Five Signs You’re Not Going to Get a New Job Using Social Media

It seems to go in cycles, the influx of my friends seeking jobs; new, replacement or otherwise. At a peak right now, I’m spending much of my spare time forwarding job descriptions, thinking about opportunities and connections I can help facilitate, and what advice to impart (when and only when they ask and are ready to hear it). For the people who think finding a new job via social media is as easy as booting up a laptop, a few thoughts on what’s not going to do it.

Five Signs Social Media Won’t Help you Land a New Job

1. You haven’t spent years cultivating a broad social network with deep relationships.
2. When people search for you online, they discover incomplete profiles or less-than-professional (or even embarrassing) content.
3. You haven’t been publishing content to position yourself as a thought leader in your industry.
4. Your use of social platforms has only been casually, and on a personal level. Your professional experience has never gotten any online “air time”.
5. You aren’t willing to invest the time it’s going to take to engage, connect, publish and monitor for opportunities. Patience and persistence is necessary.

Good luck. Be persistent. Be aggressive. And don’t be afraid to ask for connections.