Cheezhead Recruiting News and Opinion

Mashable’s Dan Schawbel has developed a top 10 list that explores the best social networks for job searching.

Schawbel encourages job seekers to be aggressive and sign up for all ten to increase your chances.

Here are his picks. Feel free to leave the ones that you have found success with below.

1) LinkedIn: By far the #1 spot for job seekers, those currently employed, marketers who are looking to build lists and salespeople who are seeking out new clients. With 35 million users, including recruiters and job seekers, LinkedIn is quite a hot spot. Of course, due to the current state of the economy, it’s simple to understand why LinkedIn is more popular than ever.

Schawbel recommends that you optimize your profile, cultivate your network, and use a distinct URL (linkedin.com/in/yourfullname) and an avatar that best represents you and is consistent with the picture on your other social sites.

2) Plaxo with Simply Hired: The real value in Plaxo is the address book that keeps track of all of your contact information, including a Yahoo! Map indicating where your contacts live. Plaxo, which is owned by Comcast, is also integrated with Simply Hired, which is a job aggregator that searches thousands of job sites and companies and aggregates them in a single location for you. After building your Plaxo profile, use it as part of the recruitment process when applying for jobs with Simply Hired for success.

3) Twitter with Blog or LinkedIn URL: Schawbel said that while Twitter is probably one of the best networking tools on the planet, it needs to be supplemented with a blog or LinkedIn profile. There’s no way you can hire someone based on a Twitter profile, without having a link from that profile to something else that gives more information on that job seeker. You get to add one URL to your profile, so choose wisely.

4) Jobster: A powerful platform for networking with employers who are offering jobs, while you’re searching. You can upload your resume, embed your video resume, showcase links to your site, your picture and tag your skills, which is a unique differentiator. You can search for open positions and see who the person is who posted the job. Then you can add them to your network and connect with them to find out more about the position.

5) Facebook: There are two main ways of acquiring a job through Facebook. The first is to go to your Facebook marketplace, which lists job openings or other opportunities in your network. Aside from jobs, there are “items wanted” and a “for sale” listing. When searching for jobs, you’ll be able to see who listed the item and then message them to show your interest. The second way to get a job using Facebook is to join groups and fan pages to find people with common interests and to network with them.

6) Craigslist: An extremely valuable job search tool if you’re not looking to work for a big brand name company, such as P&G or GE. Most of the positions on Craigslist are for consultants (design/programming help) and at small to midsize companies that are hiring. There are new listings every day and if you wake up to this site every morning and refresh the page, you have a good chance at getting a job sooner rather than later.

7) My Workster with Indeed: For a free account, you get a profile, instant messenger built in the site, groups, events, your resume and more. The big differentiator is that it uses Facebook Connect to get your information. MyWorkster also has job listings, which are provided by Indeed, a job search engine and aggregator, which is very similar to Simply Hired.

8) VisualCV: Instead of a traditional resume, you get your own branded webpage, where you can add video, audio, images, graphs, charts, work samples, presentations and references. VisualCVs not only let you stand out from the crowd, but communicate your value in a way that’s not possible with static text.

9) Jobfox: Their differentiator is their “Mutual Suitability SystemTM” that enables them to match your wants and needs to those of employers to find the best relationship. The system learns about your skills, experiences, and goals and then presents you with jobs.

10) Ecademy: is a prime source for professional networking. You have your own online profile, where you can tell people what you do. You can join business networking groups based around your expertise and exchange messages with other members privately. You can also ask for introductions from friends, just like LinkedIn. Although, there isn’t a job search area on the site, 80% of jobs are from networking and this place is dedicated to it.

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