Social networking sites might seem like a potential nightmare when job hunting - after all, the last thing you want is your new boss catching you drunk and disorderly on Facebook. It might seem like a safe option to hide yourself away, but you could be missing out on the most powerful tool in your job-seeking arsenal.
"I'm very glad that my Facebook addiction finally paid off"
A lively online profile can be your living, breathing CV and bring you unexpected offers of work, as history student Hilary Gray discovered after she gave her Facebook details to Kate, a PR consultant she met at a networking event.
"About a week before my final exam I noticed that Kate's Facebook status said they were looking for an intern," says Hilary. "It turned out that this was a bit of an experiment for them, as they were only advertising the vacancy via social networks."
Hilary dashed off her CV and covering letter and was offered an interview. After being whittled down to a shortlist of three, she got a call the next day to say she had the job. "Somehow in the depths of the recession I managed to find gainful employment a day after finishing university," she says. "I'm glad my Facebook addiction finally paid off".
With a bit of skill, you can be even more proactive than just making sure that pic of you with kebab all over your face doesn't end up on your profile. 23 year old Jed Hallam landed a job at PR company Wolfstar using his new-found networking skills to woo the company's executives on Twitter. "As the only PR person at my old job, I quickly found that I needed a support network," he explains. "After getting used to how Twitter worked I started opening up a bit and mixing personal and professional comments."
"In May I put out a question asking if anyone knew of social media agencies outside of London that had great clients. Someone suggested I speak to Stuart Bruce, managing director at Wolfstar. After a brief chat we agreed to meet."
To cut a long story short, Jed decided to quit his job and go travelling. On return, he realised he still passionately he wanted to work for Wolfstar and emailed the managing director telling him so – only to get no response. Undeterred, Jed set up a Facebook group outlining why he wanted to work for Wolfstar – and why he should be hired. He spoke to all the influential contacts he'd met on Twitter and encouraged them to sign up.
"When I logged back into Facebook a few days later, all fifty had joined the group, and better still, the majority of them had left references about me based on the conversations that I had had with them. As soon as the group looked quite good, I invited the Wolfstar team to join and they asked me for an interview." Jed got the job and was hired the following Monday. He also writes a blog– another good way of getting noticed online.
The key to good social networking is to be yourself. Apply the lessons you've learned in real life to your life online and you won't go far wrong. If you wouldn't share information with a room full of strangers, then don't put it on your profile. Meanwhile – as Jed's experience proves - social networking makes meeting important people easier than ever, so there's no excuse not to get stuck in.
By Dave Lee
Photo by volunteer photographer Adam Costello
41 percent of HR managers in the UK have rejected a candidate due to their online profile according to Microsoft. Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic sacked 13 employees in 2008 after they called its passengers 'chavs' and claimed the aircraft had cockroaches on a Facebook blog.
