RULE # 3
Use Social Media and Other Sites for Job Leads

THE OLD ADVICE and the new wisdom for finding white-collar work conflict with one another most dramatically when it comes to networking, or using social and business contacts to learn about job opportunities and to get your credentials in front of the employment decision makers. Indeed, understanding the networking part of a job search is as important as writing the résumé. Yet, more than any other job-search activity, networking has undergone a seismic shift, evolving from simple face-to-face contacts into a collection of techniques mostly based in the Internet. Have you kept up?

Success in a job search today is largely a matter of casting a very wide net. In fact, by using a range of Internet services, you can extend your reach to potential employers farther than at any other time in history.

The Seismic Shift in Networking Methods

For years, face-to-face networking was regarded as the most important tool in a job search because it helped uncover the hidden job market, where supposedly 60 to 80 percent of all white-collar jobs reside. Yet it is our point that a “hidden job market” doesn’t exist—perhaps it never did and it never will. Why would companies keep their job openings a secret?

The myth of a hidden job market developed as an outgrowth of surveys that asked previously unemployed white-collar workers how they found their jobs. Specifically, they were asked, “Where did you hear about your last position: (a) newspaper ads; (b) radio/TV; (c) networking contact; (d) professional publication; (d) other?” The surveys consistently reported that anywhere between 60 and 80 percent of respondents indicated “networking contact.” One problem with the data, however, is that it was never verified. That is, few if any attempts were made to determine its accuracy. Researchers seldom interviewed respondents face-to-face to confirm either that what they checked off on the list of options was true or that there was more to their employment stories. Because there was little incentive to do the additional research, the outplacement industry grabbed some convenient answers and ran with them. And the conclusions appeared as logical extensions of the initial data—that is, you should develop, expand, and keep your networking contacts close. And many of us worked hard doing that very thing, never realizing that the interactive nature of the hiring process was never fully explored.

The truth behind this one-size-fits-all view is that most job seekers use a wide variety of tactics to find a new job. They don’t just go to the right party, and a new job posting pops up out of nowhere. In fact, job applicants find out about possible employment through a variety of techniques, including:

Reading an article about the company

Seeing the opening on a job board and then going through a networking contact

Asking a neighbor or friend working at the company

Asking neighbors or friends if they know someone working at the company

Going to the company website and applying

The fact is that we still don’t understand enough about the entire pattern of interactions between applicants and the companies that hire them. More important, as technology has transformed how we network now, any findings that are reported may cause you to dramatically refocus your job search, perhaps incorrectly.

The Drawbacks of Believing Half-Truths

The “experts” concluded that the most successful job-search techniques are extensions of the career-management process itself. That is, as white-collar terminations have become the norm, job-search skills have become a major part of how careers are managed. People are advised to develop their personal networks and keep them current—continually expanding their contacts and meeting with them on an ongoing basis whenever possible. According to this argument, a call to a networking contact appears less self-serving if you have stayed in touch. Your best way to find out about open positions is through your networking contacts—the ones who come from all those face-to-face networking sessions you should attend. The belief is that most jobs are never advertised (the hidden job market) and that online applications are, at best, “iffy.” We are told to leave the comfort of our computers behind and start the face-to-face networking necessary to access the hidden job market.

A little knowledge can have dangerous consequences, however, especially when you need a job. Enough of this advice is true—many people do find jobs through friends—that we are not encouraged to expand our job-search strategies beyond our immediate networking circle. Yet the truth is that the more jobs you can find and apply for, the better.

Also, relying exclusively on existing contacts and on face-to-face networking has another big drawback: most of us hate that kind of socializing, especially when we have to do it face-to-face. On balance, most of us are not very good at face-to-face networking and we quit doing it the minute we find other employment.

Julie’s experiences were typical. On her way to another midweek networking session in anticipation of a rumored company layoff, she commented, “Too bad networking is so important. Who wants to spend endless hours at cocktail parties talking with people you don’t know and may never see again? I would rather be home with my kids.” She was relieved to hear her view confirmed by a majority of business professionals.

But rather than take our word for it, we told her to search the Web for “people who hate networking” and she would find numerous comments like these:

“I have always found meeting strangers uncomfortable.”

“It’s hard to put on a cheerful face when you are worried about losing your job.”

“I never quite know what to say. I am not good at small talk.”

“I’ve never networked with anyone who actually had a job to offer.”

“I can never remember whom I have spoken with and whom I haven’t. That’s embarrassing.”

Networking to find a job can be a nerve-racking experience. Yet you do it anyway. Why? Because you have been told that’s where the jobs are and the stakes are too high to forgo it. But there is a better way.

Weak Ties vs. Strong Ties

The advice to have a strong personal network that you continually expand seems logical, but as it turns out that is not such good advice, after all. People who hate to network can be comforted by research done as far back as the 1970s by sociologist Mark Granovetter, who observed that weak ties between networking contacts work just as well as strong ones. It was as if Granovetter anticipated the way many of us network today, using the weak ties of Internet social-networking sites. Internet-based social-networking sites are characterized largely by “weak ties,” or contacts that are casual, in contrast to the strong ties we develop with friends and associates with whom we interact in person. When we are looking for work, Granovetter argued, weak ties are actually superior to strong ones because they allow us to connect across a broader range of relationships.¹

On average, the number of people with whom we can connect face-to-face and with whom we can maintain strong ties maxes out at around 250—and that’s with a lot of work and emotional energy. By contrast, the number of people with whom we can establish weak ties is essentially limitless. This is not to argue that strong connections are not useful—they are. Yet all your connections don’t necessarily have to be strong when you’re looking for a job; most people get what the looser connection is all about. They are not bothered by requests for job leads; indeed, unemployment is common enough today that long explanations about what happened are no longer necessary. It is enough to say that you were with a company that “downsized,” “merged,” or “restructured.” The point is that you can get important assistance from these people even when they are unaware of job openings and even if they do not know you personally. They can pass on your information to others.

