How To Use Social Media Sites To Land An Internship

Internship seekers frequently use social networking sites to make professional connections and search for employment opportunities, among other things. But some don't know that employers are reciprocating utilizing social media to vet prospective job candidates.

Plenty of companies are using popular social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to search for employees. It's important that internship seeker keep this in mind as they continue to establish their online footprint.

To learn more about how job seekers-students in particular-are using social media sites for job search, Internships.com conducted a survey of 524 people self-identified as undergraduates 58%, grad student 22% and non-students 20%.

The survey found that 79% of respondents are comfortable with employers reaching out to them directly through social media for job and internship opportunities.

Those respondents are most likely comfortable being approached online because they've cleaned up their pages and created professional profiles.

Another way to prepare your pages and profiles for recruitment. Treat them as a resume and include information about your education, work experience, skills and interests. Employers will be impressed, and much more likely to contact you, if you exhibit a clean, professional online presence.

The survey also revealed that 47% of respondents said they've sent personal Facebook messages to at least ten friends directly asking for help finding internship opportunities, and 34% posted a general note on their Facebook wall asking for help.

If any of your friends or family know current or former employees at the companies you're interested in, ask for an introduction. Then friend, follow or connect with those contacts on the popular social media sites.

It turns out the most popular social media platforms being used for social recruiting are LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter-but it's their apps that have been-and are continuing to be-develop to make social recruiting an easier task to undertake.

CareerAmp is one Facebook app that helps users manage the professional connections they can make through their friends and friends-of-friends. With a few clicks users can tap directly into their network of family and friends to figure out if they have relevant professional connections.

There are others, too, that may help optimize your social recruitment experience-so don't limit yourself to the standard programs or formats. Always be on the lookout for new, innovative programs and apps.

Internships.com says recruiters report that they hire 1 in 10 personal referrals as compared to 1 in 219 candidates they find through online job boards. With that said, internship seekers should be making a diligent effort to connect with employers and other business contacts on social networking sites. Another way to get internships place use LinkedIn student job portal

your guide to land an internship source "How to use social media sites to land an internship" at : http://blogs.forbes.com/jacquelynsmith/2011/06/17/how-to-use-social-media-sites-to-land-an-internship-3/