I just attended a great meeting this morning in San Francisco on social networking. It’s an exciting area and though I’ve been playing with a lot of the tools, I often feel more baffled than brilliant in this exploration.
Social networking is helping people find jobs right now!
The KIT List is actually an early social network since it was started with my email list of friends at Silicon Graphics. The growth just by word of mouth to 60,000 people is a testament to the power of friends helping friends.
I am launching a survey of the entire KIT List community of job seekers, employers and recruiters to find the best ways to use social networking in your job search and career advancement.
But first, I want to find out from you the kinds of questions that would make the survey most helpful to you. This will tap the brain trust of our KIT List community, and the results will be shared so we can all accelerate our learning curve on social networking
What questions are most important to you?
Let me know the kinds of questions you want to pose to the entire KIT List regarding social networking for job search and career development.
I’ll include the most compelling as well as the most popular questions in the upcoming survey.
Let’s put the power of social networking to work in helping each other!
IMPORTANT: Please use the Comments Section of the KIT List blog to submit your questions (please do not email me directly, thanks!).
Sue Connelly's KIT List Blog 
Wow, my mind is blown… very good article.
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thanks a lot folks…
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love this site,passed my research because of this site.
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what percentage of your friends do you think are friends with each other on Facebook?
–comparing this with areFriends() from Facebook API, this can tell you 2 things:
1: how good is the person at estimating social info- this gives some idea on how well they know the space
2: how “cliqued” is the person –for example, “none” would be a scary number.
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“Have you ever met (in person) a new acquaintance made through your social network?”
I offer this question because I have, and I think this delivers the value of the “virtual” aspect into the tangible world thereby strengthening networking and opportunity.
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1. Gender:
Male Female
2. Age Group:
15-19 20-24 25-29 30+
3. Profession:
Student Employed Part Time Employed Full Time Unemployed
4. Do you think Social Networking is an important part of Social Life?
Yes No
5. Are you a member of a Social Networking Site?
Yes No
6. If ‘Yes’ above, how many?
1 2-5 5+
7. Which Social Networking Site do you use most often?
Facebook My-Space Other
8. On Average, how much time do you spend daily on a Social Networking Site?
Less than 10 10-29 30-59 60+
9. How many Contacts/Friends do you have on the Social Networking Site?
Less than 10 10-29 30-59 60+
10. Roughly, how long have you been using Social Networking Sites?
1 – 6 months 6 months to a year 1 – 2 years 2 – 3 years 3 years+
11. Please indicate what information you include on your Social Networking Sites profile. You may select more than one option:
Email address Home town or city Mobile numbers Photographs of yourself Photographs of others
Real name Relationship status Religious Views Birthday Activities/Hobbies
12. Would you accept strangers who added you as friends on Social Networking Sites?
Yes No
13. Do you actually keep in contact with these friends on a regular basis?
Yes Almost No No
14. How do you access your Social Network Account?
Mobile Computer
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You all might be interested in a complimentary teleseminar called
“Efficiently using Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter for Business Networking and Outreach”:
http://Social.GeorgeKao.com
Sue,
Just discovered KITlist today – looking forward to joining and adding value to the community. Thank you so much for setting it up and continuing to provide leadership. I have been gathering questions like you need – so let me know if you want me to send them to you. I can be contacted via the URL in my name above.
Warmly,
George
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At the Anita Borg Institute I employ a number of Web 2.0 tools (including LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter) to help technical women (and our supporters) network professionally and connect with resources and opportunities. Currently the most popular by far — mostly due to the economy — is our LinkedIn group but that could change at any time. An easy way for KIT-list to step into social networking would be to create a KIT-list group on a site people are already using that already has relevant features. I would definitely ask which sites people are already using for job search and hiring. I would also ask where people would like to have such a group, e.g., would you join a KIT-list group on LinkedIn? Plaxo? etc. Where would you most like to see KIT-list?
I’ve bookmarked some blogs, articles, etc. on job hunting using social networks at http://delicious.com/anitaborginstitute/jobsearch+socialnetworking that might be useful in your planning.