How Companies Hire Today

It is helpful to understand how companies actually fill vacancies today. Each year CareerXroads, a highly respected staffing-strategy consulting firm, conducts a survey to determine where companies with 5,000+ employees find their new hires. Here is what it found:²

Internal transfers and promotions made up 38.8 percent of all full-time positions companies filled, a number that ballooned to 51 percent at the height of the Great Recession—because companies reduced their outside hiring activity in favor of internal promotions.

Referrals (employee, alumni, vendors, etc.) constituted 27.3 percent of positions filled, providing the most significant source of outside hires. Together, the top two categories made up 76.1 percent of all positions filled.

Company career sites supplied 22.3 percent of all outside hires—but how they fit into the overall pattern of employment remains unclear. Experts in the field increasingly feel that company websites are becoming less relevant as a source of hires and more of a destination point—a place to which interested parties are directed when they want additional information about a company.

Job board hires represented 13.2 percent of external hires (i.e., 13.2 percent of the 27.3 percent of external hires). In the latest findings, Monster.com was beginning to lose ground to Career Builder, and both appear to have lost ground to social networks and other online search engines that are expanding their reach.

Diversity hires appear to come from a variety of sources, among which affinity groups (usually internal company-sponsored groups in support of various diversity efforts—females, minorities, etc.) seem to be the most important.

From this and other sources, you can see how companies (in this instance, large companies) tend to find new employees. Though care should be taken when expanding these findings to all companies, both big and small, the fact is that, in a global world, companies all face the same pressures to hire the best talent available. So, the first observation to be made from the data is the rough correlation between the expense associated with attracting new hires and the methods used. The most widely used methods are also the most cost-effective.

This draws attention to two interrelated factors: getting the right talent in the most cost-effective manner possible. The search for talent has become red-hot in response to global competitiveness. By some estimates, a third of all business failures can be traced to poor hiring decisions. The cost to replace poor performers is estimated to be 1.5 to 3 times their salaries. Furthermore, high performers outperform poor performers by 25 to 100 percent in similar jobs. In more complex positions, the gap has been reported to be anywhere from 500 to 1,000 percent.³ So, some of the most visible companies, such as IBM, GE, Google, Apple, and Walmart, cast as wide a recruiting net as they possibly can. They understand that acquiring the right talent is far too important a task for their openings to be tucked away in the “hidden job market” or to hire-on-the-cheap.

That’s because the job market today is not so much hidden as it is splintered. Job opportunities are announced in a variety of ways, scattered across different means of attracting applicants. So, just as job seekers need to look in many places for openings, companies need to post their opportunities in myriad places. For instance, companies are often unsure where to look for talent or how much to pay for their search. Those “best places” to find talent have changed recently and new preferences have emerged.

Companies are not hiding their openings; they are finding new ways to seek outstanding candidates. For example, they don’t use newspaper classified ads anymore. These ads are too expensive for companies who want to attract sufficient numbers of candidates, from whom they can select the best. The movement away from print ads has been so dramatic, in fact, that the traditional newspaper “want ads” have all but disappeared. Staffing professionals know there are better ways to find better candidates than placing ads in the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal.

The new consensus on the best ways to look for talent has the Internet as its core. In 1997, 2.1 percent of new hires came through the Internet.⁴ Today, the Internet serves companies via referrals, career sites, job boards, direct sourcing, and college contacts. In fact, it no longer makes sense to survey how many new hires come through the Internet because, in one way or another, practically all do. Face-to-face networking has been exposed for what it is: an appendage to what job seekers accomplish mostly on the computer. But to succeed in this Internet-based business world, job seekers need to obtain computer literacy.

No Excuses for Not Keeping Up

If you are comfortable with—indeed, have grown up with—computers, you can skim the following material. You’re poised to take advantage of the job opportunities the Internet has to offer. But for you Luddites, here’s a little about computer literacy.

There is an undeniable generation gap in any discussion of computers. Younger people tend to be more proficient, more computer literate, than people over fifty. But if you are looking for employment, get online. Learn the basics. In a few years, this warning will be a lot like telling people about indoor plumbing today.

If you are uncomfortable using a computer, you need to take some classes. Try your local public library because libraries often offer cost-effective services that bring people up to speed on new developments in technology. Many community colleges also have continuing education courses on computer use, frequently in a comfortable, easy-to-learn environment.

At one time, listing your basic computer skills on a résumé was a way to distinguish you from others in the job market. Today, computer skills are a commodity that everyone is expected to have. Only more esoteric computer skills are listed now on résumés. Even those who are mildly computer literate have the challenge of keeping up—the speed at which technology changes is mind-boggling. So, any “catch-up” plans must include consideration of how you will remain current.

Changes that once played out over generations are now intragenerational. As Jerry Garfunkel noted in “The Digital Divide Between Age Groups”:

As a young boy I watched my father connect the stereo components and thought what a technological wizard he was. As a young girl, my daughter watched me scan computer listings and thought what a technological wizard I was. As a young girl, my granddaughter will watch her mother create web pages and broadcast them around the world, and she too will think what a technological wizard her mother is.⁵

You are advised to get on the right side of the digital divide and eliminate it as an age-related consideration. You should focus more on the value you create than on age, regardless of how old or young you are. When you create value that others need, the impact of age is reduced to a less significant consideration.

