Fantastic Bit on Social Networks and the Job Hunt

The latest edition of FORTUNE MAGAZINE Ask Annie offers a tremendous article on using the on-line social networks in your job search.  Folks this is a no -brainer.  It takes a little work to build your network, but it's not all that difficult and once it's done, you can communicate to a wide scope of folks in an instant.  This is no longer a wave of the future, but it's in the now. Whether you're looking for a sales job, administrative job or medical job, or hiring to fill a tech job or physician job, etc. you're not using all the arrows in your quiver if you're not delving into social networking.  At Physician Recruiter and TheRecruiter.com, we're putting a lot of resources into exploring the best ways to use these tools.

Here's a snippet:

Dear Newbie: With about 48 million members now, LinkedIn offers a virtually limitless amount of potential for people who know how to use it.

But while LinkedIn is a great site for advancing your career, other social networking sites can be useful as well, say Brad and Debra Schepp, husband-and-wife authors of "How to Find a Job on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Other Social Networks" (McGraw-Hill, $18.95).

Consider Facebook: Even though it's designed mainly for keeping up with personal friends, you may not realize that it features lots of business-related groups.

"If you're looking for a job, group discussion boards are probably where you will want to spend much of your time," the authors write. Searching out and joining groups can give you the inside track on job openings, inform you of upcoming professional meetings and conferences, and introduce you to people who can share what it's really like to work for a particular employer -- all highly useful stuff.

As for Twitter, the authors admit they were skeptical at first -- "I equated it in my mind with 'fritter,'" says Brad Schepp -- but they've come to believe it can be a great job-search tool. Start by following companies and executives in your industry, then work on building a following of your own. Avoid tweeting about what you had for dinner; instead focus on, say, an interesting story in a professional journal, your latest accomplishment at work, or -- yes -- what kind of job opportunity you're seeking (ideally without sounding desperate).

If you tweet about openings you're looking for, followers who don't know of any simply won't respond. People who know of a relevant opening, though, can tweet right back and tell you so.