You use WHAT for your job search?

Most of us probably believe that most online job searches involve LinkedIn more than any other social networking site, right?

Wrong!

Per Susan Adam at Forbes...

I thought most job seekers were using LinkedIn, not Facebook, to find work. But according to the survey, 83% of people looking for a job say they use Facebook in their social media search, compared to 36% who use LinkedIn which, to my surprise, is the most infrequently used site among job seekers.

To receive the Jobvite 2015 Job Seeker Trends Survey, you will need to provide information on this website.

The good news..?  The survey states that "the percentage of Job seekers who’ve said it is “harder” to find a job has decreased by 43% since 2012."

Facebook Versus LinkedIn: The Debate Continues

For those of us in the recruiting or career profession, the Facebook versus LinkedIn debate is a fascinating one.  On one hand, some believe LinkedIn to be THE professional networking tool.  This group generally reserves Facebook for personal use and tends to believe that job searching on Facebook involves a certain degree of risk as far as one's reputation is concerned.  Facebook-centered job search applications like BeKnown and BranchOut are also met with suspicion.

http://bit.ly/oGxwud 

On the other hand, there is a group that is open to Facebook job searching.  College students and younger professionals often don't feel as if they have a "professional network."  Most are already on Facebook and feel that they benefit most making job connections with the existing network of friends and family.  There are still others who feel that they have closer relationships with their Facebook contacts and that they are more likely to be of assistance in a job search.

We still don't know how this will come out in the proverbial "wash" although there are no shortage of opinions on the issue.  One such opinion is written by Jody Ordioni for ere.net and is entitled Why Facebook Will Destroy LinkedIn.  Take a moment to read it, and let us know what you think.

Accenture's Career Advice Series: Network for Success

Join Accenture via Facebook Livestream on July 12 at 1:00 pm Eastern / 12:00 pm Central.  Accenture recruiters will be discussing networking.  

Click here to join. 

Per Accenture:

Understand the keys to successful career and social networking, including how to best use LinkedIn for your career search

Get tips on how to network for success and have a chance to ask your questions through the video chat window. You can also ask your questions in advance by posting your question to the event wall.

Facebook Video Chat Capability

In another interesting turn of events, Skype is partnering up with Facebook to offer video chat in the site.  It's interesting that newly rolled out Google+ Hangouts offers video conferencing. 

Competition is this space has been needed for awhile since MySpace has dwindled.  Most likely this apparent chess game between the social media giants will be a win for consumers.

Read more at TechCrunch:  Facebook Will Launch In-Browser Video Chat Next Week In Partnership With Skype

Social Media Battlefield in Career Space

There's an interesting environment developing in the online career space.  Startups are flocking to the Facebook, presumably in an attempt to be a LinkedIn-type presence within Facebook.  But, since a number of these apps can pull your information from LinkedIn (with your permission of course), LinkedIn has pulled their plug.

Read more about LinkedIn's move in TechCrunch's article LinkedIn Cuts Off API Access To BranchOut, Monster’s BeKnown And Others For TOS Violations.

Facebook Marketplace - Job Listings

Did you know that Facebook has a Marketplace that has job listings?  I didn't.  Thanks to Heather Huhman and Cachinko for highlighting this fact in the June 30th webinar, How to Use Facebook In Your Job Search. 

To access the marketplace, type "marketplace" in the search field and you will see the following page.  Under the "Basic Information" box click the link "Start using Marketplace now."   The jobs may not be of the same calibre that you might find on a job board or company website, but it doesn't hurt to look.  You might even find something else that you like while you are there.

CareerAmp

There's yet another app climbing aboard the Facebook networking and job hunt craze. 

Beware of online "friends"

Some Facebook users are collectors.  They have hundreds of friends - some close and some not.  But, did you know that some people do not even know each other when they "friend" on Facebook?  Did you also know that this simple act of adding another friend to the collection could cost you a job?

Corinne Gregory of ResumeBear tells the story of a teen who unknowingly "friended" someone who was in jail and lost a job opportunity.  Read her article The unforeseen impact of online "friendships".

