Power of social media: Using LinkedIn to find a job

I started my LinkedIn job push at the beginning of December. I'm taking bets I will have a job offer in one of my targeted fields by the end of January. And, even though I'm sending out job applications through more conventional routes such as Monster.com, I'm doubling down with anyone who wants to bet against me finding a job through my LinkedIn campaign. /whitehouse.gov image


Check out this powerful approach to using LinkedIn to wage a successful social media-driven job search. In less than two weeks: I've generated three great job opportunities, one of which I'm interviewing for next week; I've generated a dozen good job-hunting tips such as specialized job-listing Web sites that are not swamped with job applicants; I've generated several encouraging, even beautiful, comments from complete strangers in the fields that interest me; I've generated a productive, out-of-the-blue phone conversation with Senior VP at one of the companies I've targeted; and I've generated more than 15 people who have pledged to play an active networking and job-post-hunting role in my job search.

Easy seven-step program

1. Make sure your LinkedIn profile is set up with all the information potential employers would want to see in a resume.
2. Think fit: Target the field or fields that best fit your education and career background, as well as the geographic area where you want to work.
3. Targeting your desired geographic area as well as your field or fields of interest, boost your Connections to at least 200 people using the "People You Many Know" tool. This step will take at least a couple weeks, but bigger truly is better in this case.
4. Draft at least a couple versions of mini-cover letters to send to your Contacts via LinkedIn's email. I have had four versions of my mini-cover letter to target three fields. Tweak your versions to help avoid a form-letter vibe: personalize the versions sent to friends as well as current and former colleagues, and add some reference to a specialty of any employers that appeal to you strongly or that you know well. (The fields I'm targeting are journalism as well as health care and academic communications.)
5. Keep track of the Contacts you send mini-cover letters. I tracked each Contact query with name, employer and the mini-cover letter they received using a legal pad. But a spreadsheet such as Excel would have been more efficient. Update this list with the Contacts who reply to your mini-cover letters. Flag any responses that have generated job opportunities or job-hunting tips that require action such as sending out an application and resume.
6. Look for opportunities to broaden your social media job campaign. For example, within two minutes of this blog post going live on Blogger, it was also posted on Facebook, twitter and google+ to extend its reach to at least hundreds and potentially millions of people.
7. Then just work the market, sending out applications and resumes as a steady stream of job openings fall into your lap. Also seize any networking opportunities as they arise.