Our initial meeting with an outplacement client typified the digital divide. After an exchange of pleasantries, Dan was asked, “So, tell me about yourself.” For the next forty-five minutes, he gave us an uninterrupted stream of stories about how his former company had replaced older workers with younger ones and his concern was that he would face more of the same as he conducted his job search. This fifty-five-year-old had a skill set that was being replaced by a foreign, younger, more highly skilled workforce that also happened to be less expensive.

We have heard this story from lots of people, and yet many do not take responsibility for keeping up with technology. Our advice to these clients is that they follow the lead of Satchel Page, the legendary Hall of Fame baseball player who spent his youth toiling in the Negro Leagues before reaching the majors well past his prime. During those years, reporters always wanted to know how old he was. But he never gave a straight answer. He would instead respond with one of his trademark witticisms, “Age is a case of mind over matter. It you don’t mind, it don’t matter.” We cannot promise that age won’t matter. But we can say with confidence that if you stay current with technology and learn to create value, it will matter a lot less.

Are you keeping up or falling behind? Is it time to take some computer classes? Following is a simple test to help you determine that. For every yes response, you get one point.

A Computer-Literacy Test

Score/Status

10–9: Considered literate and keeping up

8–7: Literate, but be careful not to fall behind

6 & below: A candidate to take some classes

Where You Should Look for Jobs

Many people report being confused about the advice they get when it comes to job applications. As an example, Caroline spent three months of unproductive time responding to job ads. Her outplacement firm provided the clerical support necessary for her to respond by personal letter or e-mail within ten business days after an opening was posted. She also filed several applications online. Later, Caroline learned that the success rate for this kind of activity was 7 percent or less. “Why,” she asked, “was I told to spend so much time doing this when it had almost no chance of landing a job?”

As an alternative, Caroline was advised to get away from her computer, strengthen her face-to-face networking ties, and follow the leads developed there. The advice seemed logical, largely because of what we have heard about job searches. Yet, it also didn’t work.

If companies are willing to go to the trouble and expense of listing their job openings online or elsewhere, why are job seekers told not to respond? We know that when a single ad attracts as many as fifty résumés, the process becomes a numbers game, with a guaranteed low rate of success. When only one person in fifty can get the job, only 2 percent of all applicants will win overall. When the number of applicants is even higher, as it often is, the percentages are even lower. But the conclusion that you should therefore avoid responding to these ads is a complete mistake. Job seekers need to have a good idea of where to look for open positions, regardless of where they appear or what the initial chances are of landing them.

As we discussed earlier, conducting an effective job search has to do with creating value for your potential employer. With that in mind, let’s review where to look for openings and what to do when you find them. Here are some obvious and not-so-obvious places to find job opportunities:

1. Your current or former employer. Some companies want nothing to do with former employees and they stop formal communications except on matters of benefits and other legal obligations. It is not unusual for the outplacement firm to replace the former company as the primary point of contact. However, companies are becoming smarter. Many now understand that former employees (“boomerangs,” they are called) are an excellent reservoir of talent to meet future staffing requirements, as well as positive sources of good public relations among their ever-widening Internet circle of friends. A polite request to be kept in mind for future consideration or to provide job leads is a good idea. Also, well before any hint of a layoff, be sure your personal brand is highly respected and your name is among the first your current employer will think about if an opportunity for reemployment or promotion comes along. How do you accomplish this? Learn to create value and be sure not to burn bridges as you exit. Your chances of reemployment with a previous employer are enhanced if you are capable, respected, and well liked.

2. The position description you used to develop a value-infused résumé. In order to develop a competitive résumé you had to come up with a job description of a current vacancy. Apply for that job, and if it is filled, get your credentials in front of the company’s management anyway. It doesn’t hurt for them to know who you are and how well your background fits their recruiting requirements at the time.

3. Jobs that are listed with your friends and family. This is the old-fashioned face-to-face networking that was the advised route years ago, and it still is a viable path. Though you will learn how to go well beyond this narrow circle of contacts, friends and family can be a good source for uncovering job leads that may not have come to your attention. But this is not because the jobs are hidden. There are still many channels through which jobs are listed, and you should let this network know you are looking for work and are interested in any information it may come across. As you become more computer savvy, your network will grow into a wider network of contacts primarily through the Internet’s weak ties.

4. Company websites. As companies become more sophisticated about the Internet, they use their own websites to replenish their list of candidates for current and future openings. For large companies, in particular, it is a cost-effective way of reaching out to a widely dispersed pool of potential candidates. One client was surprised to see that the supply chain vice president’s position he had been contacted for by a search firm was also listed on the company’s website. “Why,” he asked the hiring manager, “would you list the job on your website and also pay a search firm to come up with candidates?” As it turns out, the job of the search firm was to rank-order all candidates regardless of the source of application. Drawing quality applicants from the website was an inexpensive and positive net addition to the process.

5. Trade magazines. Jobs are listed in trade magazines because employers are trying to reach specialized populations with specific skill sets or people who have specialized training. Depending on how frequently the magazine is published, job leads are sometimes stale. Increasingly, trade magazines have added an online dimension to their recruiting activity to overcome the limitations of infrequent publishing schedules for hard-copy editions. Some have even eliminated the hard copy altogether and operate completely online.

6. Jobs listed at professional conventions/meetings. Professional conventions are a favorite among the job-search crowd because of the chance to meet others in their profession and get to know them informally or through more formal channels such as professional committees, presentations of papers, or participation on panels. These gatherings invariably have “job boards” that give applicants a chance to inquire about opportunities, both formally and informally.

