Facebook for Job Seekers: Set Your Status Update to Happily Employed
With Joshua Waldman
Overview/What You Will Learn
We primarily know about and use Facebook to connect socially. But social media guru and author of Job Searching with Social Media for Dummies Joshua Waldman predicts this networking giant will usurp LinkedIn as a professional networking tool in the next two to three years. Let Waldman show you how to use Facebook in new and productive ways to gain introductions to the companies of your dreams, and let him show you how to avoid the pitfalls of treating this powerful medium too lightly.
Key Points
- At least 80% of jobs come from networking. So why not learn how to use the largest networking tool safely and effectively to give you a leg up in your own search?
- Facebook works to your advantage when you customize your privacy settings and manage your lists of friends. Don’t avoid Facebook because a prospective employer might discover something you or a friend posted. Just learn how to manage your professional and personal profiles.
- Facebook is a terrific professional research tool and an opportunity to grow your own brand.
- Companies have started to recruit from Facebook. Hiring managers interact with candidates and use Facebook to promote their own corporate culture and answer questions about their business. Check the career pages of companies you’d like to work for that are on Facebook, and explore the profile pages of hiring managers.
Don’t Wait! Fix the Privacy Issue in Ten Minutes or Less.
- Go to “Privacy Settings” in your Facebook account.
- Focus on “How you Connect” and “How Tags Work.”
- Manage your groups of friends. Decide if they are:
- Close friends – with whom you exchange frequent and detailed posts;
- Acquaintances – whose posts you only want to see occasionally; or
- Restricted - meaning they only see posts that you make public. (Note: you will still be able to see their wall posts.)
- Handle awkward or unwanted friend requests.
- “Confirm” connection. Then Click on “Friends” box that has a check mark aside it. Click on “Show All Lists.” Drag friend to “Restricted” list.
- Directly from your Home Page, select all the people you want to restrict.
How to Look Good When Companies Research You
- Provide relevant information in your public profile. Don’t leave every section blank;
- Tap into professional network applications on Facebook. These work with your Facebook account to access professional contacts you’ve made there. Often you can import your LinkedIn profile. Two good ones are:
- BranchOut – which offers information on thousands of hiring companies. Request a hiring manager to join your professional BranchOut network rather than try to “friend him” on Facebook.
- Jibe - a social job search tool that collects all of your contacts in one place and highlights career-related information. View job openings in your network, company statistics, etc.
Your Next Steps / Tips to Make Facebook Your Professional Ally
- Log on to Facebook. Immediately customize your Privacy Settings.
- Go to “privacy settings” in your account page.
- Click on “How You Connect.” Click on “Edit Settings.”
- Click on “How Tags Work.” Click on “Tag Review” to control what pictures of you you allow to be posted.
- Edit your Public Profile.
- Go to “public profile” on your home page. Click “edit profile.” In each section, include information a hiring manager would find useful and that is consistent with your resume on LinkedIn or other professional profiles. Leave religion and politics out of it.
- Manage your friends from your Home Page.
- Click on the “Lists” bookmark on the left side of the page. Scroll down to “Restricted.” Click on “See All” friends and click on each friend you want to add to your restricted list.
- Research companies you are targeting in your job search and access Facebook’s professional network applications.
- Feed your professional network. Post industry-relevant information, items that matter to you, articles you’ve read and what you’re doing to job hunt. Omit specific names of companies.