A Look Back

Where have I gone this semester? It went faster than usual. I returned from Australia with only a 2 month summer which eliminated many opportunities for me. I came to AU feeling like a freshman all over again, because it all seemed new since I was gone so long. I found a house to live in for the year and didn't know what to expect living with three other people.

The search for a job began within a month or two. After seeing people celebrate their success, I decided it was my turn. In doing so, I stumbled upon what I believe I want to choose as my career path. I would like to be a technology consultant. I learned about it during a Deloitte Information session on campus one night.

I took what I learned in this course and applied it to my life. I created a linkedin profile to expand my network. I took advice from recruiters regarding interviews. I created a blog in the hopes of creating an online persona. All these tools are meant to help me and I intend to take advantage of them. With one semester left in college, I intend to make it my greatest.

Accept My Invitation...Now Hire Me

As a senior in in college, I am currently looking for a job post graduation. I have taken the usual approaches, such as checking in with the career center on campus, attending job fairs, and asking friends if there are an available positions where they are now. The newest method is over the internet on Linkedin. You create a profile fill it with all of your information, such as past experience, age, expertise, and your contacts. For example, in the article, Workforce Management "Using Social Networking to Fill the Talent Acquisition Pipeline " "Crawford Hentz recently sourced six of the seven finalist candidates for a senior-level position from LinkedIn."

I recently signed up for Linkedin and initially wasn't impressed. I was expecting something like facebook, whereas this is much different. It serves a different purpose and attracts a different audience. I now believe that it benefits both parties, the employer and potential employee. The employer gets another avenue to research its candidates and the potential employee further gets his/her name out to the public. It's simply another resource for everyone to share and I urge someone to show me the downside to this. I feel the advantages outweigh the negatives by a landslide.

It's like Facebook, but for Business

Professional networking is nothing new. I personally have always been told, "it's not what you know, its who you know." I agree with that too. I've had too many experiences and heard too many stories of people getting their friends a job or internship. Personal references can make or break an employers decision and if you know someone in the company then you have an edge at getting the position. With that said, I have recently joined linkedin, one of the popular professional networks.

Though I see many similarities to Facebook and other social network sites, I had the same question as John Tinker, a research analyst at ThinkEquity Partners. He said on ABC's "Will the Web Replace the Business Lunch?", "The question I'd have is how often do people go on and use it. If it's just once to set up their account, then they're not that attractive." I feel unless the web designers can develop a way to get people to consistently visit these professional network, they may fade and be forgotten. Facebook users will admit that it has become part of their daily routine to check their updates (if not daily, very often). Since it is different than social networks, they should consider adding tools on them, such as collaboration functions for teams, a medium to talk via internet, or something else that would be approved by managers to allow their employees to use it.