Originally posted on Tweetmyjobs.com The astounding growth in social media has revolutionized the way that people are connecting with each other, and forced companies to rethink how to find quality candidates. Industry specific stories, press releases, or infographics appear week in and week out claiming that social recruiting has arrived as the golden standard, and that companies not fully embracing social will lose talent to their innovative competitors. At TweetMyJobs, we believed an honest evaluation of the industry was necessary to determine whether or not job seekers and employers are “buying in” to the hype. So we went straight to the source. We decided to listen to what job seekers and employers think about using social media during their job search. After surveying over 2,000 job seekers and 400 company representatives, we transformed that data into a brief video to evaluate the state of social recruiting in 2012 and pose the question: “Is Social Recruiting Real?” The survey provided many interesting statistics, but a few caught our eye:

• 50% of job seekers still spend most their time searching on traditional job boards
• 29% of job seekers use social media as their primary tool for job searching
• 45% of companies plan to invest more in Social Recruiting in 2012

These stats portray an industry that is well publicized, but still in its early growth stage. There’s no denying that social recruiting will continue to grow. Job seekers are using social media to find work. Innovative, industry leading companies are embracing the technology. Smaller companies are investing more and getting involved… the answer to our question seems obvious to us. What about you? Do you believe social recruiting is real? Sound off in the comments below or follow the conversation at #Time2TMJ. ... Read more

Using the JobsInsider tool on LinkedIn is one way you can find those all-important but elusive “insider” contacts at companies with job openings that interest you.LinkedIn’s Help Center describes JobsInsider as follows:“JobsInsider is a tool that comes with the LinkedIn Browser Toolbar for either Internet Explorer or Firefox. When you search for a job outside of LinkedIn and have JobsInsider ... Read more

LinkedIn is a very powerful SUV. I get in it for a road trip. I turn it on, take it to the car wash. Then I realize that I have no idea where I want to go. The maps in the back seat pile up and spill over, leaving me in limbo. Where do I go now? Relying on technology to make career decisions is probably the biggest mistake any job seeker could make. In the 1970s, British economist E.F. Schumacher wrote that the downfall of our economic system will, in part, be rooted in our misconstrued belief that technology will solve our problems. 1970s! This year, we still hold this harmful belief... ... Read more

You'd be surprised, but only about one out of 10 of the technology executive clients I speak to have a built-out online identity - that is, they show up in more places than just LinkedIn. The time is past when a progressing executive can afford to be invisible on the Web. In fact, a built-out Web presence can serve as a critical competitive advantage, whether you are in a job search mode or not. The one thing to remember is: EVERYONE GOOGLES EVERYONE! This is even more true of recruiters and ... Read more

Three of my colleagues wrote a book a few years ago called The Twitter Job Search, and it’s a good read. However, there’s still not a widespread consensus that Twitter makes an effective job search tool. That said, you shouldn’t let it deter you from checking out Twitter and seeing whether you can apply it to your situation in a way that makes sense and, hopefully, produces positive results for you.

Twitter power users: what this means to your job search

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Originally published on eConsultancy Social media is now central to every savvy job seeker’s armour, and recruiters are also switched on to using it to source great candidates. For the former, it’s a source of information. It allows you to get the word out about your search, collate recommendations and connections into an online CV - and build a good reputation in the process. As a recuiter, the same applies, but in the reverse. To many marketers, this is fairly standard – but how do consumers feel about this? Are they using social media in their job search? To answer that question, Jobvite commissioned a study ... Read more

1. Fear of being your own boss: You have no choice to face this fear, because it is right there already. You are your own boss, whether you like it or not. Due to the trend of shrinking job tenure, everyone needs to think about what their next step is going to be, on a regular and strategic basis. Long gone is the lifetime career working for “the Man”.  People need to consider not just one, but multiple sources of income and manage their career like a business.  As such you need to become your own Chief Marketing officer.       ... Read more

I am so thrilled to introduce Bless Vaidian as a new member of the Careerfolk team. I was so excited when Bless told me that she loved to write because I immediately suggested that she put together some articles. In fact I even suggested that she enter her writing into the Jobmob Blogging competition. Little did I know that she would go onto win, with me coming a close 2nd {Smile} ! She was just getting back into the world of career counseling after a 6 year hiatus. She had never written for this audience before. And her blog was the most read blog in an international competition.  That is what blogging can do… ... Read more

You hear it from every direction. From LinkedIn, for starters, and from bloggers like Tim's Strategy. We are exhorted to limit our connections to only people we know, like, and trust. To strive for quality in our networking relationships on LinkedIn. To build our network strategically and nurture it carefully. I can see that. I really can. I think, "Wouldn't it be great to be in contact with a couple of hundred professionals with whom I touch base now and then - so that we can benefit each other in meaningful ways?" Who am I kidding?? I barely have time to keep up with the daily demands of my work, much less nurture such a quality network! I admire people who can develop an extensive high-quality network! But in advising my clients - technology executives in transition - do I advise them to work to build out such a high-touch network? Let me tell you what I tell them. ... Read more

I see it a lot on LinkedIn. Less often today thankfully.  But there must be some old handbook for LinkedIn lying around that says “go get as many as you can.” Within my LinkedIn group sometimes it pops up and in other groups across the platform.  What am I seeing? “I accept all invites!” Please don’t do this and if you do I don’t want to hear about it.  Because I manage my LinkedIn group pretty tightly, there aren’t any random “connect with me now” posts.  But every once in a while, someone will share this sentiment in their introduction. I don’t accept all invites. If you accept all invites, my goal here is not to embarrass or belittle your network building strategy.  But rather to tell you why I think it is a really bad methodology for building a network on LinkedIn. It is the ultimate in laziness on a business network where social credibility really matters. So don’t be lazy on LinkedIn.  And don’t treat your connections (and potential connections) like they are a dime a dozen. ... Read more