The Social Media Posting Technique
Who says you have to look for jobs only at job related sites? The best place to look for network contacts is often in Internet forums, blogs and social media accounts. These specialized sites cater to every whim dreamed up by the providers (and users) of these services. You can search for them by combining your interest or career area keyword(s) with "forum" or "blog" through any major search engine or simply within Facebook. While there are some very unique forums and blogs, there are also some that will tie in directly with your future career. The most obvious career-related forums or blogs are for those who work in computer-related fields. If that is your field, you can find a host of specialized forums or blogs (down to your favorite programming language and database). For the rest of the world, it is still fairly easy to find a forum or blog that has subscribers in your chosen career.
When you find that forum or blog, spend some time reading the messages (especially if they have an FAQ—Frequently Asked Questions—section), and then consider submitting your own humble posting, similar to the following:
(subject) Assistance Request—Seeking Job In _____ In The _____ Area.
(body) Soon-to-be-college grad is seeking to make his/her mark in the _____ world. All I need is a little help from you to find the job of my dreams. I know it's out there, but I haven't located it yet. Will you help me? If you have any information, please contact me at (email address). I will be eternally grateful. Thanks!
It is not the most eloquent impassioned plea, but it usually gains some attention from one of the self-proclaimed "experts" who continuously wander the selected forums and blogs searching for ways to further enlighten humanity with their abstract brilliance. While these "experts" may be simply seeking recognition for their knowledge on the forums or blogs, they can often be quite helpful to entry level job seekers. You may be their next cause for virtual adoption.
Obviously, you will want to customize it to your situation and use your own wording (otherwise all of the readers of this website will end up with duplicate postings). You may get suggestions, leads, contact names, and possibly even find your eventual dream job. Remember also to go back and read through the thread from your initial message since many people will just post to your message (for all to read). While there are rules for any forum or blog, as long as you are requesting help within that focus group you should not have problems from the forum or blog administrator.