Out of work? It's time to get connected

Eve Tahmincioglu • Profile • E-mail

With layoff numbers skyrocketing nationwide, that sucking sound you hear is a torrent of unemployed workers heading to online networking sites.

LinkedIn and Facebook, the two biggest, are seeing membership rise as those out of work stampede to the Internet to find jobs. (Unique visits to both LinkedIn and Facebook are up more than 100 percent this past year, according to Nielsen.)

“The rush online to these sites started in the spring, when the economy started to look bad, but after the financial collapse we saw a huge rush,” says Matthew Fraser, a senior research fellow at the international business school INSEAD and co-author of forthcoming book “Throwing Sheep in the Boardroom: How Online Social Networking Will Transform Your Life, Work and World.” “People are trying to build social capital online as a hedge towards uncertainty.”

Social networking sites can connect you with hundreds of people you probably wouldn’t be able to hook up with in traditional job-seeking ways, but they are by no means a silver bullet for the unemployed.

“There is some sort of social prestige you get out of these tools but does that translate directly into employment or financial well being? I don’t see that happening,” says Michael Stefano, assistant professor of communications at University of Buffalo.

Stefano recently conducted an experiment where he had 50 college students select 12 of their Facebook friends and ask them to help with a school project by taking a 10-minute survey. Of the 600 total asked, only one out of seven responded on average, he says. The majority did not even click on the URL to look at the survey.

Helping someone find a job will take a lot more time and energy than that, Stefano points out. While he admits there are anecdotal stories about people finding jobs via these sites, he’s “doubtful” they are statistically significant.

Building your network
Indeed, there are no hard numbers that show networking portals are any more effective than picking up a phone and asking friends if they know of any work. And these sites are not far-reaching, having long been focused on professional office dwellers, not blue-collar or service-sector workers.

Tips for your job search Here are some tips on using social networking sites in your job search from Michael Neece, chief strategy officer of PongoResume: — Establish a detailed profile on one of the major business-centric networking sites, such as LinkedIn. Aim to create a network of at least 50 direct contacts. — Keep your online information professional. Do not write anything online that you would not want a potential employer to see. — Use networking sites to find specific contacts at targeted companies, then use your network to get introductions. — Submit comments to blogs that are occupation- or industry-specific. — If you use Twitter.com, use it to keep your followers updated on your job search activities and how they can help you. — Do not use a contact e-mail address that is unprofessional, such as sloppyjoe@gmail.com or sweetcakes@aol.com. — Make your personal information in your social networking profile private, if it’s something you don’t want hiring managers to see. MySpace and Facebook both offer this option.

But, that said, they do offer most job seekers potential for more exposure, a wider reach of contacts, moral support and a connection to the outside work world. So, if you’re out of work, it’s a good idea to have a social networking membership in your gig-hunting tool belt.

“Being part of a social network isn’t required but it is a differentiator,” says branding guru Dan Schawbel, author of “Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success.”

“People who lose their jobs now have a list they can send out messages to,” he says. “And, if they have strengthened those relationships over time, chances are they can get a job much more quickly.”

That’s how it worked for David Stevens, who was laid off from his job as sales rep for two radio stations in San Jose on Oct. 1.

After the initial disappointment of losing his job, he got right on LinkedIn and reached out to his network of about 150 people.

He also updated his status on LinkedIn, which basically is a section on his page that allows all his contacts, and the membership at large, to see what he’s up to. He wrote: “I’m up for grabs. Who wants me?”

Within hours, he got a call from the CEO of the Santa Clara Chamber of Commerce, whom he had met at a face-to-face networking event, who was now one of his LinkedIn connections. The CEO gave him the contact information for the head of the chamber in Mountain View.

“I called her that day, she called me back that afternoon, we scheduled an interview for the next week, I went through the interview process and negotiations,” he recalls.

He is now the program and events manager for the chamber.

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