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Linkedin vs. Facebook

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We’ve received many questions on how Linkedin and Facebook can be used for networking and job search. Carol, Benton and a few recruiters chat about the real difference between Linkedin and Facebook.

 

Bonus: In this article are some essential tips directly from a recruiter on how companies search for new grads!

 

Q: I would like to know the real difference between Linkedin and Facebook, besides adding your resume to your profile page and only talking business. What is the REAL difference regarding the friends/contacts?

Carol: Linkedin is a dynamic site for professionals to network. So far I haven’t seen anything as powerful and far-reaching to find people and information that would help you start a network.

Up to this point Facebook has been used purely as a social networking tool, although they have introduced “Branch Out” in an attempt to allow social friends to transition their contacts to professional ones. So far it is not a serious rival to Linkedin.

In addition to Linkedin’s connection capability, it has a number of features that enable you to research and showcase your knowledge. In a sense, it allows you to market yourself if you wish to use it for that purpose. It also enables you to search for people and offers almost endless opportunities to join professional groups and discussions.

Benton and I have heard several recruiters say that Linkedin is the number one place they go to source candidates.

I would use Facebook to sharing anything social (comments, photos, memes, etc.). If you want to get into the territory of sharing your personal opinions on politics, religion and personal interests, go ahead. But be aware that employers are known to check Facebook pages prior to making employment decisions. That doesn’t mean immediate denial of a job because you have strong personal opinions but your chances may be reduced if you have comments or photos that suggest you have a lifestyle that makes you appear to be a less than dedicated employee. So as you transition from student to professional, proceed with caution when sharing on Facebook or any other social media.

Benton: The key to Linkedin is that it is a networking site and it is a great place to be findable if you build your profile correctly. I believe Linkedin is a great place to get information and a great place to start very carefully networking.  

Q: A friend advised me to add anyone I have ever met on Linkedin, but, I would have WAY more Linkedin contacts than Facebook friends. However, I feel weird adding mere acquaintances-- specifically owners and presidents of companies I've met.

Carol: I would not recommend you add everyone you’ve ever met on Linkedin. Save that for Facebook!

I would be far more discriminating and choose only people who you feel pertain to your professional interests – friends going into the same business, faculty and professionals in that field as well. You could expand to fields that are related to your field too, but Linkedin is not about quantity as much as it is about quality.

Lately, Linkedin has limited your ability to link with someone you don’t know. If you attempt to invite someone into your network, you will be asked how you know them. If you can’t establish that, Linkedin requires that the person you are trying to link to be notified before a link can be finalized.  

Benton: Remember, LinkedIn has two clear purposes. One...to build your professional brand and make yourself findable. And Two...to very carefully build your professional network. The key word here is “carefully”. Don’t include everyone you know, but do include anyone whom you believe might be a good contact to network your way into a job. A networking contact does not have to be someone who has a job, it can just as easily be someone who is connected to the professional world and may know someone who knows someone who would be interested in you as an employee.

Also…unless you establish a networking contact as a mentor, those individuals are not career counselors. They may be in a position to connect you with someone who will give you an opportunity for a job or career you are interested in. But they are not people who can help you choose a career. You will need to make it clear what careers you are interested in and what you bring to the game.

Carol: Good point about the difference between a contact and a counselor. Make it easy for contacts to help you – that is, know what you are looking for so they can help you find it. This may not mean that you come right out and ask, but if you “package” yourself on Linkedin so that it is clear to the reader what you are good at and what you are looking for, the people you are linked with can keep that in mind as they circulate their own networks. When the time is right, they might mention you to just the right person who can help you achieve your goal.

Q: How does the “recommendations” feature work on Linkedin? When should I write one? For whom do I write one? Should you mutually write them? What’s appropriate?

Carol: It is intimidating when you see someone else’s Linkedin profile and they have 20 recommendations under their name. But that doesn’t mean you should go pressuring all your connections to write you a recommendation.

