2010 Linkedin Career Trends: Aussies not “social media savvy” when it comes to their career

Whilst widely known that Aussies are social media savvy in their personal lives, research released today reveals they are not using their online prowess when it comes to their professional development.

According to the 2010 Linkedin Career Trends Research, a staggering 60 per cent of professionals surveyed on Linkedin do not use social media channels when it comes to advancing their careers – despite 87 per cent believing an online profile will help their professional identity and career progression.

“The majority of respondents in the research cited ex-bosses and pastcolleagues as the most effective sources in helping them to secure anew job, proving the huge power of building a strong professionalnetwork, said Clifford Rosenberg, Managing Director of LinkedInAustralia and New Zealand. “We use social media skillfully in ourpersonal lives, and need to learn to translate this into ourprofessional lives”

“Many professionals will be taking advantage of Christmas break to seekjob opportunities in the New Year. Investing time in growing theirprofessional connections online will enhance their chances of findingtheir next job”, he added.

Facebook and Twitter not popular for jobs

According to the research, most professionals are keen to advance theircareer with 84 per cent interested in job opportunities and 57 per centwilling to be contacted for jobs via social networks. However, only 3per cent said they would be comfortable being approached for jobs viaFacebook and 1 per cent via Twitter.

Access to social networks at work

A majority of professionals (83 per cent) can access some or all socialmedia websites at work. LinkedIn emerged as the most accessible website(95 per cent) followed by Facebook (70 per cent) and Twitter (59 percent).

Job seekers need to tap their networks

Of the people actively seeking job opportunities, the research foundthat only a quarter were successful in changing jobs, demonstrating theneed for them to tap their networks to gain better results from theirjob search activity. 

“This is really a call to action for professionals to re-address theiruse of social networks and begin to reap as many rewards fromnetworking professionally as they do personally” said CliffordRosenberg.