Social Sites and Job Seekers

Everyone says if you want to find a job you have to network. It’s all about who you know. So potential job seekers network, they ask friends, family, friends of the family, all about potential job leads. This helps, a lot of times people can find out about jobs from their own personal network. However recently our networks, specifically our social networks have proved to be more expansive and have superseded our own personal networks.

Social media sites have proved to offer more than just ways to connect with lost friends, and tell the world what you’re doing. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Youtube all offer ways connect. These social media sites, Google included, all offer ways for job seekers to network potential job leads. Below are list of the most popular social media sites, and tips for job seekers.

The most popular for finding jobs is LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a social networking site for professionals. In addition to profiles, and recommendations, if offers a rather significant job search above the others. In addition employers can see your recommendations made by others. This could push your application to the top of the list.

Twitter is another popular site for finding jobs. Here you can follow and friend companies you are interested in working for. Companies often tweet jobs as they become available and offer links to apply. Then there are sites devoted to tweeting job such as @mediabistro, @jobangels, @jobshouts, @simplyhired, @startuphire.

Facebook is useful tool because over 500 million people have a profile on Facebook. You can use this to your advantage to let your friends know you are looking for a job, what your interested in. You can also search for companies on Facebook, and fan their pages. This may give your more information about the company. Many companies have also started posting job on the Facebook page. By becoming a fan you will be one of the first to know when new jobs are available.

If your tech savvy Youtube.com can be your friend. Tape a video resume and upload it to youtube. Keep it short, be personable, and tell potential employers your strengths, a little background, and what you can bring to their company. The target of a video resume is to get them interested in you and want to meet you in person. From there you can tell them your experience. Here are a couple of good video resumes

Employers are searching social networking sites for information on potential employees. When using social networking sites you want to keep a clear and consistent presence on these sites. Your personal and contact information should match on all sites. Keep all resumes current. Lastly be proactive. Tell friends, family, your social networks your looking for employment.

If you have the time check out mashable's top 10 list of social sites for finding a job.

How to find a job on your cellphone

As a recent graduate I am faced with the great task of finding a job. While I should have given more time to the process while I finishing my degree I didn’t. So here I am, fresh off a stint in graduate school, and a shiny new diploma making its way to the mail any day now. I need a job; preferably something in my field. With my background that could be anything: accounting, IT, television, production, social media, etc. I have a rather diverse work experience, but I want a job putting to use that brand new degree, that I hope is in the mail. My Master’s Degree is in Media Arts and Studies. This field opens up a whole new world of possible jobs. So how do I find these jobs? Well luckily there’s an app for that. It’s true I have almost never without my cellphone. So when I’m not in front of a computer, I have the “luxury” of being able to search for jobs right from my cell phone. Below is a list of popular apps that makes finding a job easier for job seekers.

Careerbuilder.com – Free – iPhone, Blackberry, Android

This app offers most of the key features of the Careerbuilder website. It gives the option of searching for jobs using keywords, salaries, and descriptions. If using the app on an iPhone it gives users the ability to search through GPS capability and search for jobs near the user.

Indeed.com – Free – iPhone, Blackberry, Android

The Indeed App, is a mere reflection of the its parent website Indeed.com. It allows users to search for jobs from company websites and job boards. It remembers your more recent searches, and even shows the newest jobs available since your last search.

Linked Up – Free- iPhone, Blackberry, Android

Want to apply to jobs right from your phone? This app allows you to do so. It does the standard of allowing you to search for jobs on company web sites by keyword, location, company, and category. You can save jobs to your Favorites and access them via browser or feedreader.

Linkedin – Free –iPhone, Blackberry

I’m Linked In even in my pocket. Ok bad job, but the app is really good. Users can post status updates, browse connections, and search for jobs. You can also save search history, and results. Users can have immediate access to their contacts and important updates such as when someone in their network posts a lead for a new open position. The Linkedin app provides many of the same features as the website, such as searching profiles, connecting with other users, and inviting people to Linkedin.

Now Hiring- .99- iPhone, Blackberry

Now Hiring searches for jobs in the US, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Spain, and India. This app also allows for a variety of search options like location, full time/part time/contract, and date posted. Now Hiring also lets users save job searches, email search results, and filter results by date, relevance, contract, internship, and location. It also features a continuous update, so only jobs that are still available are seen.

So there is my list of top mobile applications for job seekers. There are other applications specifically tailored to certain devices. But I found these to be most useful. Let me know what you think.

