A Hansel and Gretal Guide to Social Networking

For a long time now, tales of woe have emerged around the perils of social network sites such as Facebook, and the impact your personal antics can have on your social life. Like most things, there is always two sides to every coin. Rather than concentrate on hiding information that you would rather keep quiet, canny social networkers are deliberately leading a trail of comments, posts and tweets to help build a reputation, and generate positive interest with prospective employers.

So how are these digital Hansel and Gretel’s’ doing it? What constitutes as virtual breadcrumbs, and to push the analogy to its absolute limits, will it lead to a job, home and dry?!@

Joining a conversation online has never been easier. If you want your comments to be noticed by an employer, take a look at their digital footprint. Where are they contributing to debates, articles and discussions? What social networks do they use to interact with clients and stakeholders? Google’s advanced search activities make this easy, as does tools such as http://www.socialmention.com/ where you can take stock of the online activities of any brand you desire.

Next step is to start to contribute. If comments feel a little uncomfortable to add, what about a question or two? Twitter tags are a great way of seeing trends, and tagging your own tweets will help you contribute to the debate. Lastly, integrate your activities, ensuring that your twitter updates feed through to your linked in page and don’t get caught out with inconsistencies. Showing an intense interest in European political affairs one minute, only to ask ‘Sarkozy... don’t they make crystals?’ on another platform, is unlikely to impress. Unless of course you are demonstrating your insatiable wit and va va vroom!

Good luck!

MORE TO COME...

Look out for our next post as it will go into some more detail about the 'stages' of networking via Twitter and what it can mean for you.

In the meantime, if you wish to receive more information to help you with your first (or next) career move; contact us for a FREE copy of the full GradGuide2010.