Social media is fast becoming a useful talent spotting tool for recruitment agencies and hiring managers. In today’s climate it is more important than ever before that candidates use all the tools they can to find that dream job.

One important tool is social media. By using social media you can build your personal brand and enhance your professional reputation. Social media can also help bring you closer to finding that perfect job by helping you to establish a relationship with recruitment agencies and potential employers. After all, sometimes, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.

LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/) is a business networking site. It was launched in May 2003 and had 300 users. Since then it has seen unprecedented growth with 50,000,000 In October 2009, with 1,400 new users each day. Recruiters love LinkedIn because it is a great place to source candidates with no cost! Here are a few handy hints:

- In order to fully utilize LinkedIn and to ensure that you are as visible as possible to potential recruiters or employers, it is essential that you have a complete profile and that your profile incorporates a number of keywords relevant to your industry.

- It is also advisable to get at least one recommendation from a colleague or friend, this effectively highlights your strengths to recruiters.

- To increase your visibility further, it is a good idea to import all your contacts from your Outlook or Gmail account, this will help you build and grow your existing network, opening the doors for more opportunities to come your way.

- Treat your profile as your online CV.

- You may want to think about upgrading to a premium account so as your able to contact recruiters directly.

- You can easily conduct job searches on LinkedIn focusing on the keywords that are relevant to you.

- Update your status to tell the world that you are looking for a new job.

- Join groups related to your industry – many of them have jobs boards.

- Join recruiters groups on LinkedIn. This will ensure you maintain contact. Join CK Healthcare’s LinkedIn group at: http://tiny.cc/UHJ4D

Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/) is a social networking site that was launched in 2004. By mid 2004 half of Havard University students were members. There are 250,000,000 users per months, and 100,000,000 users per day.

Most people use Facebook as a way of keeping in contact with family and friends, however, it is also a useful networking and job hunting tool.

- Become a ‘fan’ of your recruitment agency’s group – they will regularly update their group with new job openings and related industry news. This will also help you maintain regular contact with your agency.

- Ensure your profile is complete and that it reads in a similar way to a CV, this will make it more likely that you will be found in recruiters searches.

- Review your photo’s – Make sure your profile picture is professional and delete all drunken or stupid photo’s!

- Use the search facility search for recruitment company’s or company’s you are interested in working for.

- Join relevant groups – here you will find like-minded people who will be happy to engage with you and possibly share information about job openings with you. It is also a good idea to contribute to discussions, this a is a good way to show off your expertise to influential people.

Twitter (http://twitter.com/) is another social networking site which has an estimated 55,000,000 visitors per month. You can send 140 character messages to all those who are following you and receive updates from all those that you are following.

Twitter is a great medium for candidates to connect directly with recruiters.  By following your recruiter’s updates you will receive regular updates of jobs you may be interested in. Not only this, but by ‘tweeting’ indicating that you are on the lookout for another role, you are more likely to have recruiters coming to your rescue with suitable roles.

- Another great feature of Twitter is TwitterJobSearch (http://www.twitterjobsearch.com/).

- Follow CK Healthcare on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ckhealthcare

Another great way to promote yourself and your skills is to construct a video CV using YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/) In terms of content; it is worthwhile highlighting your main strengths and the value you can provide to a given position. Some other pointers for an effective video are as follows:

- Keep it fairly short – approximately 40-55 seconds is perfect

- Keep eye contact with the camera

- Speak slowly and clearly and not too quietly

- Stand centrally in the frame

- Good lighting

- Stand close to the camera, make sure your upper half is visible

 The great thing about recording a video resume is that not many people have done it; this can differentiate you from your competition.

 Some recruitment agencies, such as CK Healthcare, use YouTube as a way to broadcast their current vacancies and to connect in a more personable way to prospective candidates.