7. College placement centers and their alumni groups. Placement centers have been slow on the uptake in providing services to their alumni. Most colleges and universities have a significant cadre of alumni who would find opportunities for midcareer counseling and job leads helpful. Companies with strong college-recruiting ties to a particular university would also be welcome participants at forums that allow them to reach out to experienced workers who know how to create the kind of value they seek. Short of more formal programs, college placement centers and their alumni groups are spots where jobs are listed and candidates connect with companies looking for talent.

8. The state unemployment office. Though jobs are routinely listed here, this source is often overlooked. That is a mistake, especially for those interested in changing careers and looking for opportunities to display their transferable skills.

9. Cities with strong economies. It is easier to find work in some cities than in others. If you are able to relocate, you should know what cities offer the best prospects for finding a job. During the Great Recession, Washington, D.C., and Jacksonville, Florida (in the top ten best cities for finding work), had significantly lower unemployment rates than did Buffalo, Orlando, Sacramento, and Chicago (among the worst cities for finding a job). Even when the employment outlook is positive in areas unrelated to your expertise, the local economic multiplier effect will broadcast through the local economy.

10. Newspaper ads. Though waning in influence, local newspaper ads still represent a good source for job listings. Local companies likely prefer local candidates for a variety of reasons, including that the references are easier to check; relocation from another city or state may be unreliable; face-to-face communication is easier; and the candidates can be less expensive to recruit.

11. Private employment agencies, including retained search and contingency firms. The distinctions between search and contingency firms are fading fast. Retained search firms were once used for higher-level positions and were paid for by the company whether someone was placed or not. Contingency firms were used for lower-level positions, and a fee was paid “contingent” on the agency’s candidate getting the job. Both types of firms are still excellent sources of job listings. Connect with someone who can act as a reference to search consultants inside the search firms. Search consultants can receive as many as 200 unsolicited résumés a day, and of necessity they pay attention to only those that are a fit with current assignments. A referral from a trusted friend or someone with whom you are casually connected through others will increase your chances of a courtesy response and a promise to “keep your résumé on file should something develop.” If you are able, establish an ongoing relationship with a search consultant by acting as a reliable source of candidates for other positions. That is, create value for the consultant whenever you can. Be aware, however, that these consultants live in an “out of sight/out of mind” world and touching base from time to time is often necessary to remind them of who you are and the value you offer.

12. Civil service. Don’t forget the federal government. For many professionals, it is an excellent source of job listings and often a secure employer. That advice should also extend to local and state governments. If you have not kept up, you may not know that 80 percent of all civil service positions are filled through a review of your background, work experience, and education rather than via a written exam. The point is, the government has a list of open positions and readily seeks outstanding candidates.

13. Temp agencies. Temporary-agency employment activity is a leading indicator of economic growth. As such, many employment opportunities early in an economic recovery cycle emerge as temporary positions. The old days in which these jobs were strictly clerical in nature are gone. Temps now come in all shapes, sizes, and managerial levels, up to and including CEOs. Take advantage of temporary assignments to create outstanding value for the companies in which you work. Going from “temp” to “perm” is a real possibility once they have seen your work and have a clear idea of its quality.

14. Online job postings/job boards. Remember the good old days when conventional wisdom held that you could not find a job on the Internet? Those who are critical of the Internet as a job-search tool simply misunderstand both its power and how to use it. In reality, the Internet is a source of job listings like no other that has ever existed. Job boards are part of the emerging staffing technologies attracting the attention of staffing professionals and the companies they represent. Among current job boards, CareerBuilder, Monster, HotJobs, and Craigslist lead the pack in sources of hires. More narrowly targeted job sites such as DICE and The Ladders have less market share because they cater to more selective audiences.

15. Yellow Pages. Jobs are listed in many ways, and one of the simplest sources of information is the Yellow Pages, either online or the physical book. The Yellow Pages contains listings of businesses that are trying to attract business; successful ones need new people, and some job seekers have found success with these growing companies.

16. Self-employment. For many, self-employment is the ultimate job listing. Once you understand value creation in its fullest sense, self-employment becomes a realistic option for expanding that reach to a full-time position. As stated earlier, self-employment often comes with a higher-risk profile.

This is intended to be a good start rather than an exhaustive list. Do not be confused: where jobs are posted has little to do with how you should go after them. Once they are found, your success in landing the job depends on a number of factors that can be ranked from best to worst. Let’s see where you stand.

The Job-Search Pyramid

Have you ever noticed how some people always seem to be in demand? They never have to look for a job. They are the first ones companies and search consultants think of when the vacancies occur. And if they are not interested, their opinion is sought as to who might be a good candidate. It isn’t that they never get fired. They do. But finding the next assignment is seldom a major source of anxiety for them. These people are not in the best position for every job they go after, but they are often enough that others wonder, “What do they know that I don’t?”

Here is the secret. Throughout their careers, and in every job circumstance, these people push themselves as high as they can up to higher levels of a pyramid of job seekers. The good news is that with value creation, you can do the same. Furthermore, you don’t need to be successful all the time or in every job you ever have. Like other skills, you need only to get better than you currently are and improve your “hit rate” on interviews for the jobs you decide to apply for.

The Job-Search (JS) Pyramid (see Figure 3.1) is a visual representation of the job-search process. You can use it to determine what level you are at and what options are available to move you up the pyramid.

Let’s consider the five levels of the pyramid.

INSIDE PROMOTIONS AND LATERAL MOVES

At the very top of the pyramid, these opportunities exist where you work and where the value you create has already been recognized. This is the most desirable of the job-search situations and the position most of us prefer. An organization has reflected on the skills it needs and has identified those who most closely fit the bill—and chose you. Lateral moves are included here because they are opportunities to gain additional experience, as well as demonstrate your ongoing ability to create value in other situations—a significant accomplishment in these times of flat organizational structures and the reduced number of promotions that accompany them. Even if you do not want to stay with the organization, or are ambivalent about the new position being offered, you can always turn it down. But having a job offer or a chance to move laterally is a good result. There may be times when you would prefer not to take a lateral move. It is still a positive in that you are able to advertise your brand in the job market as having been offered other positions you chose to turn down.

