Professional Social Networking

To be perfectly honest with you, the only professional social networking site that I am currently signed up with is Linkedin. I am looking into others but; Linkedin so far seems to have the most people signed up in my field of Engineering. As I find others I will post them and if you have a favorite, let me know which ones.

Linkedin has several levels of memberships; the Basic “free”, Business for $24.95 per month, Business Plus $49.95 per month and Pro $499.95 per month. I have the Basic and am perfectly happy with this version. I have found and linked up with coworkers that I have not worked with in years. Many of them have found themselves in my position, years of experience and no job. These connections have sent me leads to other potential jobs however, most of these jobs are in the Silicon Valley area and I am not to the point that I am ready to move to California.

Aside from connecting with former coworker’s, on Linkedin you can post your resume under your profile (which can be searched by potential employers), what you are doing now “Looking for work”, where you are willing to work and what field you have experience in. Also, under you profile there is a place for recommendations and you can choose to accept or decline any recommendations that you receive.

The “Job Search” feature is very good and does not pull up a bunch of junk jobs that do not apply like some other job search sites do. If you do a city specific search and no results come back for that area, it will show you a list of other cities that do have jobs within your job search criteria.

Another one of my favorite features is the “Groups” you can search, sign up or start a group that is specific to your field of work. This is another great way to connect with possible new connections and jobs.

With mass layoff’s and today’s economy, it is a must to keep connected with your peers