Can you afford to ignore Social Media as part of your job search?

Social Media is now the number 1 activity on the web. Many companies in Ireland are now using LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to source candidates. As a job seeker social media can give you great visibility and let employers find you.

Did you know?

• LinkedIn is now used by over 80% of Companies in the US to source their staff.  In Ireland LinkedIn is growing at a phenomenal rate with over 8,000 new members every month.  Over 80% of LinkedIn users are senior managers and/ or Decision makers.  So LinkedIn is a must for any jobseeker out there.

• Facebook – Reached over 100 million users in 9 months and now is so big that if it was a country, it would be the 4th largest country in the world.  Irish companies are using Facebook to find and communicate with jobseekers.  Friends on Facebook are also breaking news on job opportunities on their walls (forums).

• You Tube – is the 2nd largest search engine in the world behind Google. You Tube can be a super tool to view interview techniques and gain visual career advice from experts worldwide.

• Twitter – 80% of twitter users worldwide use their mobile phones to communicate on Twitter. For this reason may stories hit twitter before anywhere else. This is true for job vacancies too. Very often a job vacancy will show up on Twitter before it reaches any online job board.  Again top Companies are now using Twitter to broadcast their vacancies.

• Recruitment and Career Blogs – There are now over 200 million blogs worldwide. Many career experts offer FREE career advice and tips through their blogs. The great thing about the internet is that it is global, so as a job seeker we can benefit from great advice from US, Australia and UK as well as Ireland.

So as a job seeker, can you afford to ignore Social Media as part of your job search?

Please share your thoughts and comments on Social Media below.