FIGURE 3.1. Job-Search Pyramid.

Do lateral moves and promotions really count as job searches? Yes, they do. When you treat your current employment situation as a job search, it is a constant reminder that all jobs—past and present—are opportunities to enhance your personal brand. How you are treated by your employers is also important content for your résumé; you can list promotions and other career moves as indicators of your ongoing ability to create value.

The one surefire way to position yourself for a promotion is to be a star performer. Do this throughout your educational experience and in each job assignment you take on. You will also find that “stars” very often don’t need résumés. Well-run companies know who they are, and job opportunities seem to find them without effort. Think of it this way: If you are Lebron James and want to play for some other professional basketball team, no one is going to ask you for your résumé. What you have already accomplished is well known and need not be summarized in a résumé. Organizations know who the stars are and treat them as such.

As the competition for talent continues, successful companies will likewise be those that know who the stars in their industry are and what it takes to attract and retain them. Many Silicon Valley companies have understood this competitive process for years and have pioneered innovative hiring practices in response. As an example, one company not only has an on-site day-care center with desktop TV access for parents to keep a watchful eye on children, but also provides grandparents (on request) with a password to observe the kids from their computers at home.

But until you reach undisputed star status, and enough companies are tracking your career, a well-written résumé is still the best way to summarize your accomplishments and the value you create.

YOU’RE INVITED TO APPLY

Unsolicited invitations from another company or search firm are the next most desirable situations. They have heard of your work and feel as if your candidacy makes sense. This process is less certain than internal promotions or lateral moves because candidates are sometimes used to “round out” candidate slates as “stalking horses” but may not be serious contenders. Still, you are on the inside of the search—a desirable position under any circumstance and an opportunity to strut your value-creation skills. You have a chance to focus on the value that the hiring organization is looking to have created and to relate that specifically to the value you have created during your career. You do not have to network your way into the situation—you are already on the inside.

NETWORKING REFERRALS

For those unfamiliar with social networking, this rung will have the look and feel of traditional face-to-face contacts. This is not necessarily so! More than ever before, we are able to network to contacts through a series of weak ties for jobs and information, including who the real decision makers are; the ins and outs of the culture of a company; why a certain position is vacant; what a company hopes to accomplish in filling a vacancy; and a lot more. These are all aspects of the job that help you connect to the right people with a résumé tailored to meet their needs. From time to time you will be able to connect directly with a networking referral, but at other times you will not. Your chances are directly tied to the kind of personal brand you have established, the value you create, and how fully you have developed your network. Those who have done these things more completely than others will be able to locate information that enhances their application and subsequent chances of successfully landing that next position.

UNSOLICITED APPLICATIONS

This is the level where most of us stand with the typical vacancy. At this level, we have two options: try to get repositioned up the JS Pyramid or accept where we are. To move up the pyramid at least one level requires job-centered networking with family, friends, and a wider set of contacts through social-networking websites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter.

These three sites in particular currently are great sources for networking your way in as a candidate. Be aware that other social-networking sites and applications are developed every day. Becoming computer literate and keeping up is a conscious decision each of us has to make as we continue to leverage technology. The best way to keep up is to become a constant user. Moving up a single rung on the pyramid is all but guaranteed, and moving to the highest levels over time becomes a distinct possibility.

At this level, sometimes moving up the pyramid is inconvenient or simply too difficult. In this case, you are left with sending out résumés en masse. Should you ever really do that? Submitting a value-infused résumé still enhances your chances of recognition and of obtaining a first-round interview. By using a social-networking site such as LinkedIn, you can often connect directly with the hiring manager or with someone who knows the hiring manager and can refer you. But you still are one of a large number of relatively unknown applicants, with a long shot for making it to the next round. However, if this is the only strategy you have, and you also have a value-infused résumé, go with it. You can improve your response rate from mass mailings.

A few years ago, Laura, then a recent graduate of the University of California, Davis, with limited social-networking contacts and a strong desire to get a job without the help of family, worked with us to develop her résumé. In spite of a weak economy, she quickly got several job interviews through unsolicited responses to posted vacancies. Having more choices than she anticipated, she was able to choose a job that was a good fit and remains employed there today—several promotions later.

DOOR-TO-DOOR JOB SEARCH

At this level you are looking for unknown or future vacancies. It’s a tough way to go and not everyone can do it effectively. You must draw up a list of businesses (from the Yellow Pages, for example), identify companies that can use your skill set, and check with each one about vacancies it may have. This procedure can be done door to door, on the phone, or over the Internet. Don’t forget, 2.5 percent of all hires in the CareerXroads survey came from unsolicited walk-ins. Though you get a lot of nos, you need only a single yes to make the effort worthwhile.

Social-Networking Success

Ample evidence shows that the popularity of social networking is growing at break-neck speed. Although the social-networking sites were once considered a quirky niche for nerds and college students, by 2009 54 percent of the Fortune 100 companies had Twitter accounts, 32 percent had corporate blogs, and 29 percent had a Facebook fan page.⁶ The numbers are expected to explode upward. Over half of the direct-sourcing hires counted in the CareerXroads survey came from LinkedIn.⁷

Furthermore, the Internet itself is changing. The idea of sitting in front of one’s computer is passé—not because you can’t find a job there but because we routinely have Internet access through our personal digital assistants (PDAs), and an increasing number of social networks send information directly to our mobile phones.

