“A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.”
— Erin Majors
We all know it’s tough out there, and many in our sisterhood of technical women are either looking for work or wisely preparing for it, just in case. In my last blog post I described some of the social networks the Anita Borg Institute uses to help technical women connect with each other and with resources and opportunities. I promised some pointers on making the most of these networks, both to support yourself and to support your sisters. Happily, the same actions often benefit both (and our supportive brothers as well!).
Support yourself
- Expect prospective employers to look you up online. Google yourself occasionally to make sure you know what they will find.
- Create a profile that aligns with your personal brand, and keep it up to date.
- Use your profile and status updates to highlight your accomplishments.
- Let people know what you’re looking for and how they can help you.
- Answer discussion questions to help others, demonstrate and share your knowledge and experience, and brand yourself as someone who helps people solve their problems.
- Actively seek interesting people you can learn from and follow them (e.g. on Twitter) or invite them to connect (e.g. on LinkedIn and Facebook).
- Protect your security and privacy. You are not obligated to connect with anyone. Feel free to decline or ignore an invitation to connect that makes you uncomfortable.
- Learn to use the privacy settings of your online communities to control who can see what. That said, make sure that what you’re posting is in alignment with the professional image you want to present.
Support your sisters
- Use your experience and expertise to answer questions. This helps those seeking information and (see above) helps to establish your brand.
- Did you work with someone fabulous? Recommend her! Be specific about her expertise, the value she added to your project, or why she was a great boss. LinkedIn has a handy feature for these brief recommendations.
- Did someone post that she is looking for work? Point her to suitable positions and offer to help make introductions to your connections.
- Did someone write a great blog post or tweet? Share it! Post a comment in support!
- Did someone post about a major change (e.g., layoff, promotion)? Send a personal message of support or congratulations.
I’ve kept this fairly high level because there is a wealth of excellent advice online for those who want to more deeply explore social media for professional networking. I’ve bookmarked several articles for you on Delicious including several on job hunting with social networks.
What other tips can you share with your sisters on effective use of social networking in these challenging times? What other resources do you recommend?
March 8th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
When I was laid off, I immediately used my social media network in LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. All of these tools are great and if you dig deep into their tools, widgets and groups, it can be very beneficial. I sent a mass email in LinkedIn letting people know I am in the market, what I was looking for and asked if anyone could pass leads my way, one by one, I received emails for support, job leads and even had an introduction to a hiring manager for a particular position. Thanks for the post.
Rose Robinson
March 10th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
You’re most welcome, Rose! I thought your LinkedIn outreach was done with great class. I’d love to hear back from you again in the future when, after using social media and networking in your job search, you can share where it’s led and the lessons learned along the way.