If you are looking for a job, it’s no secret I believe you can use social networking to help you land your target position. While traditional media outlets enjoy focusing on how people lose jobs via Twitter or Facebook, I know you can use those tools to land a job.
However, you do need to always be aware of what shows up where when you post it, and I will give you an example of what I mean.
Yesterday, when a friend was reviewing Facebook, she noticed another friend wrote something on an open group. (The comment appeared in the Facebook ticker on the side of the screen.) She clicked on her comment, and clicked through to the group where her friend was posting. Interested in the group and the group’s conversations, she scrolled down and noticed other posts her friend wrote. In doing so, she found out information that may not be a secret, but that the friend probably did not expect a casual contact to read.
What does this mean to you?
Assume anything you post is pretty easy to find. (Even if it may not be, technically, easy to find. When you post in open groups (maybe groups about job search), even if your friends don’t know about those groups, it’s pretty easy for your participation to be discovered via the side ticker. If you do not want to be found, be sure to study privacy settings carefully. This is Facebook’s FAQs about their ticker and privacy. If you are commenting on a public post, expect the details to be public.
Facebook can help you with your job search, too. The old advice to “be aware of your surroundings” applies, though!
Photo by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid