Communications of the ACM
Five Mistakes Online Job Hunters Make
Credit: Cheap Labor Online
In a difficult hiring environment, building and maintaining an online presence is critical to networking and job hunting. Done right, it can be an important tool for present and future networking and useful for potential employers trying to get a sense of who you are, your talents and your experience. If done improperly, however, it can actually take you out of the running for important positions. Based on an understanding of best practices, here are five mistakes that online job hunters often make on social networking sites.
If you use Twitter or you write a blog, you should assume that hiring managers and recruiters are going to read your updates and your posts. Approximately 80 percent of hiring managers and job recruiters review online information about job applicants before making a hiring decision. Of those, 70 percent said that they have rejected candidates based on information that they found online, such as inappropriate comments and photos. Keep in mind that blanketing social networks with half-completed profiles accomplishes nothing except to annoy the exact people you want to impress. One online profile done well is far more effective than several incomplete ones. Many people make the mistake of joining LinkedIn and other social media sites and then just letting their profiles sit publicly unfinished.
While privacy is important on social networks, you also have to get the word out that you are open to the idea of a new position. When connecting, focus on adding people you actually know or with whom you've done business. Whether it's on LinkedIn, Facebook or any other networking site, it's much more of a quality game than a quantity game. With the large number of people currently unemployed (and under-employed), many employers are being inundated with huge numbers of applications for any positions they post. In order to limit the applicant pool, some have stopped posting positions on their websites and job boards. Scouring the Web for a position and doing nothing else is rarely the best way to go.
From The Wall Street Journal
View Full ArticleNo entries found