Personally, I count myself one of those folks who are still reluctant to use some (if not all) social media as part of a job search strategy. Well, to be totally truthful, I do use LinkedIn (especially “groups”) and am on our church’s social network, but that’s about as much of that kind of activity as my dance card can handle. However, for people like me, it would behoove us to reconsider embracing that technology. The latest reason to do so is that, as a recent Digital Trends article states, “64 percent of recently employed people were hired through contact on a social network.” Now, that’s a significant number.
This same article goes on to report that the US Department of Labor is partnering with Facebook in an effort to target “areas of high unemployment through geographic data and posting public service announcements.”
The lesson here is that if you do not currently have a social media strategy, you need to carefully reconsider that choice. Although LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter might not be for everyone, if you are looking for a job in today’s market, you should be including those media in your overall job search plan.
Filed under: job search, networking, social media
