looking for a job?

look no further.. if you actively participate in social media and networking sites, that is.

the last post i talked about the important of social media. well, here is another reason why facebook isn't just about your friend's pictures from last night or following katy perry's every move on twitter..

employers are beginning to use social media as a means to find potential employees.

now these sites, which we were once taught to hide from these future employers, are becoming a way to get the job of our dreams (now that doesn't mean you should keep up those scandalous pictures of yourself).

so i asked some friends, via social media monster- facebook, how they really felt about this.

i really found my responses to be diverse, but there was an overwhelming trend: opinions could be categorized by generation.

my mother, 2 aunts and an uncle all responded with the same negative attitude. they all believed the social media trend is taking away from the true face-to-face experience they went through to find a job. which, yes, in a way it is. but in this world where everything is crunched by time and instant gratification, the use of social media to find jobs might just be the perfect way for employers to get to know us.

on the other end, the remaining 12 responses were all from friends of mine. we are all in our early 20's, about to graduate college, scared to death about our futures and job searching and couldn't get enough of this new possibility.

one of the best responses was: "wow, now THIS is awesome. i'll jump on any opportunity i can get!!"

and in my eyes, it is another opportunity to get my name out there. why not use my facebook (a carefully cleaned up and professional version), that i use on a daily basis, to showcase myself to an HR department?

while doing some job searching of my own, a potential employer posted this link on the company's twitter page..
lose the resume.

i actually took this advice. i created a twitter page (and no, i do not tweet when i am planning on brushing my teeth, i primarily use it to gather news and such), and i actually sent a tweet to the company's page.

i wrote.. "soon-to-be college grad wanting nothing more than to take advantage of your opportunities at EP!"

less than 24 hours later, i received a tweet back saying, "congrats on graduation! send us your stuff- we'd love to see what you've got!"

encouraging? yes. but did it work? well, lets just say i am in the second stages of the process. so i'm crossing my fingers (and i hope everyone else is too!)

only to reiterate what i've been talking about: the craze of social media can absolutely be used to our advantage. it is whether or not we jump at the chance!