CMU Career Services

36 Social Networking By connecting with prospective employers through social networking, you can enhance your professional development and use social networking as a means for internships and employment acquisition. Linkedin Linkedin is like a business meeting with over 150 million users (as of February 2011); professionals from around the world are having conversations ranging from job and internship opportunities to the current state of the job market. It all starts with opening a free account, building your professional profile (think virtual resume) and leveraging your affiliations to build your professional contacts. You must have a solid and complete profile because employers are able to view your information. They can conduct keyword searches and seek profiles matching those searches; therefore, your profile sections need to be showcased and frequently updated! In addition, making connections with professionals in your target fields will you give an upper hand because you are creating awareness about your candidacy for employment or internships. A powerful job posting aggregate board sits behind LinkedIn's job search feature and serves not only as a powerful job development tool but also as a resourceful career development tool. • Linkedin-‐Jobs for Students and Recent Graduates: http://www.linkedin.com/studentjobs • Linkedin-‐Career Services: http://careerservices.linkedin.com (webinars for student usage along with checklists on a variety of topics can be found on this site) • Join the Career Services' Linkedin group at Central Michigan University-‐Career Services • Join CMU's Alumni Linkedin group at Central Michigan University-‐Alumni Twitter Twitter is the cocktail party; the social media platform which has multiple resources, including news articles and information about current events. It is most commonly known as a micro blog, which is consistent like a blog, but uses fewer characters. An individual tweet can be up to 140 characters to express their message. With the convenience of a simplified information outlet, employers can reach potential applicants quickly and easily. Employers can tweet job openings with the job title and a link to the job description and application within the 140 characters allowed. You can search for specific company feeds and job boards on Twitter to "follow" as many post internships and full-‐time positions. Accredited accounts and/or users are "promoted" by Twitter and have a blue check mark next to their user name indicating their Twitter page is official and credible. Twitter does not have the same privacy issues as Facebook in the sense that you are not putting a detailed biography of yourself on your page. It is safe and secure and you can choose if you want a public or private profile. You can even choose to require requests from Twitter users in order to follow you. • Follow Career Services on Twitter @CMUCareers Facebook Facebook is like a conversation at the water cooler at the office; it is used to generate conversations between friends, and most commonly used for personal means. It is relaxed but can get you into trouble if you do not manage your privacy settings. Employers could use Facebook as a screening tool for prospective employees and applicants. An easy way to guide your Facebook privacy settings: if you think it is incriminating, it probably is. Make sure you either remove it or make your Facebook private. Career Services uses Facebook to create conversations between followers to foster career and professional development such as posting about upcoming events, jobs, internships, and career engaging opportunities. It is important to "like" pages of employers and companies, which are of interest and keep up with their current status and information. If you engage with an employer through their outlets of social media, you can hear about new employment opportunities which may arise throughout the year. • Like us, CMU Career Services, to stay current with career-‐related events (on and off campus) and information

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