I came across an interesting article this morning about the Top 10 Social Sites for Finding a Job written by leading personal branding expert Dan Schawbel, who stresses the importance of actively engaging these sites - from the old guard of LinkedIn and Facebook to rookies like VisualCV and Ecademy - to help you build an online resume and network across various job posting platforms. It's a thorough list with insightful tips on how to best utilize the social web space to land your next gig.
But, like several people who posted comments, I can't help but wonder: Where is love for the staffing agency? Or more pointedly, does the growing prevalence and effectiveness of this job search strategy threaten to render the staffing industry obsolete? I mean, if you can go it alone with the help of the web, what do you need us for?
Obviously, I am biased here, but I truly believe that sites like these make the staffing agency that much more powerful, and here's why: While these sites and countless others like them are a great tool in your job search (principally to help you create and shape your ever-important "cyber self"), they still lack what is perhaps the most important cog in the wheel of job-landing, the human connection. Putting yourself out there on as many social networking sites as possible can increase your chances of finding a job, but it can't make a personal introduction or advocate for you to a potential employer.
That being said, I think that social networking sites and staffing agencies are two great things that go great together. While these sites make it a whole lot easier to create an online presence and connect with recruiters, they also provide recruiters with great tools for representing you to their clients.
Or does this just sound like I'm trying to keep us relevant when social networking sites are making us irrelevant?
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