Kathryn Doud

I just returned from an event featuring Kristen Kane of Kane Partners who described how to use Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook in our job searches.  It was held in The 10 Show studio-  which was an interesting setting! – and it lasted for about an hour and a half.  I met Tracy Davidson of NBC10 when I walked in and then guests began to find their seats in the studio for Kristen’s presentation. 

Kristen gave some great advice and general information about each of the three social media sites, and she answered questions at the end.  Finally, we had the chance to meet one-on-one with consultants from Kane Partners for resume advice. 

I’ll admit it: I set up a LinkedIn account without completing my profile, adding more than five contacts or joining any groups.  Kristen gave some helpful LinkedIn advice:

• You should be a member of 50 LinkedIn groups.  I need to work on this.
• Customize your personal URL so that it’s not long and complicated.  (I did this tonight- it’s simple. Now my URL is: http://www.linkedin.com/in/kathryndoud)
• Make sure your profile is complete: I still need to write a summary about myself. Kristen described this as your “elevator speech” that briefly describes you.
• If you make your LinkedIn profile completely public, you will come up in Google searches for keywords found in your profile.
• Before any interview, it’s not a bad idea to search your interviewer on LinkedIn and learn a little bit about him/her.
• There’s actually a “jobs” tab on LinkedIn- which I never realized!  Doing an advanced search may generate some helpful results, and sometimes the name of the person who posted the job is actually visible as a link.  You can begin networking with this person before sending in a resume.

Kristen explained how to use Twitter to its full potential:

• Follow executives, managers, job bots, career experts and companies. These people might tweet information about job openings that you won’t find on other sites.
• There are job listings on Twitter, too!  Go to serach.twitter.com and perform an advanced search for a job in a category you are qualified for and within a specific radius from your location.
• Add a link to your LinkedIn profile in your Twitter bio. Don’t forget to write a brief summary of who you are.

Facebook is a more casual place to make connections and scope out potential jobs.

• Checking out the Facebook profiles of friends is a good way to see if someone might make a good connection.  But Kristen recommends taking it to a professional level if you’re interested in their company or business:  Don’t post a message on their wall- Instead, give them a call, send them a private message or add them as a connection on LinkedIn.
• Although few of us have noticed, there are job listings on Facebook too.  On your home page, there is a “jobs” tab on the left sidebar.

Have you ever found success from networking on a social media site, like LinkedIn or Twitter?

Do you have any advice of your own?