About a month ago I started a new position with a company called ClearEdge Marketing, a marcomm agency based in Chicago that serves professional services and staffing firms. It’s a great organization with a very talented staff, and I’m thrilled to have joined the team to build their social media offering.  What might be interesting to some people is the fact that I found this new position through social media.  I know someone who works at CareerBuilder in Chicago (in fact, I met her through Twitter, I believe — we’ve never actually met in person).  She contacted me via email one day and her message was something along the lines of “I know you’re doing some great things at Pinstripe and am not sure if you’re open to other opportunites, but there’s someone I want to introduce you to and, if nothing else, she’s a good connection for you.”  Turns out the person she wanted to introduce me to was Leslie Vickrey, founder and president of ClearEdge.  Leslie was looking for someone to head up social media for them and asked her friend at CareerBuilder who she could recomend.

After a series of phone interviews, reference checking, etc., an offer was extended and I gave my notice to Pinstripe to joing ClearEdge.  My friend and former colleague, Barry Diamond, was shocked that this whole thing happened without meeting Leslie in person.  That’s where we’re at now, though; no longer are in-person interviews necessary.  As a side note, ClearEdge‘s entire team is virtual so that culture of using technology to communicate and stay connected is second nature (and a perk of the job, I might add!).

Interestingly, I was entertaining one other job offer while deciding about ClearEdge, and there were also two other employment opportunities that weren’t at offer stage but were moving that way.  And in all 3 of those cases I had been pursued.  Two of those other three were referrals – someone suggested me for the position and one person found me on LinkedIn after doing a keyword search.

So when people ask if social media is a waste of time  and/or how could anyone possibly find a job that way, I like to tell my story.  It all goes back to the same basic principles of using social media successfully – 1) don’t just show up, participate!  Become a thought leader on a topic; 2) share relevant information, don’t just ask others for a job or a favor – you have to give to get; and 3) constantly build your network. You never know where that next great opportunity will come, either personally or professionally.