Networking is about more than going to Chamber of Commerce
meetings in the Internet era

Social networking Web sites aren’t just about looking up old high school crushes or telling everyone you know what you had for breakfast.

Whether you use a business-oriented site such as LinkedIn or a network such as Facebook that’s designed more for fun, online social networking can help you find a job.

There are lots of people on social networking sites who are looking for job candidates. Chances are pretty good that you know someone else on the same site who knows the prospective employer. Facebook boasts 175 million users, while LinkedIn has 39 million users.

I know someone (and yes, we are Facebook friends) who recently got a job as a direct result of Facebook. He was losing his previous job due to downsizing and posted on Facebook that he was looking for work. A prospective employer who needed the types of skills he possessed saw the posting and contacted him. He got the job only a couple of days after signing a buyout agreement with his previous employer. Beats sending out scores of resumes, doesn’t it?

Sure, this individual was fortunate. It’s not always going to be that easy. But why not join as many online social networks as you can? It’s not hard to do. It doesn’t take much time. It’s free. It doesn’t hurt to try. The more you put yourself out there, the more likely you are to be found.

CNNMoney.com has an interesting article about how Facebook, which at one time was pretty much limited to high school kids and college students, has become popular among adults. The article notes that the accounting firm Ernst & Young recruits new hires on Facebook and that Dell plans to do the same thing.

(For the entire article, go to: How Facebook is taking over our lives - Feb. 17, 2009)
Diversified Industrial Staffing is on Facebook, and I’m on LinkedIn.

A few cautionary words about social networking.

Be careful about using the sites at work. Employers are wary of anything that can cut into productivity. And in most cases, there’s nothing to stop your employer from checking out what Web sites you visit while on a company computer.

And if you’re going to use Facebook for both fun and for professional reasons, be careful. You might not want a prospective employer to check out your Facebook page and see pictures of you getting drunk with your friends.

Diversified Industrial Staffing is a nationwide recruiting / staffing firm headquartered in Troy, Michigan. Our job is to match ideal candidates to open manufacturing, construction and logistics jobs. We find and place CNC machine programmers & operators, manual lathe & mill operators, welders, pipe fitters, general labor, skilled trades professionals, machine repair personnel, truck drivers, hi-lo drivers, carpenters, painters and drywall repair people in addition to other positions. Now serving the manufacturing, construction and logistics industries in and around:

Atlanta - Baltimore - Boston - Charleston - Charlotte - Chicago - Cincinnati - Dallas - Detroit - Fort Worth - Greensboro - Greenville - Houston - Indianapolis - Kansas City - Little Rock - Los Angeles - Milwaukee - Minneapolis - Nashville - Newark - New York City - Orlando - Peoria - Philadelphia - Raleigh - Rochester - San Antonio - St. Louis - Seattle - Springfield - Trenton - Tucson - Washington D.C. - Wichita
Our homepage is www.diversifiedindustrialstaffing.com

-- Todd Palmer