I only agree to write a recommendation for someone when I feel I have enough knowledge about their professional performance and dealings. After all, anything I write puts my reputation on the line too.

I can easily tell when a recommendation is sincere and when it is just written as a reciprocal favor. Putting on my “recruiter” hat, I like to see a recommendation with substance, that is containing specifics about that person’s skills and how they applied to something they did. I want the recommendations that have substance on that person’s performance on the job, work ethic and teaming capability. Recommendations that say: “He’s a really great guy”, don’t go too far with me.

As for the recommendation feature, you can request anyone you are linked with to write a recommendation for you. Include in your request a compelling reason why this person’s recommendation is meaningful to you. It shows that you are genuine in your desire to increase your online professional image rather than going for the quantity card. Of course, if you can write a sincere recommendation for the person you are requesting one from, by all means, offer to write one for him/her.

Linkedin just introduced a cool new feature that gives those in your network the chance to endorse your skills listed at the bottom of your profile with just a click. This is very popular because of its ease of use. And it is effective for visitors of your profile to see, in a quick glance, your strengths and what people like about you.

Q: How do I interact with people I’ve never met? Is this acceptable etiquette? What should I write and not write?

Carol: If I know the person I am receiving an invitation from, I am fine with  receiving the standard Linkedin invite script that pops up when you click the "invite" button. 

When I receive an invitation to connect with someone I don’t know, I expect a short message explaining who that person is, why they want to connect with me and why it would be beneficial for us to be connected on Linkedin. If I don’t get that message, I don’t connect OR if I don’t detect a compelling reason to connect, I don’t connect.

Benton: The short message is key. It is your elevator speech telling them why they should link with you. You need to tell them briefly about you (although they can go to your LinkedIn page to find out). You need to tell them why you are linking with them...i.e. why they should help you. It can be for advice on careers (people often like to help others. It makes them feel all warm and fuzzy to think someone values their opinion). It can be to ask them to keep you in mind if they know anyone who might be interested in you as a possible employee.   However, this short message needs to present a COMPELLING reason for them to link with you - a perfect stranger. Some will. Some won’t.

Q: How can I use Linked to my advantage, besides just filling out a profile?

Carol: Join groups after you’ve investigated the details on Linkedin. When you search groups (Bar in upper right hand corner. Use the drop-down to choose groups.) you will find that Linkedin requires the initiator of the group to provide information about that group. Look for the location from which they are based, how many members they have, when they were initiated and who belongs.

There are so many groups to choose from. Some are initiated for the purpose of marketing individuals or businesses, so you may find them less beneficial since they are self serving. But many are associated with the professional organization in that field or they are hugely populated with high-powered, creative thinkers.

I have found many job postings on the specialized groups. So it pays to join groups that pertain directly to the areas you wish to find employment. There is a feature you can select when signing up to join a group that allows you to receive emails on activity in that group. These emails often contain a separate section labeled “jobs” making it easy to scroll down and get right to the job listings.

You can’t really make a mistake here, because if you don’t like what you are getting out of the group, you don’t have to remain a member. The main benefit is that you can stay current on trends and topics in that field as they are happening. And you can evaluate each comment as it relates to your interests.      

Benton: Recruiters love groups that support the positions they recruit for. You will find many of them posting recruiting needs on the group website. Many groups consider this a pain. I view it as an opportunity....for you.  

Q: How do I search for people and jobs, etc. I was advised to search for people with the job I wanted, but I don't really know what to do after that, besides "stalk" (as I see it) them on Google to try to find contact information, since you can't talk to them on linked in.

Carol: You could send them a well-thought-out, compelling invitation to link with you. True, you may offer less benefit to that person at this time, than they benefit you. (They have more power to give you a job right now). But most professionals respect a newbie in their field who is interested in learning with great manners and huge admiration for the more experienced pillars in their field. I guess I’m implying that a little flattery (not over the top) doesn’t hurt!

