Are the new social networking tools like Facebook or LinkedIn helping you or your circle of friends return to work after a layoff? Share your story privately with Marketplace, or post a comment below.
Marketplace reported on a guy who Tweeted his layoff on the micro-blogging service Twitter as it was happening. Friends responded with tips and referrals. He blogged about his layoff and mentioned it on his LinkedIn profile, eventually landing his next job.
People in the Public Insight Network like banker Michael McWhortor, of Cordova, Tenn., rely on formal or informal networking to get work rather than want ads or recruiters. He’s recently used LinkedIn to help others.
I re-connected with a friend who used to work for me 6 years ago — we were both fired on the same day — and who was recently laid off again. I happened to have a connection at a company he was looking for a job in, and I was able to connect the two for an interview.
Margaret Schneider, an office manager from Northwood, N.D., rebounded from her layoff using social networking but it was a struggle. She started with the Workers Compensation office and its employment agency, but that didn’t really work. She took a retail job and continued looking:
I joined Facebook, Linkedin, and MySpace and asked my friends to continue looking for me. Finally a friend spotted a job and dropped my name. I got that job and that’s what I am doing today. I’ve been there a little more than a month.
It might not get you your next job, but you can be part of our Public Insight Network and follow us on Twitter.
Miami freelancer Luis Diaz considers Facebook and MySpace just a starting point for his graphic design work searches.
I feel I lost my job. I am not getting as much money as I once had in 2007. I look around the internet and currently looking in places like Career Builder and Monster, Craigslist for any open graphic design job even though I do freelance illustration. I think a lot of people might not know but freelancing is really, really hard, too.
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