I’ve just finished helping out with a live forum The Guardian ran on how to use social media to find work.

The conversation covered a lot of ground: etiquette, examples of best practice, good tools to use, the perils of personal information and images, and at what point in careers people use social media to help find a job.

Here is a summary of some of the extracts that are relevant to PRs:

Use of LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook
“LinkedIn is a great little black book but for the purposes of getting a job it is like a digitised CV – and so the same pitfalls apply”
“It’s a case of ‘less is more’ when I have to assess dozens of job applications. Same applies to LinkedIn.”
” I cannot understand why people have long-winded four page CVs that go back to their sixth form paper round”
“If Twitter is like conversations in a pub, Plaxo is like shouting in a meat market.”

Should you have your own blog or web site?
“A blog focused on your profession can be a valuable tool. It can demonstrate what you know, how you think and what ideas you have.”
“I really don’t believe candidates need websites unless they are looking for freelance work.”
“..blogs…made more sense to me. They give you a better platform for displaying timely content relevant to the news cycle and expose you to a more current form of writing, plus as I said you can integrate your social media eg Twitter, YouTube (if a video or multimedia journalist) etc to show your variety.”
“Having your own web site purely so you get hired can make you look like a going commercial concern. Or a prat with an insufferable ego.”

Will what you put on Facebook make you look like a t*t to a potential employer?
“Good reputation practice is to have a consistent message, content and themes across all of the social networks and interaction points and to use them as a framework for a job or career plan of attack.”
“If you have Twitter or YouTube or LinkedIn account that is completely public, then don’t post anything you are not comfortable having out there for all to see.”
“If I were to start again I would have my work and personal social networks separate.”
“Don’t post anything publicly that you wouldn’t want your boss to see.”

Are younger people better at jobhunting using social media than more experienced people further into their careers?
“Every so often I notice people who do not have a LinkedIn page and say – WHY!!!!”
“I really do think this is a generational issue. I’d advocate free social media training for older jobseekers compulsory training for senior staff.”
“I ran a student work experience programme at the NUJ’s conference last year, reporting using blogs, Twitter, live-blogging, YouTube etc. The majority of the students were unfamiliar with some, if not all, of the media. Only a minority already had Twitter accounts.”

Should people also know how to use a phone to make calls?
“Sometimes there is no substitute for a phone call or a face to face meeting, and I agree people should not hide behind technology, particularly when they are evading a difficult issue.”
“In PR it’s all very well being able to write a potent email or an inspiring tweet, but if you can’t hold a conversation over the phone then I’m not interested in hiring you.”
“When all you had on your desk was a DOS computer with no internet connection, a phone and an ashtray, you inevitably had to do a lot more communication by phone. It was a more integral career tool.”