Willy Franzen, from One Day, One Job, “an insider’s guide to unique and exciting entry-level job and career opportunities for recent college graduates,” recently ran an experiment with new college grads to see if posting ads about their desire to work in certain companies (Disney, Sprint) or certain fields (publishing, entry-level) could propel their job searches to the next level.
Although none of the 5 new grads who participated in the experiment landed a job as a result of their ads, they did have some interesting results. Willy notes some key takeaways:
1. The most successful students were those who targeted a single company with a very specific ad that mentioned the company’s name in the text.
2. Targeting by location draws too many extraneous clicks and seems to have a low return on investment.
3. Spending more on ads leads to more responses.
4. This method is best suited for targeting larger employers with significant populations of Facebook users.
So, should everyone advertise their job search on Facebook? I don’t think so, but I think there is a lot of potential for expanding your network as a new or recent college grad. For a more senior person seeking an opportunity, I think it may border on seeming desperate!
Some other important points…
Consider this type of marketing as part of your networking plan. I believe the best way to approach this is to hope to make connections who may be willing to help you with your job hunt.
Spend some time sprucing up the site where potential connections will wind up when they click through your ad. If that site is your linkedin profile, optimize it before you set up a campaign. If that site is your blog, make sure the blog is up-to-date and current and would appeal to your target audience.
Willy also notes (and I agree) that sealing the deal is key in this strategy. Just because you have an ad and people click through to learn more about you doesn’t mean that you will get a job. Your follow-up and ability to demonstrate why you are a great networking link (and a great hire) depends on how you manage the follow-through.
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Keppie Careers - By Miriam Salpeter 