A guide for job seekers on how to best use various social networking tools to help in finding a job. Covers the topic of personal branding and how to best to present yourself online.

1. Social Networking
for Job Seekers
Mike Buhmann
Reference Librarian
Skokie Public Library

2. For an effective job search
you need to decide on a
direction. Reflect & survey
your interests and skills
For Help?
• Pick up a book like “What Color is Your Parachute”
• Follow a program like what’s offered in “Careers
College” (see databases.skokielibrary.info)
• See a career counselor
• Sit and think about your future

3. Social Media -What Is It?
3 Definitions
• Websites based on user participation and
user-generated content
• Any form of online publication that allows
users to engage in multi-directional
conversations
• The use of technology combined with social
interaction to create or co-create value

4. What Is It?
youtu.be/1pahLo5TTy4

5. How Can It Help a Job Search?
• Helps in developing and promoting your
personal brand
• Allows you to influence how online content
about you appears to a potential employer
• Provides a resource to network with friends,
colleagues, industry leaders & connectors;
to connect far beyond what you can
achieve via face-to-face networking

6. How Can It Help?
youtu.be/MmnG_biH-iQ

7. Types of Social Media
• Social Networks (LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+)
• Microblogging (Twitter)
• Blogs & Forums (Blogger, WordPress)
• Social Bookmarking/News (Delcious, Digg,
Reddit)
• Media Sharing (Flickr, YouTube)
• Wiki’s (Wikipedia)
• Rating/Review sites (Amazon, Angie’s List)

8. Personal Branding
• People marketing themselves and their careers as
brands
• Thinking of yourself as a brand and using ideas based
on business marketing & advertising to best display
your assets to potential employers
• An old idea first introduced in 1937 in the book
“Think and Grow Rich” but has taken on new life with
the advent of the internet and social media

9. youtu.be/0a0Vm0zHFh0
Personal Branding

10. 1. What is your vision & purpose
2. What are your values & passions
3. What are your top goals in this year, next year
and in five years
4. What 3 or 4 adjectives best describe the value you
offer
5. What words do you use to define your personality
6. What are your core skills
Personal Branding

11. 7. What are your strengths & weaknesses
8. Who is your target audience (Where do you fit
in as far as industry & niche area of expertise)
9. Who is your competition and what
differentiates you from them
10.What does your competition typically have to
offer
11.What value do you bring to the table that no
one else does
Personal Branding

12. In-person brand elements
How people perceive your brand when they meet
you in person is based on the following elements:
• The way you act
• The way you talk
• The way you dress
• Who you think you are

13. Online brand elements
The purpose of online brand elements is to show people who don’t
really know you or have never met you in person who you really are.
Your online brand elements manifest themselves in
• The way you act online The state of your LinkedIn
profile, your blog, your Facebook timeline or the first pages of a Google
search of your name
• The way you talk online What are your postings like,
do they add value are they silly, are you aware of your audience
• The way you present yourself How do your
pages look, what pictures do you have and what does it
communicate to others

14. Social Networking – Why Do It?
• Useful to reconnect with friends,
acquaintances & contacts from previous jobs
• Recruiters & many organizations use social
media sites such as LinkedIn to find & check
on potential employees
• Helps you control what can be found about
you on a Google search
• Many, many people are using social
networking tools, especially Facebook

15. Social Networking – Negatives
• Tempting to create profiles on sites and
do nothing with them, this does not
help your personal brand
• Social networks invite you to engage in
games and behavior which could hurt
your image, be careful what you post

16. Professional Networking
• At a minimum, all job seekers should
have a LinkedIn Account
• Strong job searching features built in
• Networking is one of the best ways to
get a job and LinkedIn focuses on
online networking

17. Aspects of LinkedIn
• Each participant creates a profile, similar
to an online resume
• Connect with friends, colleagues &
professionals
• Post updates of activities & newsworthy
items for your connections to read
• Participate in groups to enhance reputation
and to meet new connections

