Let’s face it! Finding a job is not as easy as it seems. You may have all the qualifications, but finding the job suitable for you is a tough game.  What makes it harder is the idea of making yourself aware of all the current job fairs, updated job list in job portals, and not mentioning the torturing process of going through interviews and qualifiers.

At the onset of the new millennium, technology has played a big part in making our lives easier. Recently, this involves easier ways of finding jobs with the help of social networking sites.

How does Social Networking help to find a job?

According to studies by various organizations, social networking sites are commonly used by people in two ways:

• For individuals- looking for job openings.
• For recruiters- looking for a candidate who matches their requirements, and at the same time screening his or her background.

Here are the 4 clever ways to find a job using social media:

1. Create and Maintain an Active Profile:

Creating a profile means outlining your professional capabilities and skills. The details under ‘About Me’ information should be specific and interesting. Specific, in a way that it describes your skills thoroughly, yet interesting in a way that potential recruiters understand how much you need to get a job. ‘Maintaining an active’ profile means updating your profile information from time to time so that recruiters can easily contact you.

LinkedIn – The Biggest Professional Networking Site

Most of us know that LinkedIn is the largest social networking site for the people in professional occupations. Most people don’t realize the value of LinkedIn until its time.

I would say as soon as you get into or about to get into professional jobs, create your profile on LinkedIn and be active, just like you being active on your facebook.

Other Professional Sites:

There are also other professional sites like glassdoor.com, inthedoor.com and branchout.com which could also give access to your profile to the hiring managers.

Facebook could also aid your job search. You need to update your profile constantly and detail about your job search. May be adding your skill set in your profile and also post updates on your wall.

Twitter is soon going to be a place where companies would rather build their brands, make researches and reach people. It would be a good place to post your job-search updates on Twitter feeds. You could also research to find and meet new groups or people who might be able to help you find your job.

There are always groups we often find going together for lunches and discussing about new technologies, issues they face at their work, etc. You should find such groups through social media and go mingle with them and participate in the discussion. You will surely find some help.

2. Join groups

It is a common facet of social networking sites to have groups formed by people who share the same skills – those who are geared up for a particular industry.  Joining these groups will expand your network. Some recruiters also post vacancies on the pages of these groups.

3.Be active on the site

From time to time, inquiries from other job hunters, as well as beginners flood the site.  Give solutions to such inquiries. Post updates on what’s happening in the industry.  Post messages regarding your job search so that people in your network can keep your name in mind.

4. Gather Recommendations

Feedback is one of the things recruiters look at when considering a potential candidate. A good feedback for recommendation usually comes from senior colleagues. In order to make the recommendation more effective, it should come from someone who has known you, or has worked with you for quite some time.

Social Networking is useful when you are looking for a job. But be reminded, it can also cause you a great deal of trouble if you are not careful about the information you share to the public. Complaints about your current employer, and of course, proprietary information should never be shared with others in your network.