Employers are constantly looking for new ways to find employees, and online presence is important in today’s society

With a California unemployment rate of 11.3 percent and a Fresno unemployment rate of 15.7, which is almost twice the national unemployment rate, getting a job these days can be tough. People searching for a job are constantly looking for a way to get a head-up on other people also searching for a job.

One way to separate from other competitors is to have an online presence. In today’s digital age, having an online presence should be considered an absolute must. Social media is an excellent way to execute this objective.

“More and more job seekers are using social networking to enhance their preparation for interviews, gather an advantage over less-wired peers, and and even gain an edge with recruiters,” career experience counselor Aleta Wolfe said.

Employers can use social networking sites to gain background information on prospective employees. While this may sound like it gives the advantage to the employer, it can also be used to give the job-seeker an advantage as well.

Those seeking jobs can use the websites for the same thing that employers do. By researching about the company and the current management of the company, job-seekers can shift the advantage to themselves.

“By finding out about topics that will interest the recruiter, you may gain an upper hand in the interview process,” Wolfe said. “In addition, stronger connections with a potential employer can be made by talking about the clubs he or she belongs to and even the friends you may have in common ”” information that can be discovered on Facebook.”

Another useful social networking site is Twitter. On Twitter you can follow the company or follow employees of the company. This can be useful in finding out what is going on with the company and what events it may have coming up via its tweets. You can also use the tweets to have conversations you may not have been able to have without Twitter by talking about pictures and links to posted articles.

The most useful social networking site when it comes to looking for a job is LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a professional social networking site specifically designed for those seeking employment and recruiters.

“By using the alumni connections available through LinkedIn you can gain insight into potential employers,” Wolfe said. “You can have a conversations with alumni via LinkedIn that you wouldn’t have in an interview such as, ‘Do you like the company?’ or ‘Can you negotiate salary?'”

LinkedIn also has groups that members can join where they can have conversations with people who are in their same field of employment to gain tips on being successful or just learning something they didn’t know.

LinkedIn’s primary use however is that its profile feature essentially acts as the user’s online resume. Users can post their resume to their profile, as well as a link to their person website, blog and online portfolio.

Wolfe said, almost 40 percent of HR managers predict resumes will soon be replaced by social networking profiles. Wolfe’s advice for those utilizing social networking sites are:

Ӣ Be aware of what other people can see on your page. Recruiters use these sites or ask their colleagues to do searches on candidates.

Ӣ Determine access intentionally.

”¢ Set a standard. If anything appears on your page that you wouldn’t want an interviewer to see, remove offending content.

This column is the first in a series of columns that will appear in The Collegian in coming issues.