18. Why Use It?
• Like face-to-face networking, LinkedIn does
not provide quick results, but with continued
use it offers a chance to develop professional
relationships that often lead to job offers
• LinkedIn is the default professional
networking tool used by more & more people.
Easy to find people you know
• Increasingly used by hiring managers &
recruiters to find clients
• Allows control over what potential employers
can find about you via search engines

19. Tips
• Create a professional profile with industry keywords, a
memorable headline & summary and a professional
photo
• Connect with colleagues & key people in your industry
• Follow companies & organizations you are interested in
to get updates
• Join relevant professional groups and participate in
conversations
• Post industry related/professional updates often and
comment on your connection’s updates

20. Facebook What is it?
• Social networking site to connect with
friends, relatives, acquaintances
• Easy to communicate with people you never could
have stayed in touch with before
• Participants can share “updates” of photos, videos
& personal information with friends
• Able to “Like” and “Comment” on your friend’s
updates
• Join Groups to find and interact with new people

21. Facebook – Job Search
Facebook is a site for interacting with
friends yet can be beneficial in a job search
• Network to get advice & support from your
friends
• Post status updates related to your job
search so friends know your situation
• Join & be active in Groups, this offers
another chance to network and meet new
people

22. Facebook – Job Search Precautions
• Be careful what you post, stay away from controversial
postings or things that put you in a bad light
• Be careful what you “Like” and “Share”, this shows your
interests so try & keep from liking controversial or
detrimental material (Steer clear of politics & religion
during a job search)
• Keep things private
– If you are friends with coworkers, and colleagues add
them to a list then limit the list
– Limit what others can see on your public profile
– Check what apps are accessing your profile information

23. Twitter – What is It?
• Twitter is a service for friends, family, and coworkers
to communicate and stay connected through the
exchange of quick, frequent messages. People write
short updates, "Tweets" of 140 characters or fewer.
These messages are posted to your profile, sent to
your followers, and are searchable on Twitter search
• You can follow people, people can follow you, and
direct messages can be sent to individuals with Twitter
Accounts. Private messages can be sent to people who
follow you.
• Pictures can be posted and other people’s messages
can be retweeted

24. Twitter – Getting Started
• Create a twitter handle, use your name @mbuhmann
• Create your profile with your name, location & photo.
Use a consistent photo across all your social media, a
pithy 160 character bio with keywords that promote
your expertise
• Start by finding and following others: businesses,
people you know, celebrities, news sources
• Check your timeline to see what’s being posted
• Build a voice by retweeting and replying to posts

25. Twitter – Job Search
What is It?
youtu.be/ddO9idmax0o

26. Twitter – Why Use It?
• Easy to follow and connect to people you do
not know, don’t need approval to follow
• Writing not so important, most people can
communicate easily with short messages
• Growing a community is relatively easy with a
little effort
• Great way to share ideas & information to
demonstrate expertise to a wide audience

27. Twitter – Expert Positioning
• Choose a focus and build credibility by sending out
relevant & useful content (takes time)
• Comment on news & industry trends
• Be retweetable; send content that your followers will
want to share, this expands your visibility
• Don’t just push your content. Retweet other items
from people you admire with a relevant comment
• Add #hashtags (e.g. #libraries) to get more notice
(visit hashtags.org to find tags & a guide to using
Twitter)

28. Twitter – Finding People
• Create subject related lists of people &
follow top players in Industries, retweet best
tweets, this is a sign of respect
• If people don’t follow you, you can
communicate with them by asking a question
via an @ and their name in a message
• Find people to follow on these sites
– Wefollow.com
– Search.twitter.com (Twitter’s advanced search)
– www.twellow.com (Twitter yellow pages)

29. Twitter – Cons
• Easy to be overly casual which can be
detrimental if you’re not careful
• Posts tend to be ephemeral unless
someone is online at the same time as
you or the post includes someone’s
name
• Yet, with a Google search, negative
posts can be found