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Thanks, Sue. Some survey questions to consider…..
1. If you participate on the general SN sites for job search (e.g., LinkedIn, Facebook, Ryze, Plaxo), do you work a specific strategy?
2. Do you participate on any narrower, more focused SN sites (industry-specific or special interest)?
3. Consultants – do you use social networking for business development — to showcase expertise, generate leads, get referrals?
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Q: Which Social Networking/Web 2.0 tools have you found most effective in gaining measurable traction in your job search?
Q: How did you leverage these tools to successfully achieve that traction and what results did you experience?
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I am currently a job seeker. By profession, I am a recruiter.
The questions I have for a survey regarding social networks are:
1. What SN are you currently using?
2. There are so many places online and within SN’s, how do you comb through all the information?
3. Do you use Twitter? How?
Employers/Recruiters:
4. What do you look for when searching for candidates on a SN?
5. Have you hired anyone through the use of SNing?
6. If sourcing from SNs, which one or rank top three?
Active and “passive” candidates:
7. Have you been contacted through a SN regarding legitimate employment opportunities?
8. How far did the recruitment process go? Phone/in person interview, job offer, employment?
9. Which SN site were you approached on regarding legitimate employment or rank top three?
10. Have you approached anyone in a target company/organization that you were interested in learning more about or as a possible employment opportunity?
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Is there a way to integrate some of these resources a bit better. Have you considered partnering in any way? I personally enjoy the simplicity of kitlist for correct, easy, job offerings, but also conduct business networking on linked in and also engage with webguild for up to date information and additional job postings.
I guess it would depend on if you are planning to grow an interactive area with discussion forums or just rely on your blogs.
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Social Networking tools are still pretty immature. Does it make any sense for KIT-List to create its own social network or should it determine how best to be an adjunct to other social networks (Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn)?
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I would want to understand the demographics in terms of employment fields associated with the different SN tools. For example, do marketers favor a SN site over engineers etc? With so many to choose from I want to know where to find like minded individuals.
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Here are a couple:
It appears the vast majority of people I am connected to on LinkedIn are 3 degrees away. THis is 1 degree too far and it is not practical for a jobseeker to try to connect with a 3 degree person. Do you agree?
What are some Best Practice success stories that people have had trying to connect on LinkedIn with hiring manager ? [i.e. sending e-mails via the LinkedIn tool ‘InMail’]
Do people in your immediate social network that are currently employed at Tier 1 employers [ Apple, Cisco, etc.] feel besieged in the current economy by job seekers that are trying to leverage them?
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Sue: If your goal is to use social networking in a way that makes a substantive difference for KITList users, I believe it is important to ask people to provide information about any tangible, verifiable, job-related outcomes that they have achieved using social networking. Like:
– Have you learned about positions for which you were qualified through the use of SN? If so, how many positions? What SN (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc.)?
– Have you obtained a referral that definitely supported your job search through SN? If so, how did it support your search?
– Have you obtained a job through SN? If so, how did SN specifically contribute to obtaining that job?
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Here are a few questions regarding career focused social networking.
(rate on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being not very, and 5 being very)
1) How important is the ability for group members to share job interviewing and resume writing tips?
2) How important is it for you to share your membership profile?
3) How important is it for you to engage with other members through online discussions groups?
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How about:
1. Which Social networking sites do you belong to?
2. Which do you find yourself spending the most time?
3. Have you ever either contacted or been contacted by someone on your social network of choice regarding a job?
4. How active are you on your network? Once a day? Once a week?
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How will you use Kit-List social networking?
A. Make new friends
B. Maintain Contact with old friends
C. Business Contacts
D. Job hunting Contacts
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The questions I have while interviewing are:
Since I’m “older” than most of the job seekers, the question of what am I looking for in my next position comes up: I usually try some light answer, like “I want some place that I can really contribute”, or if lighter still, “I want someplace that I can retire from”.
What is an employer really looking for with such a question?
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