Looking for a nonprofit job? Use social media

Social media is all the rage right now; I love using LinkedIn to connect with my professional colleagues, Facebook to connect with my friends, and Twitter to stay up to date with the latest nonprofit news. But did you know you could use these sites to land your next job? I recently conducted a webinar through Opportunity Knocks about this topic and I'll be presenting on this subject at their upcoming conference.

Here are a few tips for using social media to get your next job:

• Using LinkedIn: There are many ways to use LinkedIn network to get a job. I’m a member of many nonprofit groups through LinkedIn that e-mail me job postings and other related topics about nonprofit careers. I’ve asked people in my LinkedIn network to introduce me to people in their LinkedIn network like an Executive Director at an organization I want to work for. Check out Guy Kawasaki’s post Ten ways to use LinkedIn to get a job where he shares other great tips for using LinkedIn to get a job.
  
  
• Using Facebook: I love using facebook and posting status updates about what I’m doing or about a new nonprofit career resource I found. Kathy Dodd used facebook to tell her network when she lost her job. In her post Using Social Media to Launch a Job Search Kathy created a facebook ad to get a new job.
  
  
• Using Twitter: You can use twitter as another way to build up your network and find a job. My two favorite resources on Twitter are Twollo and Twitter Packs. Twollo allows me to type in keywords (like nonprofit careers) and automatically connect with people on Twitter who “tweet” about that topic. Additionally, Twitter Packs allow me to follow a whole bunch of people that are Twittering about a certain topic I’m interested in. My favorite Twitter Packs are Nonprofit, Human Resources and Careers. Britt Bravo’s post 6 ways to Use the Web to Find a Job provides more tips about how to use Twitter to get a job. Here are a few nonprofit job sites on twitter: @idealist @cgcareers @execsearches @brazencareerist @jobsearching @dotorgjobs

Don’t have time to use all these social media sites? Then try using the Firefox web browser that provides free Add-ons for LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter so you can manage your social network all from the convenience of your browser.