Job Search and Social Media: A Collective Approach

You can’t run a job search in a vacuum.  You can’t even run a job search alone.  If you think of any of the great wins or successes in history, they all involved one or more of the following: partnerships, collaboration, alliances, agreements, negotiations, and trusting relationships. What’s missing from your job search? Is it the “social” element?

This post is one of many Career Collective posts by resume and career experts on social media for job search .  I am honored to be part of this group and want to thank  Miriam Salpeter, of Keppie Careers, and Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter, of Career Trend, for coordinating this initiative now on its second year.  You will find links to the other expert posts at the bottom of this post.  I highly encourage you to read them all and bookmark them for future reference or sharing with friends and family.  If you are on Twitter, you can see our community by following #careercollective.

The key to a successful social job search is using the right tools for the right reasons! Here are four ways to think about your job search differently…socially….collectively.

Learning and Sharing Knowledge

Learn what you don’t know from those who are in the know and share what you know with those who may want to know!  Stop being stingy with your intellectual property. SHARE.

Write about what you know.

This could be starting your own blog, writing an eBook, commenting on blogs, or even writing a book review on Amazon.

Speak about what you know.

Give a presentation to a professional association or group.  Make your slides public on Slideshare or Prezi.

And if you do engage in any of the above, add them to your LinkedIn profile via the available applications! This becomes your online portfolio.

The New Business Model isn’t Competitive. It is Collective!

Think of Open Source software, Wikipedia, Online Forums, LinkedIn’s Q&A, Quora (7 Tips for How and Why to Use Quora).  These solutions are open and collective.  People freely provide their expertise, knowledge and experiences to HELP OTHERS, oh and to build their brand.

Space and Time (zones) No Longer Limit

Joining forces with the global community is possible, even easy, with social networking and social media. Join forces with like-minded individuals scattered across the world.

• Join Twitterchats (see listing of existing Twitterchats here)
• LinkedIn groups (3 Ways to Use LinkedIn Groups)
• Even Facebook groups.

The Sum Is Greater than Its Parts

Work together with other job seekers.  Learn and share with each other. There are LinkedIn discussion groups and Twitter chats to help. These are links to the transcripts from some of the top job search related Twitter chats.

• JobHuntChat
• HFChat
• InternChat

Don’t forget about your local resources for meeting IRL (in real life) to grow and foster your network and job search efforts. What I know and have seen first hand is that those job seekers who engage in a group to hold themselves accountable are always far more successful (meaning they find a job faster) than those who go it alone.

Recommended Reading

There are four books I highly recommend you read if you want to better understand social media/social networking and our new social economy and job search.

Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith

The Thank You Economy and Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuck

Social Networking for Career Success by Miriam Salpeter

So my hope is that by reading these books and all the following posts, you will want to build a collective job search strategy.  Step into new territory and learn from others. And remember, managing your career is on-going.

Make Your Career More Social: Show Up and Engage, @WalterAkana

You 2.0: The Brave New World of Social Media and Online Job Searches, @dawnrasmussen

How to Get a New Job Using Social Media, @DebraWheatman

Social Media: Choosing, Using, and Confusing, @ErinKennedyCPRW

How to Use Social Media in Your Job Search, @heatherhuhman

Updating: A Social Media Strategy For Job Search, @TimsStrategy

Your Career Needs Social Media – Get Started, @EliteResumes @MartinBuckland

We Get By With a Little Recs from Our Friends, @chandlee

Expat Careers & Social Media: Social Media is Potentially 6 Times more Influential than a CV or Resume, @expatcoachmegan

Social-Media Tools and Resources to Maximize Your Personalized Job Search, @KatCareerGal

How Having Your Own Website Helps You, @keppie_careers

Social Media: So what’s the point?, @DawnBugni

Tools that change your world, @WorkWithIllness

HOW TO: Meet People IRL via LinkedIn, @AvidCareerist

Effective Web 2.0 Job Search: Top 5 Secrets, @resumeservice

Jumping Into the Social Media Sea @ValueIntoWords

Sink or Swim in Social Media, @KCCareerCoach

Social Media Primer for Job Seekers, @LaurieBerenson