How fast is social networking growing? In the beginning months of 2009, Facebook reached the milestone of 175 million users—not a bad rate of growth for a social-networking site started in 2004 that was initially limited to college students with a university/college e-mail address. In some weeks, Facebook grew by more than 600,000 users per day, and by December 2009, Facebook usage had grown to 350 million, with most users no longer just college kids; 45 percent of its membership was twenty-six years old and higher. The fastest-growing segment of Facebook in the United States was women over fifty-five. And Facebook had expanded to over fifty-two countries, as well. Furthermore, the growth numbers of users of other social-networking sites, such as LinkedIn, MySpace, and Flickr, are impressive as well.

However, the Internet is replete with exaggerated claims about what social networking can do for your job search. For example, perhaps you heard the story about a software engineer who lost his job on Friday afternoon and eleven days later had another one. How did he do this? He sent word of his job situation to his network, their friends, and friends of theirs. These results, however, are not representative of what you will experience using similar methods.

For example, consider the situation presented by myhusbandneedsajob.com. In May 2008, Michael Stearns graduated with an MBA from Georgetown University and relocated to San Francisco in hopes of finding a job in corporate marketing. Several months later, his wife gave his job search substantial visibility when she launched a new website, myhusbandneedsajob.com, on which she posted Michael’s résumé, pictures of themselves, and several other comments extolling his virtues. The website went viral—that is, it became a destination point for millions of visitors. Yet over a year later, no job was in sight.

Newcomers to social networking are advised that the name of the game continues to be value creation. Social networking can play an enormously important role in helping you get the word out, but in the long run it cannot act as a substitute for the value you create. The quality of your brand still counts. Social networking simply brings that quality to the attention of a wide circle of contacts.

What do you need to get started? Social networking is neither a mature set of practices nor an established invention with an agreed-upon meaning for everyone. People constantly bend it to meet their needs and make it what they want. The best way to learn the ropes is to pay close attention to how others do it. Some of the early books that sought to teach people how to navigate the more popular sites went quickly out of date because the rules for usage kept changing. We do not intend to make that mistake. Therefore, here are the basics.

What Is Social Networking?

For our purposes, social networking “is the spontaneous movement of people using online tools to connect, take charge of their own experience, and get what they need—information, support, ideas, products, and bargaining power from each other.”⁸ Conveniently, people can go to a site to do their social networking or they can create their own. Technology allows people to connect in ways and around issues they could not connect before. It also allows them to take control of their own brand and what others read and hear about them—what they have accomplished and the value they have created. So, don’t keep your light hidden under a basket. Social networking will allow you to toot your horn in earshot of as many people around the globe as are interested in what you have done or have to say.

Social-networking activity can be broken down into four classifications and many social-networking sites use features from more than one category:

1. Community social-networking sites. These make up the largest category, and they are used by members to help them grow their number of connections. People find existing contacts (e.g., high school classmates) and make new ones (friends of your high school classmates with autistic children). People can begin to share information on effective parenting techniques, organizations that provide emotional support and counseling, new developments in treatments, and so on. The benefit of such a network is obvious and individuals have opportunities to demonstrate their expertise (value) in numerous ways.

2. Media sites. The main activity on these sites is to upload photos and videos for others to see. For those who feel as if they have something of value to say or view, media sites can be particularly useful. From time to time, uploaded music videos in particular take off and become viral hits. Such was the case for a couple of Yale students whose rendition of Lady GaGa’s “Poker Face” became their second viral hit, with more than 1.5 million viewers. Perhaps the most famous of all viral hits happened with Susan Boyle’s appearance on the popular TV show England’s Got Talent. It attracted a whopping 50 million viewers, and counting—not possible without social networking. Music-sharing sites (music social networks) are a subset of media sites and shortly may become their own category because of the way they are used and how quickly they are evolving.

3. Social bookmarking sites. Bookmarking happens when you save a link to a website in your Web browser. Social bookmarking is saving the same link where others can see what you are bookmarking. You can then “tag” the sites with as many words as you choose. Because of the tremendous number of websites, there is value in gaining a reputation for locating and tagging sites others find of value.

4. Blogging social networks. These are sites that bring bloggers together. They allow you to find other bloggers (“blog” is short for Web log) in which you have an interest and communicate and exchange blogs as desired. Many feel that Facebook sites will become tomorrow’s newspapers—places to obtain information on a variety of topics and a wide range of opinions.

Getting Started

To get started, focus on three major sites: LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter—in that order. LinkedIn comes with our highest recommendation because it is specifically designed for business professionals. It links people for purposes of career management and business development, and is a direct challenge to the notion someone cannot find a job on the Internet.

Facebook was developed with a broader purpose in mind—to put people in touch, share photos, and allow you to meet new people easily. Twitter is a social media site that allows users to send short updates of what they’re doing and converse about their interests in 140 characters or less. Many use it online through the Twitter website but it can also be used through a smartphone app, through text messages, or through another third-party application for desktops and laptops.

Though it is common practice to use all three of these social-networking sites in conjunction with one another, their differences are important. Most of what attracts people to Facebook and Twitter has nothing to do with finding a job. As a result, more work is required if you want to use them for that purpose.

The best way to learn is to plunge right in and see how other people use these sites. But you should not jump in the deep end first. Start with networking sites and activities that will improve your familiarity while keeping you from making foolish errors. To be on the safe side, you may want to join a self-help group to see how members use social networking and then proceed. The power of social networking comes largely from what users, not owners, make of it. You need to proceed with caution until you gain greater clarity about what you are trying to accomplish and how a particular site can facilitate your objectives.

