Pros & Cons of Using Social Sites for Finding Jobs

Just like every other method of finding jobs, social sites have their pros and cons. In our opinion, the pros outweigh the cons. We still suggest that you give this page a good read, though.

This will allow you to weigh up whether using social sites is going to be right for you throughout your job hunt.

Pros of Social Sites for Job Hunting

Perhaps the major pro of using social sites to find jobs (although, this could also be a negative as we will cover shortly), is the fact that you can really showcase who the real you is.

Let’s face it, if you go to an interview then you are going to come across as ‘fake’. Even if you are incredibly sincere with what you are talking about, you still never show the real you. You can do that through social sites. You can show your interests and hobbies etc. It is fantastic.

Remember; you also have the ability to showcase your skills through social sites. We have lost count of the number of people who have managed to secure jobs in the design and game industries simply because they shared their talents with the world.

When you send in a resume to a potential employer, it is just another resume. You are not really going to be standing out from the crowd. In fact, there is a good chance that it will end up getting looked over no matter how appealing it is.

When it comes to making your social profile work for you, you can really make your own. If you put the effort in, then you can really stand out from the crowd. Basically, it is going to be a lot easier to find work.

The potential employers are there too.

One recent study found that around 92% of recruiters are using social sites to find suitable candidates for their jobs. If you are not active on these social sites, then there is a decent chance that you could miss the job of your dreams just because you didn’t sign up to a social job site.

We reckon that this is the last thing you want to have happen.

In addition to this, social sites, job or otherwise, make it easy for employers to find you. More employers than ever are now hopping on social sites, particularly job-based ones, throwing in a few keywords and hoping that the candidate of their dreams pops up.

That is right. If you are signed up to a social job site, or even a standard social media website, then there is a chance that somebody could come and find you. This really helps to save time.

You will find that many jobs are only ever getting posted on these social media sites nowadays too. This is because for the potential employer it is going to be a lot cheaper than taking out an advert in a newspaper.

This means that there may be sites that list jobs that you may not have seen otherwise.

Basically, if you are not using social sites to find jobs, then you could potentially be missing out on some of the best positions around.

Finally; if you use social media for job searching, then you will be able to reach a wider network. Somebody may not necessarily have the job for you at the moment, but they may know somebody that does.

This is why many people use LinkedIn for networking. If you use the site properly, then you can potentially forge connections that will last you a life time. This means that social networking is ideal for advancing up the career ladder.

Cons of Social Sites for Job Hunting

Perhaps the biggest con is the same as the first pro. When you use social sites to get a job, then you will be revealing who you really are. The potential employer is really going to dig through your social media.

This applies even if you are using dedicated job sites such as LinkedIn. The recruiter may use the information to hunt down your Facebook or Twitter. If they see something they do not like, then they will not hire you as it could really look bad on them if they did.

Remember; you are going to be a ‘representative’ of the company if you work there, so you really do need to ensure that you come off in the right way.

One person, Connor Riley, managed to secure a job at Cisco. She decided to put out these tweet shortly after nailing the interview:

Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work.

Guess what happened?

She lost the job offer.

This is just a case of the offer being made too. We have no doubt that others have lost their job due to the remarks made on social media, or even not even considered for the job due to social media.

The other disadvantage is that more people will have their eyes on these job offers.

In the past, jobs were really only listed in local newspapers unless they were a big position. They would get a few thousand eyes at the most with maybe a few dozen people interested in the position.

Nowadays, thousands of eyes will be on the position and hundreds of people could be interested in it. This means that the competition for that job will suddenly have got a lot higher.

If you stick to the jobs that you find only in local newspapers, then you may have a better chance of securing it, particularly if you have a lack of experience.

Obviously, the pros of using social sites for finding jobs really do outweigh the cons here.

Therefore, we do suggest that you give finding jobs online a bash. You never know you could make a fantastic profile today and score the job of your dreams in a week or two.