Social networking can help you land a job!

Staying connected to social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook can help you find a gig faster.

Addicted to Facebook? Love tweeting? Your social networking savvy may just help you find a job.

We spoke with Brad Schepp, co—author of “How to find a Job on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Other Social Networks” for tips.

LinkedIn
According to Schepp, LinkedIn is the best site for job searching, “If you’re a professional you pretty much have to be on there,” he said.

Your LinkedIn profile should always be complete, Schepp said, with photos, recommendations from each of your key employers and your most up-to-date employment information.

Schepp suggested changing your status weekly, or more often if there’s news. One good post he’s seen: “An engineer has one that said ‘XX makes it easy to buy complex technical solutions. Seeking a marketing or senior sales role. How can I help YOU.’”

LinkedIn can also be helpful for research purposes. “Use the Advance Search tool to search for your dream title. Look at the people who are there and take a look at the path they’ve taken to get there.’”

Facebook
Make sure all of your employment information is filled out on your Facebook page.

And be sure to join professional groups. That’s how you can network.

You also must monitor your page so there’s nothing on it that can harm your search.

”If you’re looking for a job, you need to be careful of what you have on Facebook. You don’t want to get too personal or too political. You don’t want anything out there that’s going to disqualify you,” Schepp said. “You want to show personality but be careful not to offend people.”

Twitter
While researching for his book, Schepp said he was surprised at how many people found jobs on Twitter.

More and more, companies are actually posting job listings on Twitter.

There are so many jobs now posted on Twitter that there’s a tool called Tweet My Jobs, with which you can sort through relevant postings.

It’s important to build your network on Twitter, Schepp said. In order to find people to follow, do a search through People Search and use keywords for your industry. “Typically once you start following someone, it’s common practice for them to follow you,” he said.

And, he said, it’s a good idea to follow the employers or companies for whom you’d like to work.

You also want to make each tweet count. “Don’t tweet about minutia,” Schepp said. “Give brief updates about meetings or post news relevant to your profession, or if you’ve just put up a really good blog post link to that,” he said.

MySpace
MySpace is a relevant site for those in the arts, Schepp said. A number of musicians ge gigs through their profiles.

“You want to take advantage of the multimedia aspects, whether they’re photos of videos. You want to give people a reason to hang around your page,” Schepp said.
 

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