You know Web 2.0 is officially mainstream (read: old) when large, stodgy, non-tech corporations begin requiring their employees to blog and to spend time on the clock shoring up their MySpace, LinkedIn and Facebook profiles and friend-fetching. Well, it’s finally happened.
Employers large and small are realizing the value, influence and reach of Web 2.0 apps like blogs, widgets and social networks. Two of my clients work for professional services firms–one in accounting, the other in consulting. Both of their employers have implemented Facebook Fridays, 2 hours per week spent managing their Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and other social networking site profiles. The goal for both is to attract job candidates. Their employers reasoned that since many of their employee had profiles and friends on these social networking sites, they might have a good chance of finding similar people who want to work for their firms.
Another client works for a nonprofit education R&D organization, she has just been asked to begin blogging about the work they do in urban schools as a way of keeping clients, parents and potential hires informed of their good works.
My best friend works for a advertising agency and she has just instituted “mandatory blogging”–requiring all staff to contribute to the agency’s blog at least one post per week.
This is good news for social networking sites, and for folks who were already whiling away working hours on those sites. But, it’s also good news for jobseekers and career changers. As this trend spreads, you’ll have another way to network–no more dressing up and stuffing your pockets with business cards, then standing around hoping someone talks to you.
Now, you can (virtually) stand around in your PJ’s and let your profile and your typing fingers do the networking. But, don’t think that you can slack up on your networking just yet. You still need to spruce up your profiles and find friends online. And, that’s not a simple deal, especially if you’re like me and you have a half-done profile on every social networking site.
Here’s what you can do to make your profiles attractive to new friends (referrers) and potential employers.
- Decide which sites are best for you: A Facebook profile is a must, it’s the “it” site right now. LinkedIn is a business-focused site, so everyone there knows the score (you’re there either for exposure, business connections or job-hunting). MySpace’s business and career-finding value is somewhat limited to young people and the music business, so you might skip it. There are plenty of other sites that focus on niche groups (HR practitioners, Green MBA, social entrepreneurs, small business owners, etc.), consider joining one of those.
- Decide what information you want to make available on each site. Your profiles should be consistent.
- Set aside at least an hour per week to troll the sites for friends and contacts, to add or invite real-world contacts to join your online networks, to search sites for job opportunities, read others’ profiles and to reach out to contacts and friends who can help you.
- Where appropriate, arrange to meet high-priority contacts and friends (those most likely to help you reach your goal–refer potential hires to your employer, land a job at the firm at which the friend/contact works, introduction to a funding source) for lunch or drinks.
- Don’t forget that online networking eventually leads to other real-world stuff like reviewing resumes and checking references, so don’t over-sell yourself in your profile.
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