WHY EXECUTIVE JOB SEEKERS NEED TO JOIN THE SOCIAL NETWORKING CRAZE

It seems everyone is talking about social networking. Articles abound on how to use LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook for your job search.

Is this just a phase, or is social networking here to stay? Can executives actually find these tools useful or are they just for new college grads?

Here are some compelling reasons for executives to incorporate these tools into their job searches:

The number of job postings has declined. According to Scripps News, “Despite the boom in traffic, many recruitment sites are taking a financial hit. Many charge employers to post openings, a far less frequent activity in these days of hiring freezes and layoffs.
Indeed.com, a major job board, found that there were 119,171 postings for the accounting industry in January, down 53 percent from a year earlier. Postings in technology were down 43 percent to 395,629. The sectors that held up the best were health care, which was down 8 percent to 581,625 postings, and education, in which postings fell 9 percent to 62,933.” (“Traffic on Job Websites Jumps,” Scripps News, March 13, 2009)

The amount of traffic to job boards has jumped. “With the unemployment rate rising to 8.1 percent nationwide, career sites are booming in popularity as users desperately look for work. Traffic to job search sites, for instance, grew 51 percent in January from the same month a year earlier, according to comScore Media Metrix.” (“Traffic on Job Websites Jumps,” Scripps News, March 13, 2009)

A large number of recruiters maintain a presence on social networking sites like LinkedIn. “LinkedIn has recently been adding a million new members every two weeks, and officials say more than 829,000 HR professionals and 521,000 corporate recruiters now use the network.” (“LinkedIn Beefing Up Recruiting Tools,” Workforce Management, January 9, 2009) With hundreds of thousands of recruiters on LinkedIn alone, executive candidates cannot afford not to use this tool to connect to people who are seeking to fill positions.

Increasingly recruiters are searching online for candidates instead of simply advertising jobs on job boards. According to MSNBC, “These days, small and midsize companies aren't even posting jobs, instead going to sites like LinkedIn in search of their ideal candidate. (“Using LinkedIn to Maximize Your Job Search,” MSNBC.com, March 12, 2009)

And an organization called Organic explains it this way in Advertising Age: “Why are we weaning ourselves from traditional job boards? Simple: We get results from social-networking tools -- with no expense. Every day we discover new and innovative ways to use social media for our recruiting efforts. While Twitter and other social-media sites may seem like the flavor of the month, the real proof is in the numbers. In terms of return on investment, there is no investment besides time. From a branding perspective, it's always a win. Retweeting is easy and more far-reaching than a static posting a job on a traditional job board. With a solid social-networking strategy, most companies can reduce job-board spending quickly, while pinpointing discipline- or industry-specific candidates. (“Why Tweeting Has Become Organic's Main Job-Posting Strategy,” Advertising Age, March 31, 2009)

Executive recruiters regularly search the Internet for additional information on executive candidates. “In a(n) . . . ExecuNet survey about reputation management and Internet presence, 86 percent of executive recruiters say they routinely scour online sources for information that goes beyond a candidate’s résumé. Nearly 7-in-10 search firm consultants say that executive job candidates’ prospects improve when positive information is found online.” (2008 Executive Job Market Intelligence Report from ExecuNet)

Networking is a lifelong career strategy. The New York Times calls social networking your career safety net (The Social Network as a Career Safety Net, The New York Times, August 13, 2008). The Financial Post states it this way: “Maintain your presence online. Some people believe Facebook is destroying America. But if you lose your job, you'll probably lose e-mail addresses for all of your colleagues, and you'll need some way to stay in touch. As Kay Luo, a spokeswoman for LinkedIn advises, "Build your network before you need it." (“How to find a job online,” Financial Post, March 20, 2009)