LINKEDIN

A social-networking site for business professionals, LinkedIn is for those who want to find jobs, sales leads, business partners, and much more. In addition, LinkedIn makes it easier for the jobs to find you. In this sense, the site helps you move higher up on the Job-Search Pyramid. So far, it is among the safest of all social-networking sites with which to experiment because its primary purpose is to facilitate business/professional connections. By 2010, LinkedIn boasted over 50 million users worldwide—by far the most extensive network devoted to business professionals.

You participate on LinkedIn by joining—you visit the site (www.linkedin.com) and fill out a profile. It’s free. You are then on your way. You should take as much care in building your profile as you did in developing your résumé. In fact, your LinkedIn profile is considered your online résumé. Companies and other business contacts will be attracted to you based on the value you create, and your profile will often be the very first impression you make on them. Make it a good one. But don’t worry about it just yet. You will get better at building your profile once you join and see how others do it. You can go back and edit what you have written at any time. The important thing is to get started. Here’s how:

1. Develop contacts. Identify your contacts by uploading your e-mail contact list and conduct searches for colleagues, classmates, and individual names. These come from your profile. LinkedIn identifies others who have joined who may be connected to you because they went to the same schools, worked for the same company, lived in the same towns, and so on.

2. Convert contacts to connections. Direct LinkedIn to invite selected contacts of your choice to join your network. For a connection to happen, someone must accept your invitation, just as you must accept other invitations to join someone else’s network. If the person refuses (or you refuse to accept an invitation), LinkedIn won’t tell. The same is true if you decide to disconnect. Unlike other social-networking sites, connection means that you know these individuals well and are willing to be one degree of separation from them. It also allows you to see whom your contacts are connected to. There is a special feature that prohibits even those you are connected to from viewing your other contacts. Senior-level search consultants and other highly placed people use this feature to prevent being inundated with requests to connect to highly visible executives.

The people you are connected to are considered to be one degree of separation from you. The connections of your contacts are then two degrees removed, and their direct connections are three degrees from you. Conveniently, LinkedIn can tell you who in your network are one, two, or three degrees of separation from organizations or individuals you may have an interest in. This allows you to network your way through to many places you would not normally have access to.

To contact second- and third-degree connections requires special LinkedIn tools—Introductions, InMail, or OpenMail. You will learn how those work once you join. For purposes of getting started, all you need to know is that LinkedIn provides five free introductions with a free LinkedIn account. You can buy more introductions by upgrading to a premium account for a modest monthly fee.

Users can look at the connections of their direct contacts to find a link to someone they want access to. If that’s your case, you can then request an introduction to a second-degree contact. Your contact can either pass it along or not, and that connection can either accept it or not. Refusing the introduction can be done anonymously. Accepting an introduction is not the same as becoming a part of someone’s network. That requires an invitation and a corresponding acceptance. Sound confusing? It is really quite simple, as will become obvious once you get started.

Once you join, take time to get familiar with LinkedIn’s functions. Go to the page where your account is housed and browse. You will discover a number of navigational buttons that allow you to use LinkedIn more aggressively—everything from editing your profile to seeing whom your contacts are connected to, groups to join, and much more. In your spare time, you will find it helpful to browse and see how many new things there are to be discovered. One tab in particular to explore is “Jobs.” Job seekers can search and apply for as many jobs as they want—it’s free and you apply directly to hiring managers or those managing the search. To post a job, however, costs about $200. Jobs are organized by geographical region, and the system will tell you which jobs are connected to you and by how many degrees, giving you opportunities to do some focused networking through those weak ties that have traditionally been ignored.

James found his new job using the method suggested above. He had an excellent personal brand—an MBA from a well-known school and several years of solid work experience. He targeted several financial services institutions and identified the friends of his friends who were employed by those companies. Eventually he worked his way into a courtesy interview and was offered a position shortly thereafter.

Another important navigational button is “Groups.” Here, you can join or create groups and participate in discussions around your areas of interest or expertise. You can refer participants to your blog on a given subject (if you have a blog), post comments that further highlight your interests and expertise, and/or draw attention to what others have written by copying and pasting links to other sites.

On the flip side, companies pay LinkedIn handsomely to comb their considerable database for “passive” candidates (those who might be interested but are not actively looking). Carefully written profiles that show solid track records of success and sensitivity on issues that are important to your industry or profession will likely bring your credentials to the attention of others and move you higher up the JS Pyramid.

The process by which a company combs a database of potentially millions of candidates involves searches for key words that are easily embedded in the résumés and profiles of LinkedIn subscribers. This takes you back to the initial exercises used to develop your résumé. Describing your accomplishments in the language employers use to describe the value they look for in candidates is a good strategy to begin the process of building an effective online résumé.

FACEBOOK

Facebook has emerged as the foremost social-networking site. Started in 2004 by three Harvard University students, the current version of Facebook remains true to its original purposes: to put people in touch with one another, share photos, and make it easy to meet new people. Like LinkedIn and other social-networking sites, you join by creating a profile, at which time you can browse and find others you know who also have Facebook accounts (those you went to school with, hometown affiliations, specialty interest groups, etc.). You can also let Facebook comb your current list of e-mail contacts, previous and current employers, and so on for current and former colleagues and coworkers. Many users search for specific people by individual names. Facebook has three levels of privacy controls that limit what others see, protecting you from unwanted persons.

The profile you create is called your Facebook Page, and that is what others see when they look you up on the Internet. It contains a space where you can upload a photo of yourself; a friends section that displays pictures of those you have befriended; a personal-information section of things you choose to share with other members; a mini-feed section that shares with others what you have been up to lately; and a section called the Wall, where others can leave messages, photos, Web links, and other things. Danger! Don’t allow people to post inappropriate materials to your Facebook account. It is a good way to tarnish your brand and/or otherwise become disqualified for consideration for employment.