If you do score a connection with one of these folks what you hope to learn is who they are linked to, their professional history/journey, what groups and organizations they are participating in and what others value in them (view their recommendations).

Linkedin has a job listings feature as well. Take a look at the previous answer for more on how the “groups” handles job announcements.

Benton: Contacting someone once is o.k.. Attempting to contact them again if they do not reply is pestering them. Repeatedly contacting them is stalking them.   Of course, if they reply and you establish a LinkedIn dialogue, they are a “contact”. Chat away. But chat professionally and with a purpose. Spell check everything.

Q: One of our contacts in the recruitment world, Danny DeCiryan, weighs in on the Linkedin subject and offers general thoughts about successful networking. Danny has placed thousands in his long career:

Danny says: “The ability to effectively use social media tools is important in leveraging your career potential and in making strategic career moves. The key word here is “effective”. Most people do not know how to do that.” Danny shared two relevant quotes from Networking Great, Zig Ziglar on winning networking”

“If you go looking for a friend, you’re going to find they’re scarce. If you go out to be a friend, you’ll find them everywhere.” AND “You will get all you want in life, if you help enough other people get what they want.”

Danny continues: “Being a good networker means giving, sharing, helping, supporting others where you can…sending emails or Linkedin mails like ‘Hey, I saw this note and thought of you…’. 98% of the time people will reach out to me on Linkedin and follow up with a request for help finding a job.  

Danny stresses that having an accurate and updated profile on Linkedin at all times and synergized with the resume is very important.   He suggests every 3 to 6 months, review past projects and performance…who, what, when, where, why, how much, what results…The key is to keep it simple, 15 to 20 words or less. Include what you did, list accomplishments, challenges and results.

Another professional recruiter in our network weighs in on the subject of Linkedin, Facebook and how recruiters find candidates, especially new grads. Stephanie Reese, Recruitment Manager, North America for Siemens Enterprise Communications writes:  

The new grads we have most recently hired have been through college career sites. We post our jobs to the college and emails go out directly to students. If someone doesn’t have access to a college career site the next best place would be www.Indeed.com. Indeed scrapes corporate websites, blogs, government sites, and job boards to bring jobs to one central location. New grads can also create job agents to let them know when a new position has been posted. This ensures the new grad doesn’t miss out on a newly advertised job. Monster is losing market share daily. While many companies don’t purchase their job positions they do purchase licenses to search the database. I would also recommend a new grad add their resume to the Monster database.

I view Linkedin as more of a site for experienced resumes and passive job seekers. However, I just searched the jobs tab and there are over 2,500 active jobs posted as “entry level”.   So they are making strides to fill this niche.

Regarding New Grads and Linkedin: My advice to new grads is to create a Linkedin profile detailing what you are passionate about, including your career goals and accomplishments. Your profile should be personal and engaging. Don’t forget to include your resume.

Use the jobs feature to search and apply to jobs. For each position write a short paragraph explaining what excites you about the role and what skills you bring to the company.

Search for friend/family members who are on Linkedin and request to connect with them. As you send the request, explain that you are searching for a position and will they please keep you in mind if they hear of any career opportunities. If you know them well enough you can also ask them to write a recommendation for you that will appear on your profile.

Utilize the company search feature to do research on the companies that you are interested
in working for. You can find information related to their offering and their careers site gives insight about what it’s like to work for the company. Don’t forget to take advantage of the resources on the job tabs. There’s even a question and answer page.

Facebook is fun and a great way to stay in touch with classmates, family and friends and share photos of your family. There are even a few applications regarding job search. But Linkedin’s differentiator is that they are all about business networking. Linkedin is professional and career focused.

In closing:

Benton: Keep all information fresh. Be interesting. Differentiate yourself from everyone else. Be passionate. Don’t beg or show any desperation. Do your homework about a contact before you start a dialog. Don’t use “text-speak”. Make them want to know more about you. Make yourself special.

 

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