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Many people find using some form of social media helpful in developing and maintaining contacts and networks and becoming alert to job opportunities. In fact, nowadays it’s fair to say that it’s become essential. Like any system, however, it’s only as good as the data you put into it and the particular methods or sites that you use. And remember – it’s only a tool and is only part of the process. Many people fall into the trap of thinking that having a LinkedIn® page (a great idea), and connecting with people on it, is the same thing as networking. Having a presence on sites such as LinkedIn® has several benefits:

 They help you keep track of your contacts and of their contact details.

 They help you keep up to date with what your contacts are doing.

 They enable you to post a brief summary of your work experience, key skills and attributes all in one place, and in a place that you can easily keep up to date.

 You can post messages about what you’re doing and what you’re looking for.

 You can receive and read messages from others.

 It doesn’t cost anything!

You can use social media to your advantage in other ways, too. If you have a Twitter or Facebook account, follow or connect with the organisations you’re either applying to join or would be interested in joining; you’ll get a feel for the organisation’s style and key issues and concerns, and it’s a way of demonstrating enthusiasm, creative thinking and a degree of understanding of how the digital world works. It may be of benefit to start your own blog – maybe about your job search itself. Bloggers are the internet’s thought leaders, and you can link your blog to your profiles on LinkedIn® and Facebook. This would then, for example, go out to your connections on the weekly update email. If you search or connect with companies you’re interested in, you can look for employees of that company who are connected to those in your own network. You could then ask your connections for a connect request with those people you have identified.

A couple of other tips:

 Regularly update your status to inform your connections across all social media of any relevant activities, such as training, achievements, articles you’ve read, book reviews. It will help them remain aware of your job search and interests.

 Similarly, post regular updates on your progress on all your social media sites; you may want to update your contacts on what you’re looking for, interviews you’ve attended, people you’ve met.

A word of warning, however: be very careful about what you post on social networking sites. There have been cases where individuals have had to resign over inappropriate postings on social media sites. Many employers and recruiters check the Facebook and Twitter accounts of job applicants. You can’t go far wrong if you never post anything publicly on any form of social media that you wouldn’t want a prospective employer (or interviewer) to see. This applies to activities you write about, pictures that you may not want the wider public to see, and also the language you use. You can set up Facebook so it informs you of picture tags to enable you to view them before they’re published. You can’t stop them being ‘out there’ but you can stop them being identified with you. Likewise, be careful about what you post on anyone else’s Facebook page or website too – you will no longer have control of it and you may even need them to delete it for you.

If you are worried about anything that’s already in the public domain, some websites suggest moving those items off that profile and setting up another profile (a social media alias using a different name) so that you end up having both a professional and personal online profile. The first profile, with your correct name, then becomes your professional profile with content that you are happy to share with prospective employers.

You can type your name into any of the major search engines to find anything you may have forgotten about – and remember, if you can do this, so can a prospective employer, and more of them are starting to do so.