Military Careers, Second Careers - Army Times

Social networking can lead to work

Jeff Dwoskin, an executive for marketing firm ePrize in Pleasant Ridge, Mich., uses the online social network Facebook mostly to connect with friends.

But it’s his MySpace page that Dwoskin has milked professionally for his side job as a stand-up comic.

“It makes me aware of things that are going on in the comedy community,” said Dwoskin, 37, of West Bloomfield, Mich. “And yes, I’ve gotten gigs from it.”

While the early buzz on social sites focused heavily on the dangers of sharing personal information online, such forums are helping professionals and companies network for business, career and job-search purposes. Employers are increasingly using networking sites to either seek or screen talent.

In a CareerBuilder survey of 1,150 hiring managers in 2006, 12 percent of respondents said they have used social networking sites to screen job candidates.

Pablo Malavenda, associate dean of students at Purdue University, said he prefers Facebook to MySpace and LinkedIn, a business-oriented social site, as a place to network and look for work.

Facebook, he said, is well organized and visually clean. It gives users the opportunity to post things about themselves such as the movies they watch, the books they read and quotes they find meaningful.

“If you realize that people are out there on Facebook, especially employers or grad school admissions, you have the ability to create a really dynamic and powerful image,” he said.

Malavenda calls MySpace — which has more than 100 million members compared with Facebook’s 48 million — the “Wild, Wild West” of networks. However, he said he understands its appeal and power because many entertainers got their start on it.

Joe Serwach, a University of Michigan spokesman, said he opened his Facebook account months ago after hearing a presentation about the site. At first he joined out of curiosity, but he said it has been a great way to network, particularly for business.

Serwach, 42, tested the site. He looked for old college friends on his school’s official alumni Web site and found 100 members. He went to Facebook and found 200.

“You click a button and you can e-mail everyone in the group,” he said. “I find it pretty useful, and I check it at least once a day.”

Steven Carter, an intern at ePrize, said Facebook has allowed him to get to know his work colleagues in a more in-depth way.

“I was looking at pictures on Facebook and found out that someone who I’ve worked with for a couple of months was really into photography,” said Carter, 21, an engineering student at Wayne State University. “It gave us something we can connect over.”

Carter also knows ePrize checked him out on Facebook before offering him a job — and that doesn’t bother him.

CareerBuilder is an example of a company that is taking advantage of networking sites. It is mining Facebook’s membership as a place to offer its services.

The online jobs site announced in August that it would offer job and internship matching applications on the Facebook platform, said Jennifer Sullivan, a spokeswoman for CareerBuilder.

CareerBuilder’s technology is able to scan a Facebook user’s profile for information such as school major, hometown and network and then matches the user with the most relevant jobs available in its 1.5 million-jobs database.

Tips to make social sites inviting to employers

CareerBuilder and Malavenda recommend the following to make your social site profile employer-friendly:

• Promote yourself.

Use your profile to showcase your creativity and contributions. Highlight achievements and awards, post things you’ve written or designed and include community or volunteer activities.

• Watch what you post.

Derogatory comments, risque photos, foul language and lewd jokes will be viewed as a reflection of your character. Also, avoid posting your beliefs about politics, religion and sexual orientation.

• Be discreet.

If your network offers the option, consider setting your profile to “private,” so that it is viewable only by friends of your choosing.