…Use social networking to optimize your career

By Levi Sumagaysay

Social networking sites aren’t just for finding long lost classmates and friends.  They can be incredibly useful to your professional life too. Here are three fast ways to optimize your career cred. 

1. Strengthen professional ties Social networking sites can provide helpful background info. If you know a little bit about a colleague, for example, you might be able to tailor how you approach him or her regarding work matters. If it’s hard for you to remember names, pair names with faces, thanks to photos accompanying profiles on LinkedIn, Facebook or Plaxo. Write sincere, detailed recommendations of colleagues on LinkedIn, and they might just reciprocate. But don’t solicit recommendations from someone who doesn’t really know your work -- it’s awkward and a potential drawback if they write something half-hearted. Don’t play the numbers game. Having a couple hundred “friends” or contacts doesn’t matter if they don’t know who you are and vice versa.

2. Put your best foot forward Post your work, or link to it, on your Facebook wall. You might get a good job lead. Recruiters routinely check sites such as LinkedIn or Facebook. “I’ve found LinkedIn to be a great overall source in getting connected with people,” says Raquel Fortier, a senior staffing manager at HR Solutions in Walnut Creek, Calif., who trolls LinkedIn at least once a week. She uses the recommendations feature to sell candidates to her clients. “It’s like having your own commercials online,” Fortier says. Vicel Meyer, a recruiter with NORCAL Mutual in San Francisco, usually gives more weight to recommendations from people’s managers, although well-written ones by colleagues can be just as valuable. Join an industry-specific networking site. If you’re a doctor, there’s iMedExchange. If you’re a lawyer, there’s Legal OnRamp. If you work in other fields, you might find like-minded people on social networking sites such as Ning or Tribe, which allow people to build their own groups.

3. Be conservative Some sites, such as PeekYou, gather information from social networking sites, so people with a professional interest in you can easily find your personal profiles. In some cases, the first impression someone gets of you may come from your online profile. Meyer advises against including your photo on LinkedIn or sites that you use for professional purposes. “Pictures can be used to discriminate against you based on age, ethnicity, gender or just the way you look,” she says. She also advises writing your LinkedIn profile like a resume. “If you’re using it to network for your career, it should be professional.”

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