Talking turkey for a moment, if you don’t have a profile up on LinkedIn, you’re a dinosaur.  If you’re not on Facebook, maybe not quite so bad, but not great either.

Last year, Jump Start Social Media conducted a survey that found 75% of recruiters use LinkedIn to conduct candidate searches.  48% use Facebook and 26% turn to the Twit-monster.  My guess?  These percentages are much higher now.

That said, I can’t tell you how many times a client comes to me for help with a resume but doesn’t think about their social media branding efforts.  Most have a LinkedIn page but with nothing significant on it.  Many are not involved with Facebook or Twitter.  Having a page on LinkedIn that just lists the places you’ve worked is like joining Match.com and not posting a picture of yourself. Who the hell is going to call you?

About five years ago I started to use LinkedIn as a recruiter.  I was so excited to have found it and quickly began to build a gigantic database of potential candidates.  If I needed a digital media salesperson with CPG experience, I typed this information into LinkedIn’s “search” box and started weeding my way through the results.  I always looked at the section that said “readers of this profile have also looked at the following.”  And, I always looked at potential candidate’s “links” to see who else I could find.  This provided me with an endless amount of data and names.

Knowing how much recruiters and hiring managers use social media to conduct searches, I’ve put together the top 5 things you should think about when creating your social media branding efforts.

#1 – Key Words are Key to Getting Noticed

Your LinkedIn profile has to be chock full of information and “key” words that you think a recruiter or hiring manager will search.  When you think of key words, you want to consider all the different iterations that someone searching might use.  For example, “digital media sales” could also be coined as “online media sales” or “dot-com sales.”  Be sure to specify the industry you are in, the clients you work with, etc.  One time, I had a client who wanted to hire someone who called on Johnson & Johnson.  I did a search on “Johnson & Johnson and sales” and “J&J and sales.”  You see what I’m getting at here?

#2 – Beef up Your Summaries and Specialties

Whereas, in a resume, HR folks don’t really like to see a big summary, you can go deeper in your online summary  – again focusing on those key words that will show up in searches.  In the specialty area, think of every single possible word you can use to describe your areas of expertise.  If you are in marketing, your specialties could say, for example:  ”marketing, communications, PR, management, P&Ls, budgeting, retail, in-store, grassroots, interactive, multi-media/cross-functional, digital, mobile, print, television, alternate, out-of-home/place-based…”  Again, there are redundancies that you would never put on a resume, but for an online version, you need to have all these key words in place.

#3 – Link, Link, and then Link Some More

I can’t tell you how important it is to to link to as many people as you can.  I’ve had clients ask me, “well, if I put my profile up and start linking to people, aren’t my co-workers going to know that I’m looking for a new job?”  The answer is “no.”  Everyone is on it. Everyone is doing it.  LinkedIn is also a means for people to connect and find potential business partners.  When people do land new jobs do they take their LinkedIn profiles down just because they are newly settled? No.  They keep them up.

As a recruiter, if I’m doing a search for a marketing manager and I find someone who is a director and too senior, I will peruse her connections to find potential candidates that fit my criteria. If you are a manager and are  connected to that director, I’m going to find you and call you.  That’s why you need to link to as many people as possible, including your co-workers.

#4 – Don’t forget to Put your Contact Information Up

I can’t tell you how many times I see a LinkedIn profile without any contact information.  I’m not suggesting you should put your home address for the world to see, but definitely leave an email so you can make it easier for recruiters to reach out.

#5 – Get on Facebook and Make Friends

Two years ago,  while recruiting, I started to tap into Facebook as a search tool.  If I was “friends” with someone on the agency side, for example,  I would peruse his friends on FB and gather a treasure-trove of potential candidates.  I would then send emails via Facebook’s contact system, introducing myself and telling that potential candidate about a job I was recruiting for.   I’ve had many resume clients tell me that they’ve stayed clear of Facebook.  This is a mistake.  Sign up and “friend” a ton of folks in your industry.  If you are concerned about mixing business with pleasure, then just be careful in what you choose to post.  Drunken party photos are not something I’d suggest.

Carpe diem…

Apparently a recruiter was “insisting” that she takes the dates of employment, currently aligned on the right side of the page, and put them on the left side, instead.  My client wasn’t able to do this without the format completely changing and the resume falling to pieces in terms of design.  I promptly wrote back saying that it was a ridiculous request and she should tell the recruiter that she did not have time to do this and that if it was so important that the recruiter do it herself.

I realize that I probably should have taken a few deep breaths before responding because I wasn’t so “delicate” with my response.   But, here’s the thing.  There’s no logical reason why my client should have to waste her time — and, yes, it’s a waste — redesigning her resume just to put the dates of employment on the left.  In order to make the resume look neat and legible, this would involve tabbing the actual content over to the right about an inch and aligning it on an even plane throughout.  What’s the point of this?  It’s not as though the content needed to be changed, which then I could understand.

I’m assuming that the reasoning behind the recruiter’s request had something to do with technology.  I asked another recruiter I know if he thought this could be the case.  He suggested that perhaps the recruiter in question wanted to format my client’s resume in some sort of template and the date alignment wasn’t jiving.  Even if this is the case, he agreed that the request was out of line.  He suggested that the recruiter cut and paste the resume into Notepad and realign it herself.  Good idea.

Then I decided to throw the question out to an HR listserve that I’m part of.  Six responders couldn’t figure out why anyone would make such a request.  But, a seventh had a different theory that was truly frightening.

