Get that job

• Putting together your showreel
• Tips for making a showreel
• How to succeed in a group interview
• Top 10 group interview dos and don'ts
• Nailing a phone interview
• Telephone interview dos and don'ts
• How to resign gracefully
• Dos and don'ts of leaving
• Facebook your way to a fabulous career
• Writing a resume for an executive position
• Cover emails: what you should know!
• How to Write a KILLER Resume
• Resume writing tips
• General sample resume
• General sample cover letter
• Resume writing tips for teens
• Sample 'my first resume'
• Sample 'my first cover letter'
• Romancing your job
• Top 10 interview dos and don'ts
• Tricky interview questions
• Where do you see yourself in five years?
• What’s your biggest weakness?
• Why did you leave your last job?
• How do you handle criticism?
• Nail that interview
• Interview tips

Online networking is the new-age way to maintain contact with friends, find dates and while away the hours. Now ‘Generation Facebook’ is beginning to use it as a means of finding not just a real job, but an unreal job.

So, where is the best place to park your cyberself if you want to nab the job that is tailor-made for you?

MySpace
If you are looking for the antithesis of ‘professional’ then MySpace would be getting very warm. But the suit, tie and shoe-polish game isn’t for everyone and that’s the beauty of this new style of job hunting – people aren’t all squished into the mould of a quarter-page newspaper ad.

The traditional hangout for those who are a little more alternative, MySpace has long been a marketing tool for bands and other creative types who don’t want (or need) to colour strictly inside the lines.

Bands are able to set up playlists and build groups of fans online. It’s a cheap and long-fingered marketing tool – the best kind of marketing there is!

Models, graphic designers, artists and photographers are uploading examples of their work and getting headhunted by employers looking for fresh new talent. It’s also a good idea to direct viewers to a professional homepage to show the world you are serious about turning your talent into a career.

In a more formal move towards career domination, MySpace joined forces with CareerOne in December 2007. That means the 3.1 million Australians who visit MySpace each month are now linked with the 68 000 job advertisements on CareerOne.com.au.

‘MySpace jobs’ also features actively recruiting companies, a tailored jobseeker toolkit, a pay-rise calculator and video content.

VERDICT: Don’t bother hunting work on MySpace if you want a straight-laced nine-to-five job. However, if you are creative and ready to think outside the square then this could be the best place to look.

Facebook
Facebook is teeming with members who are interested in more than just throwing monkeys at each other, and would prefer to talk shop than shopping.

The drawcard of the site essentially boils down to having a link to old friends, friends of friends, ex-colleagues and a plethora of other people who could be your career’s new best friend. It’s the new way to network and could be the ‘right place at the right time’ when word starts circulating that your dream job is on the market.

The team behind Facebook are also adding a lot of career friendly applications to help you hunt, apply and get that job in the bag.

In the ‘Marketplace’ you can browse for tickets, rooms, bags, oh and your next job. Like Seek, job seekers can browse through available positions. Unlike Seek, users can chat and sell themselves – giving a whole new level of interactivity to the business of job hunting.

Another application – Jobster – can do all sorts of weird and wonderful things to get you that job. You can join the Talent Networks of your favourite companies, get job alerts based on your career interests and post your resume online.

The site is very popular with companies who can target their ads to certain demographics, and create customised Facebook pages in order to sell themselves to talented job hunters.

VERDICT: Facebook is well and truly straddling the fence between a job-hunting haven and a place that's way too casual for a serious career hunt.

LinkedIn
If you are a little further up (or completely over) the hill from the MySpace generation, or prefer to keep business and pleasure in strictly different compartments, LinkedIn is the online job-hunting haunt for you.

Unlike the other sites, LinkedIn is a dedicated business-only service and is the hangout of 24 million participants across 150 industries worldwide.

‘Friends’ on Facebook or MySpace become ‘connections’ on LinkedIn. Lists of your favourite bands, grog and movies are replaced with a serious resume, portfolio and list of achievements.

Instead of joining groups such as the ‘Mullet Appreciation Society’ or ‘You Know You Are Unemployed When … ’, LinkedIn members join alumni, industry and professional groups in order to stay in touch with old colleagues and create new ones.

Beyond word-of-mouth job hunting, companies are also beginning to actively recruit from the site. You can search for jobs online just like you would at seek.com, or you can search for jobs that have been posted by your LinkedIn network. The latter relies on solid networks and a recommendation by one of your contacts.

You can also see which of your contacts work for various companies, so you can hit up your contacts for job info and introductions into your dream business.

VERDICT: This is the new-age way for traditionalists to chase careers.

Related links
MySpace jobs
Facebook jobs
LinkedIn

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