Social Networking Sites in the Job Search

Maybe you think social networking sites are just for teens. Or maybe you joined a professional network like LinkedIn ( http://www.linkedin.com/ ) because people told you about it but you've never really done anything with it so you have two connections. I'm here today to convince you otherwise.

I'm not affiliated with LinkedIn, except as a user, but after the stories I've heard I'm a believer that it can be a unique tool in any job search. (The stories are true but the names have been changed to respect the privacy of those involved.)

Here's why:

1. It's who you know -- even if you don't know you know them. Kathy saw a management opening that she was qualified for at a company she'd been watching for some time. The name of the hiring manager wasn't listed but the hiring manager title was -- and it looked familiar. She checked her LinkedIn contacts and, sure enough, saw that the hiring manager was one of her connections from a previous employer. Kathy had worked with him but had not lost touch with him after he left the company. She never would have known he was the hiring manager except through LinkedIn. She contacted him directly and he offered to discuss the position with her directly without even going through HR.

2. Exclusive Job Listings. Although LinkedIn doesn't have the quantity of listings that CareerBuilder has, there are jobs on LinkedIn that you won't see anywhere else. Dana found an opportunity on LinkedIn that was perfect for her and exclusive to LinkedIn. That alone gave her a huge advantage. The employer was specifically looking for someone with recommendations from other LinkedIn users. Dana saw that three close contacts of hers were connected to the hiring manager's colleagues. She asked her contacts to forward a recommendation through their connections to the employer. Within two business days, she had received a call from the hiring manager and scheduled an interview.

3. You make it easy for someone to find you. Jill's contract work was coming to an end when a former colleague contacted her through LinkedIn. The colleague had just heard of a position that would be perfect for Jill's skills and experience.

4. You can get a foot in the door. With the job market as tight as it is and recruiters getting hundreds of resumes, you can sometimes feel like your applications are falling into a black hole. How can you communicate with a generic email address or online application that you are the one out of hundreds they are looking for? Jan found a position online and checked LinkedIn but had no direct connections with the employer. However, one of Jan's connections was linked to someone there. Jan's connection knew the hiring manager and passed Jan's resume directly to the hiring manager. In another situation, Linda had submitted a resume to an employer and had heard nothing. She couldn't figure out how to follow up because she wasn't connected to the hiring manager or recruiter. But one of her contacts was linked to someone else at the company and offered to communicate with that connection to get contact information for Linda to follow up.

5. You can be the first person to come to mind. If you frequently add connections, ask or answer questions, and keep updating the "what I'm doing" section of your profile, you have a gentle way of reminding people of your skills and talents -- so when a position comes up they'll think of you first. Tina edited her profile to include a recent achievement. She got several messages from connections congratulating her and asking her about what she was doing and what her plans were.

I hope you're convinced to go to LinkedIn and join, make more connections, and use those connections. In coming posts, I'll provide some tips on how to make the best used of LinkedIn.

Do you have a story about how LinkedIn helped your job search?