Apps for everyone

I saw a father buy a Iphone for six year old on Friday. He was six getting an Iphone, and I couldn’t help but wonder if this was the norm now. We live in the a world where almost everyone has cellphone of some kind. Whether it’s an Iphone, Blackberry, or the ever increasing Android market, smart phones are leading the way. As the market for smart phones increases so does the market for mobile applications.

As social media, and more web 2.0 applications make their way into the classroom, teachers and students are using these applications to make life easier.

Purdue University is testing HotSeat. Hot seat is a software application that uses Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, or SMS text to post messages during classes. By using these secondary sites, HotSeat allows students to use platforms they are already familiar with. These students are engaging in class discussions and lectures all from their mobile phone.

SCVNGR is a location based mobile app that creates a series of challenges for students as they learn. The application provides a real, and practical side to location based apps, for academic purposes on campus. SCVNGER is used as a community builder, and rewards students for participation. It is currently being used on over 350 campuses, including Boston University, Princeton, Ohio State, and Yale University. Students can participate on SCVNGR from their phones via iPhone/Android app or SMS. SCVNGR also integrates with Facebook Places so that students can connect with their Facebook friends.

Evernote: This app can help students take notes and organize web media easily. You can take a photo, a screenshot, a typed note or save a web page and Evernote will save it, index it and make it searchable for when you need it most. In short it lets you learn on the go, and keep track of the most interesting notes and media that students might need for a class project or presentation. Best of all, it works on PCs, Macs and other portable devices, so the content you save on one is available to view on all the rest. Everything you do on your phone and on your computer gets synchronized to your Evernote account on the Web, so your information is always available.

There's the quintessential apps such as dictionary.com that works on Iphone, and Blackberry.



There are even apps for kids. Apps to teach to how to read, tell time, and speak foreign languages. Which is prolly much to the delight of that 6 year old I meet.

There are tons of apps for students, even law students, and teachers. There is an app for just about everything.

Using Social Media enhance Education and Build Communites

It’s no secret social media is transforming the world. Facebook has more users then some small countries. It is also the first stop of the day for many people. Social media is now changing education, and how students are taught. There have been many critics of using social media in the classroom, calling it a distraction. Some schools have gone as far as to ban all social media sites on campuses.

Then there are schools that are embracing it, they are using sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and others to enhance classroom discussion, and engage discussion. These schools are embracing the community aspect of social media and building virtual classroom communities, for students, alumni, parents, and prospective students.

Tweeting the Classics

Steve Rayburn, a teacher at the University Laboratory High School, had his students read Dante’s Divine Comedy. His assignment called “ Twitter in Hell” required students to read the classic and write 140 character tweets describing each level in hell as if they were Dante writing to Beatrice. This assignment not only required that students read the assignments but also got them excited about it, and thinking about what they would post.

Virtual tutors

Marquette University is using Skype to teach Spanish to English-learning counterpart from South America and engages in frequent webcam chats with their digital pen-pal. Professor Janet Banhidi claims that by using Skype each student gets an authentic experience and has access to their own personal tutor.

Other schools are also embracing video conferencing for the use of virtual field trips. These virtual trips are giving students a chance to visit museums, zoos, and other distant places all from their classroom. Pennsylvania’s Mt. Lebanon School District was able to offer its middle school students a chance to see a volcano on the Caribbean island of Montserrat.

The Twitter Experiment

University of Texas at Dallas Professor Monica Rankin uses twitter in her history class lectures. Each year Rankin sets up twitter accounts for her 300 students and uses Twitter to encourage classroom participation. She assigns hashtags for each lecture which is included on the syllabus.

Stanford University

Stanford University uses its fan page on Facebook as the ultimate resource for students. Students have access to faculty and student projects and can get inspiration for their own projects there. The university has multiple pages, making it easy to locate information on the Green Library, hospital and a number of the colleges and departments. Stanford University also offers Facebook office hours, at which time faculty is available to answer questions on Facebook. Students (fans) post questions to the wall for a specific faculty member and that faculty member answers the questions during his/her assigned “office hours” via video or the wall. Stanford’s online office hours do not replace in person office hours at the university, but they do make it easier for students to find answers to questions quickly, without leaving their dorm room.

There are many tips available on how to incorporate social media into classrooms. Below is list of resources from some popular sources.

100 Inspiring ways to use social media in the classroom

4 Tips for Integrating Social Media