Facebook is the world’s largest social network. If it were a country, it would be the world’s largest country, twice the size of China.
If you are one of the few people on the planet who hasn’t already done so, haven’t already done so, create your profile on Facebook. Add a few decent pictures of yourself and add all your information (including links to your Twitter and LinkedIn page as well as a link to your blog and personal profile) Posting inappropriate pictures or pictures of cartoon characters may earn you brownie points with friends but not with HR or hiring managers.
When you fill in your information, make sure that it is relevant. State your goals, your background, your education, and any other training you have received. Your profile page also lists whether you are a fan of another person or organization, so pick this wisely. For example, “American Marketing Association” is a good group to follow. A porn star’s fan page” is not. Who you follow says a lot about who you are.
Another thing to remember is to delete those unnecessary applications from your profile. While there are many very entertaining games, they also post profile updates. If an HR or hiring manager sees lots of status updates to your profile about having whacked someone, they may perceive you as a gamer and maybe someone who spends more time playing games than working, as well as someone who can get distracted easily. It is not something that an unemployed person should portray. Since perception is reality, you should be careful about what perception you create for yourself.
When you are done with that, it is time to add the job search applications. Type in “Jobs” in the application search bar and add relevant job search applications. Job boards use Facebook to promote new openings and find ideal candidates. Use these applications to find appropriate jobs. Don’t join too many because it will be hard for you to go through all the jobs posted. You want quality, not quantity.
Facebook also has job listings. They tend to be for staff-level positions at a minimum wage or slightly above. They focus on jobs within your geographic area and make searches outside of that more cumbersome.
As mentioned earlier, you have to be careful about what your friends say. You see, on Facebook, if your friends post updates, they show up on your page as well. Sometimes, your friends may say something inappropriate and that too could show up on your profile. You don’t want potential employers to see that. So, if any friends post things that should not be seen by potential employers, then you should turn off profile updates from them. By hiding them (to do that, drag your cursor to the right side of a post from them. You will see a drop-down menu that allows you to hide them).
You can also use the status bar to promote your networking efforts. When you find a job you want to apply to, post it on your status, and ask your network if they know someone in that company. It always helps to find contacts because it can give you a leg up on the competition.
How can it give you a leg up? Easy, this person can be a point of introduction to the hiring or HR recruiter or be someone you can ask questions about the person filling the job?
While the point of Facebook is to connect, engage, and have fun, the point of Facebook for job hunters is to connect with others and receive advice from friendly people. The more you network with relevant people, the greater the opportunity to find the right job. You can do this by joining relevant groups and getting involved in conversations with people in those networks.
For example, if you’re looking for a job in web design, join related groups and talk to people within those groups. If you provide a few good tips or resources, others will appreciate it and have positive thoughts about you. They may even be impressed enough to interview you and offer you a job (or at the very least a reference to a job).
If you have an interview scheduled with a firm, see if the company has a fan page and ask questions of the people there. Most will ignore you . . . but you only need one good one.
Another use is to find references from within your network. You can always ask your network to find contacts for businesses within their networks. Just as I covered in the LinkedIn section earlier, you can always find appropriate contacts from within your network. All you have to do is to look actively.
Adding friends: This is tricky on Facebook because it is a lot more personal to people and they tend not to just have anyone as their friend. So you have to start by building a network of your friends, family members, and colleagues. Then, you have to participate in discussions and make yourself attractive to others. If you put constant links to good articles on your status and you portray yourself as a subject matter expert in different groups and forums within Facebook, people will be more attracted to you. Instead of chasing friends on Facebook, you should try to attract friends.
Integration: You can integrate your Facebook profile with your Twitter profile and your LinkedIn profile. That way, you are managing updates from one location. It saves time and effort while helping you promote yourself in three major networks simultaneously. The easiest way I have found to do that is with SocialPilot.co. Hootsuite and Buffer are good, too.
SocialPilot.co allows you to post messages to your Twitter, Facebook, a LinkedIn page or feed, as well as post to a WordPress blog you operate on specific days at specific times. You can post to Pinterest, Tumblr, TikTok, and Instagram. That becomes particularly helpful when it is 3 AM and you have come up with an idea you want to share and no one is online at that hour. It will let you time-shift your message to a later time for posting.
Ⓒ The Big Game Hunter, Inc., Asheville, NC 2010, 2012, 2020
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a coach who worked as a recruiter for what seems like one hundred years. His work involves career coaching, all as well as executive job search coaching, job coaching, and interview coaching. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with more than 2000 episodes, and is a member of The Forbes Coaches Council.
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