Why Facebook Needs to Be a Component of Your Job Search

By Joshua Waldman from Job Searching with Social Media For Dummies

Because Facebook has become the largest social network in the world, Facebook can no longer be ignored in your job search. Companies exploit the rich profiles of Facebook users to market their products and services. And companies looking for talent use Facebook to show off how cool they are to work for.

Following are the reasons Facebook is so essential when you’re looking for a job in today’s social media–focused world, from the most important reason to the least important one:

Facebook is the size of a large country. No exaggeration here. Facebook has more users than the United States has citizens. The number of interconnections, relationships, and interactions between people in the network are infinitely complex, which presents a wonderful opportunity to meet new connections who may be helpful. It also means that your personal brand can be exposed to more people and accelerate your career.
Potential employers are using Facebook to check you out. Hiring managers are using Facebook to check out who you are outside of work — for example, does the person described in your profile match up with the person described in your résumé? They’re also trying to decipher whether you’d be a good fit for their company, personality-wise.

Not being present on Facebook can raise red flags and cause hiring managers to ask questions, such as “What is he hiding?” or “Does she really have no social life?”
You can use Facebook to find out more about a company. Just as companies can get the inside scoop on you and your personality by looking at your Facebook profile, so too can you discover the facts about and vibe of a company by “liking” its Facebook Page — a public Facebook account designed for organizations to interact with customers who “like” them.

You can also conduct your research about the company from its Page because all the links to the company’s blogs and websites are right there, as well as information about benefits, culture, and other important HR information.

Not only can you find out a lot about the personality of organizations based on what they post and how they interact with consumers online, but you can also (in some cases) find out about job opportunities. Many companies today are using their Facebook Pages to attract new talent and interact with possible job candidates.

So if you haven’t “liked” your target company’s Page yet, your competition may have already beaten you to it. Find out whether your target company has a Page by simply entering its name into the search bar at the top of your Facebook account. If a page pops up, navigate to it and click on the Like button.