Social Media & The Job Search: Do I HAVE to Use It?

“Do I really have to use social media in my job search?” I hear this question sometimes when
speaking with clients who are seeking a job or career change. Some people would
immediately reply, “YES – you must be on social networks in order to find a good job.” But
others might say “NO – you don’t need to be there; there are other ways.”

I have been in the executive search and consultancy business for almost twenty years. It is
quite a long time and I do remember how the world looked when Mark Zuckerberg was a
teenager and the world didn’t know anything about Facebook or LinkedIn or … any of them.
Printed advertisements, resumes and CV’s on paper, sent by regular mail, hard copy yellow
pages on the desk and mobile phones with only a little intelligence but heavy batteries. That
was the world we lived in. And yet people were able to build their networks, find and change
jobs, or establish new companies successfully. Even Facebook and Google started in that
kind of environment.

Despite what I have just written I support all candidates in using social networks. Why?

The primary reason is that social networks such as LinkedIn are valuable tools that can lead a
job seeker through the process of building and maintaining their personal network of
contacts. LinkedIn is a resource that can motivate you to re-establish contacts once lost,
form additional connections, and discover new employment opportunities. All this is done in
a friendly, fully digital way.

Are there any risks involved? Yes, there are risks involved, as with any activity done on the
Internet, but for most situations you will find the solution by adjusting your user settings. I
believe that the benefits of using social media are higher than potential risks.

Since I joined the industry in 1999 the world has moved to the Internet. There are many
industries which have been fully digitalized since, and there are industries which have
emerged only in the past few years; it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to get in touch
with them in any other way than through social media. Although there are still industries
and jobs for which using social media is not necessary, for most of us, social media is a must-
have when searching for a new job.

Leo Dittmann is Dittmann Consulting’s Managing Director and Office Manager of Prague. Leo has fifteen years of experience in staff selection and counseling, and is actively working with various psycho-diagnostic tools. Within prestigious international networks of HR consultants, he participates in projects in the Czech Republic and abroad.