With the prevalence of various social media websites, many people have come to rely on them to find a new job with varying results. LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and other popular websites are certainly popular examples of websites that can help you broadcast your name and profile.
Plus, you can post your resume on all sorts of online job boards and try your luck at finding a job this way, too.
Of course, everyone else can do the same thing so it can quickly become a case of wondering how much time and effort should you place on these websites to help you take the next step in your career?
Looking at it another way, what percentage of your time should be spent utilizing these methods versus more traditional ways of finding a new job like applying for specific jobs, networking, knocking on doors and visiting companies, etc?
Ultimately, you’ll need to figure out yourself how to dedicate your time and efforts but if most or all of your time is spent utilizing only social media websites and strictly limiting your job search to using these methods, you’re severely limiting the odds of finding a new, better job.
Working in recruitment – as with any position that involves hiring staff or helping people find jobs – showed me just how many people often apply for one job and try to battle it out (figuratively of course) with all the other candidates for often just one available position.
It’s not uncommon for companies to receive hundreds and possibly thousands of applications for a job they have advertised through online job boards or in the old days, through newspaper ads.
For large high profile companies, it may be common for them to receive hundreds or thousands of applications to their website every day even when they don’t have jobs available.
How can you stand out from the pack when you simply become one of hundreds or thousands of other candidates?
Often, you can’t.
Jobs are still won and lost in face to face situations whether in the job interview, networking event or a chance meeting with a hiring manager who gets to know you in a formal or informal setting and decides to pursue you as a potential hire with their firm.
Getting out from behind your computer and showing people your personality is the way you stand out from the pack and remains the best way to separate yourself from other people applying for the same jobs you are.
Many times, I’ve received a resume from someone that seems too good to be true…
…then I meet the person face to face and realize that this is in fact the case. In other words, their resume made them look better than they actually were.
Conversely, I’ve also met people with a subpar resume who upon meeting them, cause me to realize that they are underselling themselves and perhaps need to do a better job of selling themselves honestly but with impact through their resume.
In other words, looks can be deceiving and again, it’s often the face to face meeting that ends up sorting this out.
But if you’re only using online methods to conduct your job search, you’re limiting not only your opportunities to find a new job but also your opportunities to show potential hiring managers your personality, skills and intangibles that often can’t be promoted through online means.
