How To Use Facebook Graph Search For Your Job Search

How To Use Facebook Graph Search For Your Job Search
Facebook’s new Graph Search feature puts the network on par with LinkedIn for job search. While most people consider LinkedIn the primary social network for business and career connections, more Americans have actually reported finding jobs on Facebook than LinkedIn. With Facebook’s announcement this week that the network is rolling out Graph Search for all users, this trend will likely increase.

What's Facebook Graph Search?

Graph Search is a new, advanced way to search for people, places, and things on Facebook. Now, rather than being limited to only looking up items by name, you can use relational elements. For instance, you can look up “people who live in Houston, Texas and who like small businesses” or “friends of friends who work for Shell.”

How To Use Facebook Graph Search For Your Job Search

Here are three action items for using Graph Search to find employment:

1. Clean Up Your Facebook Likes

It’s time to remove inappropriate pictures, posts and anything that could potentially turn off a hiring manager. With Graph Search, it’s easier than ever to find unflattering information on Facebook. Most importantly, remove any and all “likes” that potential business contacts could find offensive. You can find all of your likes by clicking on “About” under your profile. Clean, clean, clean!

2. Review Your Privacy Settings

Use the little padlock at the top of your profile to visit Privacy Shortcuts. Pay special attention to all three items under “Who can see my stuff?” The first choice, “Who can see my future posts?” will allow you to change the viewing permissions granted to different audiences from this day forward. The second option, “Where do I review who can see of find things I’ve posted or been tagged in?” allows you to view your activity log in detail. Your activity log allows you to see the items you’ve posted, friends’ posts that appear on your timeline and pictures you’ve been tagged in. With Graph Search, Facebook users can easily look up “Pictures of people who live in Houston, TX taken at <insert undesirable venue>” Do yourself a favor, remove tags of yourself in inappropriate photos or simply ask friends to remove them.

3. Use The Search Function

One of the coolest features of LinkedIn is that you can see if you and a desired connection share a mutual connection or friend. With Graph Search, you can do the exact same thing! Did your spouse get a job transfer to Houston, Texas and now you’re looking for employment in the city? Try searching for “Friends of friends who live in Houston, Texas who work for <insert desired company>” Review the generated list to see if any of the potential connections are hiring managers or work in your desired department. If so, contact the friend you share in common (shown under their basic information) and request that they introduce you, preferably by e-mail or set up lunch versus Facebook. It is important to note that you will have more results using “friends of friends” in search when you have more Facebook friends. Photo Credit: Shutterstock
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