The advantage of social media for your job networking is that it is quick and easy to extend your network. You don’t need to spend time meeting people, your networking is all done on line and the question of whether you and the other person like each other or hit it off doesn’t really come into it. Once you have set someone up as a contact you generally have indirect access to all their contacts, just as you do if you meet someone and they agree to introduce you to the people they know.
The disadvantage of social networking however is the impersonal element. It is not always easy to form a reliable impression of someone from their online persona.
LinkedIn is probably the most career focused of all the social networking sites. You should have a profile on LinkedIn because, the chances are, once you make contact with someone they will want to look you up on LinkedIn. It will look odd if you are not there.
But don’t imagine that having a profile on Linked In will bring you job offers. It won’t. The instances of people being offered the chance to apply for a job simply because they are on LinkedIn are very few. The best you can hope for is to set up job alerts and receive notifications of jobs that are being offered on LinkedIn
The disadvantage of social networking however is the impersonal element. It is not always easy to form a reliable impression of someone from their online persona.
LinkedIn is probably the most career focused of all the social networking sites. You should have a profile on LinkedIn because, the chances are, once you make contact with someone they will want to look you up on LinkedIn. It will look odd if you are not there.
But don’t imagine that having a profile on Linked In will bring you job offers. It won’t. The instances of people being offered the chance to apply for a job simply because they are on LinkedIn are very few. The best you can hope for is to set up job alerts and receive notifications of jobs that are being offered on LinkedIn
None of the above should put you off using online networking, it is an important part of your online toolkit. But do make sure that you integrate it well with your personal networking and other strategies. Nothing is more valuable than face to face networking with trusted contacts, online relationships rarely generate the same quality of contact. Try to restrict the amount of time you spend online. It can be addictive and a real time waster. Check your inboxes no more than once or twice a day, unless you are waiting for a particularly urgent message. If people do not respond to you, don’t waste time chasing them; try a different route to get the information you need. It is a tough job market out there. You have a lot to do. Use your time wisely.
The post Online Networking appeared first on Career Energy.