30. Google+ - What is It?
• Social Networking Site that combines
elements of Facebook & Twitter
• Like Facebook you can write lengthy posts and
follow people’s updates
• Share links & media with network
• Like Twitter you don’t need permission to follow
someone
• Create circles of contacts based on a theme and
push content to targeted audience
• Easy to set up if you have a gmail account

31. Google+ - What is It?
youtu.be/3moBvYdWKGc

32. Google+ - Job Search
• Check profile to make it consistent with other
social networking profiles and job worthy
• Create a memorable & professional tagline
• Use the same or similar photo for your profile
• Create circles of people who work in targeted
industries, locations or professions. Follow what
others are posting or provide content to the group
• Use “Communities” (like LinkedIn Groups) to expand
circle of friends
• Find people by using recommendedusers.com

33. Blogging - What is it?
• Blogs feature a diary-type commentary and links to articles or
websites, usually presented as a list of entries in reverse
chronological order. Blogs range from the personal to the
political, and can focus on one narrow subject or a whole range
of subjects.
• Many blogs focus on a particular topic, such as web design, home
staging, sports, or mobile technology. Others are more like
personal journals, presenting the author's daily life and thoughts.
• Blogs tend to have a few things in common:
– A main content area with articles listed chronologically, newest on top.
Often, the articles are organized into categories.
– An archive of older articles.
– A way for people to leave comments about the articles.
– A list of links to other related sites, sometimes called a "blogroll".
– One or more "feeds" like RSS, Atom or RDF files.

34. Blogging (What is it?)
youtu.be/NN2I1pWXjXI

35. Blogging - Why Do It?
• Easy to Set Up
• Demonstrates expertise & commitment
• Allows others to comment and
conversations to develop around topics
you choose
• Provides detailed content to link to for
other social networking sites

36. Blogging (Why Not to Do It?)
Cons
• Requires a great deal of time and commitment to
start and maintain
• Requires strong writing skills, so if you don’t write
well, avoid blogging
• Getting a following requires time and persistence

37. Blogging (Where to Do It?)
These are all places where you can start and
maintain a blog. All are a little different and
offer varying features
• WordPress
• Blogger
• Tumblr
• Medium
• Svbtle
• Quora
• Postach.io
• SETT
• Ghost
• Squarespace
• Typepad
• Posthaven

38. Blogs (Examples)
Many different types and themes
• The Style Rookie thestylerookie.com
teen style blog
• The Thirsty Wench thethirstywench.com
beer blog
• Science is Beauty scienceisbeauty.tumblr.com
title says it all
• How to Change the World blog.guykawasaki.com
entrepreneurial & marketing blog

39. Media Sharing (Examples)
For people less verbal there are video,
photo, audio, & presentation sharing sites
• Video – YouTube
• Photos – Flickr, Picassa, Pinterest
• Audio – Clyp, Chirbit
• Presentations - Slideshare

40. GlassDoor - What is It?
• Job Search site that provides information on
employers provided by current & former employees
• Provides information on salaries, interview questions
and ratings of various companies posted
anonymously by users
• Log in to provide ratings and information on
employers you worked for

41. MeetUp - What is It?
• Meetup allows members to find and join
groups unified by a common interest, such
as politics, books, games, movies, health,
pets, careers or hobbies.
• Users enter their postal code or their city
and the topic they want to meet about
• Topic listings are also available for users
who only enter a location

42. Social Media Strategy
1. Decide what direction/profession to
pursue. Focus helps build confidence
2. Decide what social media tools to focus on, what
works best to reach your target audience
3. Be consistent across tools, use same or similar
photos and profiles
4. Build network, develop a strategy to reach those
who can help. Takes time
5. Post content & comment on other’s posts

43. Social Networking
for Job Seekers
Mike Buhmann
Reference Librarian
Skokie Public Library
Thanks for Coming

44. • Don't expect social networking to be a
magic career wand
• Do present a consistent, professional profile
i social networking bios.

45. • Don't expect social networking to be a
magic career wand
• Do present a consistent, professional profile
i social networking bios.
What Is It ?