Social networking is becoming increasingly important to all job seekers, especially in design related fields.

What is Social Networking?
Do you have a Facebook? A Twitter? A MySpace? A LinkedIn? A blog?
If you answered yes to any of these then you’ve been on a social networking site. Each site has its different uses, such as Facebook and MySpace are about staying in contact with old friends and family as well as finding new friends. Twitter is mainly used for micro-blogging (sharing links, photos, and ideas in a short number of words) or updating followers on what you’ve been up to. LinkedIn is more of a place for professional networking and building connections with possible employers, employees, and co-workers. Blogs can be about anything from talking about your favorite hobby, giving information or inspiration to others, or simply expressing what’s on your mind at the moment but they are often longer and have more content than any of the other forms of social networking. In the end, social networking is about interacting with your peers via the internet.

Why worry about what’s on the Internet?
As represented in the chart below, more and more employers are looking online at what represents you before hiring. This mean looking at anything and everything they can find about you that’s on the internet, including your Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr Blog, Xanga, Wordpress Blog, Friendster page, and personal website. 1/3 of the time, employers find a reason to reject the candidate based on what they find about them online.

What are they looking for?
Employers are looking for anything and everything that they can learn about you. They want to know that you’ll be a good fit for them and that they’ll be a good fit for you. There are some main things they look for though to make their decision a bit easier, this includes:

• Information relating the use of alcohol and drugs.
• Inappropriate photographs.
• Poor use of communication skills.
• Bad mouthing of a former employer or fellow employees.
• Inaccurate representation of qualifications.
• Unprofessional screen names, for example:slimdawg_69.
• Information linking to criminal behavior.
• Confidential information regarding past employers.

Have any of this online? Get rid of it. You think privacy setting will keep you hidden? If it’s on the internet, they will find it. You’re just better off playing it safe and removing anything incriminating, especially those crazy pictures of you from Spring Break last year.

Why even use Social Networking sites then?
It’s not all bad. You can actually use social networking to your advantage by using them to market yourself. If you use your head and stay smart about social networking you can separate yourself from all of the other applicants who don’t know what you do. You can show potential employers that you are someone that they want to hire.

How to get started?
Basically, clean up your profiles and start using what you know. Would you want your grandma to see what you have on your Facebook, or Twitter, or Blog? If the answer is no, then you have a lot of work ahead of you. So get to it.

• Remove all pictures, content, and links that send the wrong message.
• Keep your profile up to date. Regularly highlight your latest accomplishments.
• Block and delete inappropriate comments.
• Avoid joining groups whose names could turn employers off. And leave any such groups you’re currently in.
• If there is an area for references, take it seriously and be sure to have solid references.

Overall, make your profile employer friendly and use common sense before updating.

Links of Interest
Learn more about social networking do’s and don’ts.

Etiquette for various social networking sites

Everybody’s business: social networking

Using Facebook privacy settings

What NOT to do

Etiquette in the social media age