone. It’s perfectly fine to add anyone you meet as a LinkedIn contact, but unless you know, for sure, that someone treats Facebook “friends” as a list of anyone/everyone they’ve ever encountered, don’t cross this potentially bad line.
*If you felt the guy/gal you interviewed with was “a total tool”, that’s just fine, and you can tell your buddies in person and out loud, as opposed to in writing. Emails have a way of getting forwarded.
Also, based on our experiences at American Workforce, here are a couple of other added bonus items you can look into:
1. Follow influential people who are tweeting about the industry that you’re in. Being able to carry on conversations about lots of topics because you’re well-rounded isn’t a bad thing while job hunting. Some of the people I follow: Nan Palmero (a Blackberry Power User and marketing junkie), Kristen Doyle (a freelance writer but more importantly a woman with a cult-like following of Moms around the country) and Peter Shankman (the creator of Help a Reporter Out-HARO).
2. Avoid wasting the time of others who show you the respect of “following you around”. There’s nothing worse than having someone who links their Twitter account to their Facebook account and chooses to share a little too much. You likely know examples of these people – the ones who tell you that they’re having coffee, and now they’re relaxing, and now they’re thinking about what to eat for lunch, etc.
