Brian Ward lost his job on a Friday afternoon. Eleven days later he had a new one. How did he do? Online social networking. Over the weekend, Ward updated all of his online profiles and sent out a message to 200 of his Facebook friends, letting them know he was looking for work. One of them wrote back on Sunday night. He asked if Ward would be interested in being put in touch with one of his colleagues. Ward agreed and had a phone interview the next day. (1)
This is an example of how social networks and new technologies have a positive impact in our professional life. Maybe, one thinks that this is an isolated fact, but supporting data can be found: according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 70 percent of all jobs are found through networking.
If it is considered the possibility of changing your position of unemployed into employed in just a few days thanks to the online social networking, as well it should be considered that the opposite can occur: employed into unemployed.
Facebook, Linkedin, blogs, are only a few examples which depending on the use one makes of them, they will have a different impact. On one hand these online networks make possible to share knowledge and opinions, enable people to be in touch with friends, allow keeping relations with our past and recent colleagues, and perhaps they will make possible that our future employer knows about us. But on the other hand one must be prudent and know how to use them. Thinking about a negative and probably the most obvious one, is that by using them one is exposing private information to anyone, though it is supposed that it is only available to your network, companies can access to their candidates’ information in internet even if they do not have a public profile. Therefore one must select what to share and must take into account that some information just can help to lose professional opportunities. Other way of damaging our reputation (and sometimes others’ reputation as well) is writing impropriated comments in blogs, i.e. negative comments about oneself company or participating in discussions which one does not have enough knowledge about. Thus, a long list of no appropriated actions in online social networking could be done. Probably, one thinks that what has been said till now is “common sense”, and I agree, But the point is that sometimes one forgets it.
Searching on the web to support the above reflection, I found a written by Alison Doyle (2), a job search expert with many years of experience in human resources, career development, and job searching, with a focus on online job searching, job search technology, social media, and professional networking. Doyle says: “Social media when used the wrong way can backfire and jeopardize a job offer or even your current job. It’s important to be careful and consider what you shouldn’t do, as well as what you should do, when using social media to job search”. Furthermore, Doyle gives some recommendation which are called by her: “Top 10 Social Media Do's and Don'ts”. To find more information about this click the link (3).
To conclude: Online Social networking is a relevant and helpful tool, but one needs to know and keep in mind the “rules” to use it in order to avoid undesired consequences.
(1) http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1903083-2,00.html
(2) http://jobsearch.about.com/bio/Alison-Doyle-2335.htm
(3) http://jobsearch.about.com/od/onlinecareernetworking/tp/socialmediajobsearch.htm
Victoria Sedano
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1 comment:
OK, but where do you think this is all this headed? There are a couple of other posts about job hunting, or companies using SNs for job placement. Have a look, and see what conclusions can be drawn.
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