Feb 22, 2010
Job Search And Importance Of Setting Online Boundries
To become a friend on Facebook one of my clients was recently invited by a recruiter. This client had hoped to keep her Facebook personal and use Linkedln for professional contacts. At this time she wanted to maintain the relationship with this recruiter and worried that ignoring the request might be seen as a rejection. In the end she contacted with the recruiter through the email to let her know that she wanted to connect with her through Linkedln. Score one for boundaries
Many people keep my client’s online boundary: Facebook for personal; Linkedln for professional. I didn’t want to take any risk crossing these common boundary when I got recruited I deliberately chose Linkedln for my research and sourcing. Its the same reason I tried a candidate’s work number first before calling home or cell.
Always be consistent if you want to keep a personal and professional online boundary. It is good if you keep your professional research and inquiries in one network and personal separate. It is good if you realize this thing in time that not everyone feels this way, so you may have people reach out to you in ways you didn’t intend (as with my client and the recruiter), and you want to deal with these inquiries consistently. So always keep your personal networking profile as private as possible if you indeed do not want it used for professional inquiries.
When we are in job search mode the line between personal and professional lives is often confusing. If you want more people to be able to find you. Your friends are mostly likely to think about you and advocate for you. Therefore your personal networks always be your strongest professional leads. So before explaining completely between personal and professional, know that what you gain in boundaries, you may lose in opportunities.
There is a compromise to toggle between your personal and professional networks of choice and be sure that everyone you would like to be in both networks are. You need to invite one to the other, and make sure that you updating each site with the relevant information. This work requires a coordination. However, it ensures that you maintain the boundaries, but still reap the benefits of integrating your personal and professional lives.
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