If I had to give one piece of advice to a just-out-of-college job-seeker, it would be this: manage your social media presence wisely. Because experienced staffing professionals – i.e. the ones who have the tools to screen your résumé – know how to use social media to find what they want. And more and more, they like using social media.

I’ve written a lot about LinkedIn as an exceptionally good recruiter’s tool, so today, I want to focus on Facebook.

If you Google “recruiting with Facebook,” you’ll get a good sense for how human resource professionals are augmenting their staffing software with this incredibly popular social media engine. Here’s what I distilled from the web and from conversations with recruiters around the country:

• Facebook as a red flag index. We’ve all heard stories about a great candidate who didn’t get a job because he or she had pictures of themselves drunk accompanied by prose that celebrated the event (perhaps with more than a few four-letter words). Some companies are setting up ethical boundaries for their recruiters’ use of Facebook – after all, people can’t be judged solely on their Facebook profile – but the simple fact is that Facebook is public, and bad public behavior often signals bad behavior in the workplace. You may not agree, but TOO BAD.
• Facebook as a fishing pole. I recently wrote on another blog site about Facebook’s “Work for Us” application for companies. With this simple and fairly cheap tool, companies can get their jobs postings visible to those on Facebook who are looking for a job. Candidates can even apply without leaving Facebook.
• Facebook as a referral network. “Does anyone know someone who is looking for a systems analyst job in the Cincinnati area?” Post that on a company site and/or send it to company “friends” and watch as good leads come in from trustworthy people and companies.
• Facebook as a community network. Widget manufacturers hang out in widget manufacturing communities, surgeons hang out in physician communities, lawyers hang out in attorney communities, and so on. These communities are great places to find candidates.

Do you use Facebook in your recruiting efforts? Do these ring a bell, or are there other ways to take advantage of this social network? Leave a comment and I’ll be sure to use your stories when I revisit this topic.

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