At this point, you are just getting started. Facebook accommodates applications that have been a continuing source of innovation and customization for users. Some of the more prominent applications include photos, videos, groups, events, a marketplace (much like Craigslist), posted items, and virtual gifts. Facebook has been very aggressive in encouraging members to create their own applications and have added the Facebook developer application to assist. Another feature called Facebook Mobile allows users to access Facebook through mobile devices (cell phones and other PDAs), upload photos and videos, write status updates, comment on other users’ photos and videos, write on other users’ walls, and browse the site. And that is just the beginning.

Before discussing how to use Facebook in your job search, you need a basic understanding of Twitter because they are often used in combination with one another.

TWITTER

Twitter is one of the most interesting and innovative social-networking ideas to come along. A tweet is simply a message sent on Twitter. Texting and tweeting are actually one and the same, with one important difference: texting generally has one recipient in mind whereas tweeting can be broadcast to an entire network or a subset at once. This is not completely accurate but will do for purposes at present. As you get more familiar with texting and tweeting, the differences and similarities will become clearer.

Anyone can “tweet” by opening a free account. To reach other users you have to develop a network of contacts with Twitter accounts, as with other websites. However, Twitter has several limitations, including (1) phone-to-phone messages are limited to 140 characters, even though fuller text can be read by using a third-party developer desktop and Web-based applications; and (2) you can only send text—no photos or videos unless you use a third-party application. On the other hand, Twitter allows third-party developers partial access to its applications programs interface (API). Users have been very creative in the applications they have developed, including programs that use Twitter to send tweets through desktop applications and e-mail programs; search public tweets and coordinate with Google Maps to watch public tweets live throughout the world; and integrate with Facebook and other social-networking sites, including LinkedIn. The two most obvious uses of Twitter are individuals and groups that want to keep an audience of followers in the loop as things are happening, and those who want to follow such individuals and groups. Various combinations exist in between.

A Job-Search Example

All of this information is very interesting, you’re probably saying, but how will it help me find a job? Let’s take an example. Three months before the birth of her first child, Monica was notified that her job had been eliminated and that she would be eligible for a limited severance package. Her initial plans were to take short-term disability and a month’s worth of unpaid family leave, and then return to work to uphold her end of the two-income standard of living she and her husband had enjoyed for the first four years of their marriage. They quickly decided to keep their initial plans intact as much as possible but include a search for a new position.

Monica’s job-search strategy started with a target list of local companies that might be interested in someone with her credentials—an MBA in marketing, three years’ experience with a Fortune 500 company, and a solid track record of project management. Timing was important, as her search had components that were both inactive and active—inactive before the baby was born and active once she was back on her feet and able to interview. Here is how each social-networking site was used.

Facebook fan pages for targeted companies were identified, and she signed up to be a “fan” in order to receive up-to-date information on available jobs and other current information. Three weeks before she was ready to interview, she let her network (mostly Facebook) know of her job situation and asked for leads, contacts, and referrals that might help. Several in her network knew of her situation and had asked if they could help before the baby was born. She requested that they hold off until she was closer to reentering the job market. This activity produced five leads for local jobs that had not yet been advertised or posted.

LinkedIn groups led her to undergraduate and graduate alumni associations, which she joined. Quiet moments at home during her pregnancy and later with the baby gave her time to connect online with other mothers looking to return to work. This also led to several leads that she “linked” to because she was able to identify contacts who were one, two, and three degrees of separation from her target companies.

Once the interviewing process started, Monica provided daily updates on what was happening through Twitter. One contact who had “retweeted” her tweets (i.e., sent them to a wider circle of friends) suggested other mothers who would be interested in keeping up with how to manage a job search, a pregnancy, and the birth of a child all at once. Still others were interested in the broader question of reentering the workforce. Monica briefly entertained the idea of starting a blog but did not get very far because she found a new position before her “unpaid” leave time ended. Once you start using social networks, you will quickly discover that Monica could have pursued many other avenues as well. But they were not necessary. Her endgame was a new job—and she got one.

A word of caution: Much of what is suggested here involves the extensive use of computers, phones, and other technology-based equipment. This can be a double-edged sword. Companies have established the right to review the usage employees make of company-owned equipment. If you are at all concerned about keeping your job search private, use your own personal equipment—phone, computer, and so on. And advise potential employers to contact you away from work, on your privately owned equipment.

NOTES

1. Mark Granovetter, “The Strength of Weak Ties,” American Journal of Sociology 78 (6): 1360–80.

2. Jerry Crispin and Mark Mehler, “CareerXroads Annual Source of Hire Study: Meltdown in 2009 and What It Means for a 2010 Recovery,” www.careerxroads.com, accessed February 2010.

3. See “Closing the Employee Performance Gap—Boosting Competitiveness & Profit.” Updated for EzineArticles (http://ezinearticles.com/?Closing-the-Employee-Performance-Gap---Boosting-Competitiveness-and-Profit&id=3245235), November 13, 2009.

4. Crispin and Mehler, “CareerXroads.”

5. Jerry Garfunkel, “The Digital Divide Between Age Groups,” www.jerome.garfunkel.com, accessed June 30, 2005.

6. “Burson-Marsteller and Proof Digital Fortune 100 Social Media Study,” July 31 2009, www.burson-marsteller.com/Innovation_and_insights/blogs_and_podcasts/BM_Blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=128.

7. Crispin and Mehler, “CareerXroads.”

8. Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2008).