Google Takes On Facebook

Google rolled out Google + today as an alternative (competitor) to Facebook. 

Mashable calls it the "company’s most ambitious social project to date."    The Washington Post states that "there’s essentially nothing in Google + that doesn’t already exist in another Web service, and so the company is probably hoping that adopters will want to move their social efforts to one, centralized location.

See the demo here.

More videos

Facebook Rage?

There are some social media inventions that just nearly defy logic.  So, to add just a bit of humor to a Sunday afternoon, take a look at this.

 
Is this "post rage?"   :-)

Social Media Predictions For Recruiting

Matt Kaiser writes the following predictions in his article SHRM 11 Spotlight: Reinventing Recruiting:

If you still think social media is a fad in recruitment, here are some predictions to ponder:

• Resumes will become obsolete. Your resume will be your “personal brand,” accessed online through sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube (Video Resumes).
• Everyone around the globe will have a Facebook profile – and instead of Googling a good restaurant or hotel, you’ll just ask your Facebook network.
• Metrics will become obsolete – because you will source your own social networks for candidates.

I couldn't agree more.  Companies are getting into the same online space as job seekers.  Therefore, these predictions are simply common sense projections.  So, if you are hesitant about social media, it is time to get over your hesitations, build or clean up your online image, and get with the times before they leave you behind. 

Social media and the changing job search landscape...

Someone once said that the only constant is change, and the social media environment seems to be changing almost daily along with usage stats. 

On June 16th, Career Conduit addressed job searching via Facebook, particularly BranchOut, in the post Branching out from LinkedIn.   As if on cue, according to a June 19th Inside Facebook release, BranchOut grew its monthly active user count from 32,897 to 817,367 in a week.  Apparently there is a desire to network / job search on the Facebook platform.

Today we entertain additional considerations.  As Facebook is enlarging its plaform to encourage ecommerce, how will this affect the job search?  Will more companies tend to recruit where they do business?  Furthermore, a trend is appearing in mobile.  An increasing number of web users are now accessing the web through their mobile devices.  Techcrunch cites a recent report by mobile app analytics firm Flurry:

...daily time spent in mobile apps has now surpassed web consumption. The average user now spends 9% more time using mobile apps than the Internet. In June users spent an average of 81 minutes daily on mobile apps, compared to 74 minutes on the web.

Weigh in here on how these changes affect the way that job seekers might conduct their job hunt in the future.  Do you see Facebook becoming as much or more useful than LinkedIn in this regard?

 

Facebook's Facial Recognition

Facebook:

"When you or a friend upload new photos, we use face recognition software — similar to that found in many photo editing tools — to match your new photos to other photos you're tagged in. We group similar photos together and, whenever possible, suggest the name of the friend in the photos."  Source...

If you are actively managing your online reputation, you might want to turn this feature off.  ZDNet tells you how.

JobMob: "The Do-It-Yourself Facebook Resume Kit in Five Easy Steps"

For a very interesting idea from the JobMob, click here.

Now that Facebook is being utilized increasingly for recruiting, this is a timely concept.

Pic source:  http://bit.ly/k08gyo

Another App for a Facebook Job Hunt

InTheDoor utilizes your Facebook and shows you companies in your social network that are hiring.

Do you want to work at Facebook?

Mashable outlines HOW TO:  Land a Job at Facebook.

What is Zumeo?

Zumeo is a career discovery tool and professional social network. Build a Live Resumé, discover your strengths through our assessment tool, and get matched to relevant jobs. Then get connected with your friends, colleagues, and other people who can help you in your career.

"BranchOut" on Facebook

BranchOut is a career application that works with Facebook.  It allows the user to utilize Facebook friends for networking purposes.  The application claims to have over 3,000,000 full time and 15,000 internship posts.  It works by displaying user's inside connections at great companies so you can gain an advantage when you search for a job or sales lead

In short, Branchout helps the user's Facebook account act more like LinkedIn.

Are you "Identified?"

Identified (Recruiting Made Social) is a social networking / job search tool that went live in September 2010. Identified's goal is to build the largest college network in the world.  It works with Facebook accounts and can also import LinkedIn data to populate profiles.