How many social networking sites should I belong to?

There are a number of excellent social networking sites. Not having been in every industry or country, I cannot comment which sites are best for a particular industry or profession (but feel free to post a comment here to share you insights with others).

Here’s my advice: Start with one network, figure out how it works, and use its potential. It’s how you use the site that matters.

How many tweets, followers, fans, friends, connections, posts, etc. that you have is interesting. What you inspire those people to do on your behalf is relevant.

Time is your most precious commodity in search - so figure out how a particular social network will help you move closer to finding a new role.

When I first joined LinkedIn, I built a profile and got connected to people. Then that was it. Can’t say I did much more. That’s been a common theme in my discussions with other candidates “I’m on LinkedIn. Now what?”

I was missing two elements: A plan of what I wanted to inspire people to do for me. Dedicated time to work.

After dedicating more time to work with different functions, (see the Toolkit on Candidates Chair for the “Using LinkedIn for Networking” or do a Google Search), I now run four groups, and have really made LinkedIn one of the primary networking tools for myself. (p.s. I still have loads to learn.)

If you start with the notion that social networking is a means to an end, not an end to itself - then you are one the right track. Now ask yourself what you want and what you need to do to accomplish it through others in the social network.

A quick aside: I wanted to congratulate Jason and the TwitJob team for an amazing run of making TwitJobs so widespread and useful for so many people. There's not been a time when so many people could use a bit of a help - so my hat's off to the team for doing so day in and day out.

Good luck today!

Mark Richards

www.candidateschair.com
Job Search from a Candidate's Perspective - Advice and tools for search organization and networking

Candidates Chair LinkedIn Group:
http://www.linkedin.com/groupRegistration?gid=2328268


http://TwitJobs.net




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