October 25, 2011

Job Searching with Social Media by Joshua Waldman - a real winner!

Job Searching with Social Media For DummiesJob Searching with Social Media For Dummies by Joshua Waldman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was laid off from an adminstrative/marketing job in June. The pain of that layoff still lingers. Fortunately, I was able to find another position part-time and sometimes get lucky and get more hours per diem, but that's another story entirely. I need a full time job with health benefits ASAP for the security of my entire family. Enough stress, eh? Fortunately this book came along at a time when I really need it.

First, a few things about the book format and text: I previously avoided "Dummies" books - the overall concept bugged me, but I didn't know any better; now I can look past the gimmicky "Dummies" phrase. The text of this book is written respectfully by a writer who clearly knows what he's talking about. The eye catching graphics and highlight boxes, bring some visual interest - that does keep your mind from going elsewhere while reading this book - ever turn a page in a book and realize that you were thinking about something else while reading and have to go back and reread? That doesn't happen with this book. It is also written in a clear, conversational tone without ever talking down to you.

Basically, most of us now know that social media plays a huge role in life, especially as young adult workers entering the workplace are so familiar with social media... sometimes to their detriment. While studying for my degree, I took courses that involved social media to a fairly large extent. One professor insisted that we use our real names while online as it gave more credibility to our words. He also wisely cautioned that anything we write can come back to haunt us - even if you delete something from a website, it may still reside in another server somewhere. Fortunately, I kept his wise advice in mind and have always watched what I write. This is often not the case with some of the younger generation. Because of search techniques in this book, I was able to search and find decent writing and good information on myself. Not so fortunate was someone else I know, who will also be looking for a job soon. She was able to fix some things, but ultimately, I was still able to find negative impressions out there.

This book gave a road map for managing your online reputation and creating positive impressions. An easy way for a hiring manager to weed applicants out is to do a Google search for their name. What does yours say about you? Is your facebook page set on the highest level of privacy? Even so, you can still view pictures on private pages, did you know that? Do you have a LinkIn page yet? As a user, I can tell you that it does open up a huge online business marketplace. This book shows you how to manage your LinkedIn account (and how to create one if you haven't done so yet), how to manage privacy settings on social media, and most importantly, gives excellent advice on finding that next career you're working toward.

I'm still using this book and haven't received that golden offer yet, but at least I feel like I'm moving in the right direction because of the advice this book gives.



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