1234567890-=qwertyuiop[]\asdfghjkl;’zxcvbnm,./!@#$%^&*()_+QWERTYUIOP{}|ASDFGHJKL:”ZXCVBNM<>?Sunday, December 18, 2011 | Connecticut Media Group | 1

To place an ad: 800-542-2517 e-mail: classifieds@ctpost.com

Tweet Your Way to a New Career in 2012

By MEG BARONE

To place an ad: 800-542-2517 I email: classifi eds@ctpost.com

Find TheRight Job!

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MONDAY, MARCH 26Norwalk Inn & Conference Ctr.

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Career Fairs

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To register online, go to: www.southernctjobs.com/careerfair

A woman walked into a Marshalls store in Fairfi eld County last week seemingly desperate for employ-ment. In her frustration she barged right behind the

customer service desk to ask a manager if there were any job openings.

She didn’t win any points with her aggressive behavior. Workers had to ask her to step back. Miffed, she left the store before a manager had the chance to tell her that holi-day hiring was over weeks ago but that the store might be adding to its employee roster in March.

The in-person attempt, especially a cold call like that one, is not really appreciated by prospective employers these days, although there are a few exceptions. In this age of high technology most businesses don’t even accept paper resumes anymore, although a Marshalls manager was pre-pared to give the woman an application then and there. However, many businesses today insist on electronic sub-missions of applications and resumes.

The Internet can seem impersonal, and yet it can be an invaluable tool in job search. Think in terms of Monster.com, its wealth of job listings and countless articles offer-ing job search advice. A recent article by Monster Contrib-uting Writer Margot Carmichael Lester offers Eight Tips for Job Hunting during the Recession. Other recent articles include The Layoff Survival Kit and Bouncing Back after Being Laid Off.

Two social media experts say job seekers should not over-look other technological tools to use to their benefi t in the search process. Erik Granato and Bill DeRosa, both of Ox-ford, were so convinced of the power of social media plat-forms that they created their own company around them in October 2010. Today, Talking Finger is a successful, fast-growing, multi-faceted marketing company that uti-lizes platforms like Facebook and Twitter to collect data, tailor marketing plans for each of its individual and corpo-rate clients in the U.S. and Canada, and then implement marketing and advertising strategies for those clients.

Since job search requires the seekers to market themselves, in effect trying to get a company executive or human re-sources manager to “purchase” their product, Granato and DeRosa believe social media can help immeasurably.

“You yourself are an entity. You have to brand yourself and get information out there and spread the word about your-self just like a company has to in this day and age. To be found (in a sea of candidates) and to be thought of as an expert will help you land that job,” DeRosa said.

Social media platforms can provide job seekers with valu-able information about the company at which they would like to work. It can also broadcast their skills to prospec-tive employers. And the ability to use social media should be one of those skills, particularly for anyone seeking em-ployment in the fi elds of marketing, advertising, public re-lations or sales. “You’ve got to know how to use Linked In if you are in sales,” DeRosa said.

But social media platforms can contain pitfalls too. Granato and DeRosa have some valuable advice about how to use social media for job search that they hope will help the unemployed fi nd the job of their dreams in the New Year.

Granato recommends using the Internet and social media – Facebook, Twitter, and Linked In, to research the compa-ny you’d like to work for. “It’s a great way for a person who is seeking out a job to understand that company, its culture and language, in ways you couldn’t even two, three years ago. By doing that you can see if you want to work for that company but more importantly, if you do get the inter-

view, you are able to speak the language of the company,” Granato said. That will give you an edge over the candi-date who has not done his or her homework, he said.

Granato said you should get recommendations from co-workers, clients and other associates and place them on your platforms. “It validates you on your employment his-tory,” he said. Showcase the books you read related to

your intended profession as well because it shows your interest in continuing education.

Granato also recommends following important people from the company on Twitter. “Follow the C-level people, the CEO, the CFO, and re-tweet some of the things that they say,” Granato said. Doing so brings awareness to yourself because that person receives an alert that ‘so-and-so re-tweeted your Tweet,’ he said.

“Do the same thing on Linked In. Try to make connections with them. Follow them in groups. Comment on things they comment on. Let them get to know you,” DeRosa said.

Granato said you can even take it to another level. “Send them a direct message. Connect virtually with that person. On Linked In, join groups that a particular company is speaking in and communicate your expertise about that particular industry inside that group,” he said.

Such action positions you as a “thought leader” DeRosa said. People will come to respect your opinion, so when you do go for the job they already know that you are familiar with that industry or business. “You’re setting yourself up as an expert already … Brand yourself as an authority,” he said.

“Be the authority and things will happen,” Granato said.

Additionally, DeRosa said, you should optimize your Linked In profi le. “Add sections to your profi le such as skills and specialties.” They help you position yourself for a job tremendously, he said. As prospective employers scour so-cial media platforms for potential team members your skills might stand out and lead them to think you’re just the per-

son they need. Don’t forget about Google Plus, he said.

And then there is You Tube. Granato said graphic designers, art-ists, singers and other performers can use that social media in a demonstrable way. Rather than just saying what you’re capable of doing on a resume you can actually show what you can do.“You Tube is a place where you can showcase your tal-ent, depending on what you do. It’s going to work well

for some people and not work well for others,” he said. In fact, Justin Bieber was discovered on You Tube, and the popular summer TV show America’s Got Talent, selects some of its acts via You Tube.

Granato and DeRosa recommend doing a search of yourself now and then on Google, as well as Bing and Yahoo to see what information about you is in the pub-lic domain, and then mitigate any negative exposures that may be seen by a potential employer. DeRosa said extend the search to any username you might have used on bulletin boards.

That leads to some of the pitfalls of social media in your job search. The resume that you had fi ve-plus years ago is no longer the only piece of information that human resource agencies and managers are looking at to determine whether you should even get a phone call for an interview, let along get hired. They are “data-mining” on social media. So beaware of what information is available about you.

Before sending out resumes and job applications “Clean up all of your social media profi les so that there is no em-barrassing language, no embarrassing photos, no incor-rect spellings,” Granato said.

“If your profi le is clean and you don’t have a lot of con-cerns about it, and someone is out to search for you, they will see a lot of positive information that you yourself have branded yourself with on those fi rst couple of pages of search engine results,” Granato said.

“Do not neglect social media. Embrace it and know howto use it,” Granato said.