One thought is that the recruiter is trying to see how committed your client is to working with him or her? Sometimes asking a candidate who seems less than enthused about an opportunity to perform a simple task is merely a way to weed out those who may not cooperate on larger tasks later in the process… not something I do, but I’ve seen it done…

Man, and I thought I was cynical!  I hope this is not the case because that would just be wrong.

The bottom line?  If a recruiter asks you to make a format change that seems frivolous, I really don’t think you need to oblige.  Is it going to change whether or not the recruiter wants to work with you?  I seriously doubt it.  He or she WANTS to make money and if you are a great candidate, she’s not going to let you slip by.  If she does, well, maybe you should consider if you want to work with her anyhow.  There are lots of bad recruiters out there.  Stick with the ones who want to work with you, not boss you around.  Stick with the ones who respect your wishes and want to find a job that fits your needs, not theirs.

Carpe diem…

Lisa Chader was promoted to SVP Corporate Communications at CMT.

Anthony Barton was promoted to SVP Integrated Marketing at CMT.

Rob Felton joined as VP Marketing at SwagDog.com.

Shon Tomlin was promoted to SVP Programming and Marketing at Fuel TV.

Clint Perez joined as VP Marketing at Discovery Education.

Ruth Mitcham joined as Manager of Client Services at BrightWave Marketing.

Kimberly oliver moved from Public Relations Manager at Design within Reach to Associate Director and Head of NY Office at Camron PR.

Lauren Hodapp moved from Publicist at Hyperion to Senior Publicist at Penguin Press.

Kathleen Schmidt moved from VP and Publicity Director at Atria Books to Director of Publicity and Digital Media at Shreve Willams PR.

Joshua Richman moved from Customer Marketing and Sales at ESPN to WGN America as VP of Marketing.

Judy Glassman moved from Consultant at Conde Nast to Executive Director Integrated Brand Serices at Allure.

Anna Termine joined as Senior Licensing Manager at Sage Publications/Corwin Press.

Bethany Sherman moved from SVP Corporate Communciations at The Nasdaq OMX Group to Chief Communications Officer at Dow Jones & Company.

Ethelbert Williams joined as VP Brand Development at Mr. Youth.

David Bernath joined as EVP Program Strategy and Muliplatform Programming at Comedy Central.

Gary Morgenstein joined as Director of Communications at SyFy.

Vinnie Malhotra joined as Executive Producer at ESPN Content Development.

Melissa Drucker was promoted to VP National Ad Sales at BBC.

Peter Wright was promoted to VP National Ad Sales at BBC.

Sabine Feldmann moved from VP Publisher & Chief Brand Officer at Shape to Associate Publisher at Teen Vogue.

Joan FitzGerald moved from VP Cross Platform Sales at Arbitron to VP Television Sales and Business Development at ComScore.

Frank Zoller joined as VP Brand Group Director at Horizon Media.

Heather Hoyer joined as VP Associate Managing Director at Horizon Media.

Katie Gallagher was promoted to Associate Brand Group Director at Horizon Media.

Cheryl Greene moved from Managing Partner, Director Integrated Brand Strategies at Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal & Partners to Partner/Director of Business Initiatives at Deutsch.

Davie Martin was promoted to SVP Media at Ignited.

John Moezzi joined as Director Digital Media Ops at Miller Zell.

Bob Girolamo moved from Regional VP of West Coast Sales at Q Interactive to Head of Media Buying and Planning at Q Interactive.

Kelly Furlong was promoted to Director of Midwest Sales at Weatherbug.

Margaret stead moved from Editorial Director at The Harvill Press to Editorial Director at Atlantic Books.

John Vorwald moved from Online Managinb Editor at New York Observer to Interactive Managing Editor at WNET.org.

Nick Parish moved from Events Content Manager at Ad Age to North American Editor at Contagious Magazine.

Aaron Kenedi moved from Editor-in-Chief at Shift to Editor-in-Chief at Print.

Krissy Tiglias moved from Lifestyle Editor at The Knot to Home and Lifestyle Editor at Redbook.

Jason Clampet was promoted to Senior Online Editor at Frommers.com.

Peter Lauria moved from Media Reporter at New York Post to Media Reporter at The Daily Beast.

Lorin Stein moved from Editor at Farrar, Straus and giroux to Editor at The Paris Review.

Robert Thomson moved from Editor at The Wall Street Journal to Editor at SmartMoney.

Vinnie Malhotra joined as Executive Producer at ESPN Content Development.

Gavin Lester moved from Group Creative Director at Saatchi & Saatchi to Creative Director at 180 Los Angeles.

Tom Zukoski joined as Associate Creative Director at AKQA.

Kristina Slade joined as Creative Director at AKQA.

Piper Lemons joined as Interaction Design Director at AKQA.

Britt Hayes moved from SVP Director of Creative Services at McCann to Director Creative Management at JWT NY.

Brian Crooks moved from Executive Creative Director at Razorfish to Executive Creative Director at Singularity Design.

Ian Orefice moved from Associate Producer at CNNMoney.com to Executive Producer at SI.com.

Julian Hills moved from President of Print Advertising at The Ant Farm to Chief Creative Officer at Eclipse Advertising.

Brian Reddington moved from Director at Smithsonian Institution to SVP Development at PBS.

Betsy Beale moved from Executive Producer at Lost Planet to Executive Producer at Chrome.

Gillian Tett joined as US Managing Editor at Financial Times.

David Bernath was promoted to EVP Program Strategy and Multiplatform Programming at Comedy Central.

Tina Thompson moved from Programming Manager at MTV Networks to Programming Manager at Gospel Music Channel.

Milissa Tarquini joined as VP User Experience and Design at Scripps Networks.