Forbes and the Power of LinkedIn for Job Seekers

Forbes and the Power of LinkedIn for Job Seekers Yet another article has come out in Forbes confirming the power of LinkedIn for job seekers. In LinkedIn Still Rules As The Top Job Search Technology Tool, Survey Says, Susan Adams reports on a new survey of North American job seekers, hiring managers, recruiters and HR executives. The word from Right Management, who conducted the survey, is that “almost 100% of job seekers use LinkedIn as their number one social media site for job hunting. Hiring managers also prefer Linked in over other sites by two to one.” Additional findings, some related to LinkedIn and some on other topics, include: 18% of job seekers say they have had video interviews in the past year â€" more than double the percent from a year ago. 45% of hiring managers say they expect video resumes to become more common. And 2/3 predict video interviews will spike in the next three years. 22% of job seekers use smartphone job search apps. Just 34% of job candidates report that they have a land line! (I seem to be living in the dark ages on this one). 94% of job seekers say they prefer LinkedIn as their chief job hunting tool, followed by Google+ then Twitter. Gen X candidates rank Facebook, Google+ and Twitter evenly. Hiring managers also rank LinkedIn first, followed by Facebook, then Google+, with Twitter in a distant fourth place. Social media sites like LinkedIn are the top way to search for candidates. Hiring managers and recruiters also still use company websites and employee referrals. In contrast, job boards and even recruiters themselves are on the decline, though 65% still use job boards. More than half use social media to post jobs and three quarters use it to find possible hires. Networking is still the best way to find success as a job seeker! This is one thing that doesn’t change over time. Don’t make the mistake of using technology to the exclusion of human contact. Ms. Adams emphasizes that “it’s essential to have an up-to-date LinkedIn profile so hiring managers and recruiters can find you. It can also be useful to hunt for openings using LinkedIn job listings or company sites. But it can … be more effective to figure out what you want to do and where you want to work and to find a way in before a job is listed.” Ms. Adams’ recommendation and mine: If you see a job listing for a position of interest, use your networks, both online and off, to make human contact. It’s not unusual for a job seeker to submit hundreds of applications without receiving a single response. So pick up the phone and set up a face-to-face meeting. Talk to people, make a human connection, and find out more about the position before you apply. LinkedIn is still the place to start with your job search. But it’s not the place to finish.