Facebook is the second most popular website, just after Google. There are over 800 million active users out of which 300 million daily spend at least twenty minutes per day on Facebook. It is very popular and users tend to spend a lot of time on it as compared to other social networking sites. Therefore, the U.S. Department of Labor expects that Facebook may soon become a strong tool for job search.

Finding a job through social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin is a great idea. Online college students prefer to use Facebook for job search as it is a convenient way to search for a job from the comfort of your home. However, it’s not as easy as it sounds. Online students should consider a few things while using social networking sites for job search.

Here are 5 smart tips for recent graduates and online students to use Facebook strategically to get hired.

1. Improve Your Online Reputation

Prospective employers and HR managers will view your profile and can see all your status updates, photos, videos and groups. Therefore, if you want to make a good impression on recruiters, remove any inappropriate pictures or content that can potentially hinder your prospects of getting hired. Make sure that your current profile is such that it makes a positive impression on potential employers.

2. Network and Interact with Companies

Students who have successfully completed their online degree programs and are looking for employment opportunities at a specific company should join their page on Facebook. This will give them a great opportunity to interact with the company. All corporations want candidates who are passionate about their organizations and grads can show their passion by being active on those Facebook pages. Students can also use Facebook to professionally contact recruiters, HR managers, and employers.

3. Participate and Get Active in Facebook Groups

After completing your online education, you can join professional groups on Facebook which discuss and post news about particular topics, or industries that you are interested in. By joining such professional groups you can actively participate in discussions, post links and other resources to the wall, moderate or manage sections of the group and so on. Participating in professional groups will create a positive impression on the minds of recruiters and prospective employers. Facebook groups can be used to network with and get noticed by professional corporations and could lead to you being considered for future job opportunities.

4. Tap into your Network to Find a Job

Facebook provides inexhaustible resources and connections for job seekers. College students and recent grads are advised to approach networking on Facebook as a way to get more information about an industry by messaging and engaging with employees and industry leaders. Building a strong personal network on Facebook platform will help you in your job search.

5. Build Strong Online Relations

It is important to build a strong online relation with relevant industry players who can advise you about your job search and will remember you for future career opportunities. Using Face book as an online platform for job hunting will show prospective employers and recruiters that you have interest and knowledge in your chosen field and are eager to improve your skills.

The social network can be a strong medium for finding employment. Did Facebook help you get hired? Please share your experience with us.

James Rivington of TechRadar recently went over his hilarious list of things you should not do on Facebook. I picked out some of my favorites:

1. Use Facebook mail instead of Proper Email

Are you silly? When you Facebook mail me, I have to log into my real email to find that I then have to go and log into my Facebook account to read and reply to your message. If you’ve got my real email address, please use it.

2. Add old Friends and then Forget about them

This is the biggest social networking crime of them all. How many times has it happened? You haven’t seen someone for 20 years; you vaguely recognize their name but not their face. They add you as a friend on Facebook and then after you accept them, you never hear from them again.

3. Adding people you don’t even know

It’s one thing to add an old friend and then never speak to them. It’s another to add anyone whose name you kind of vaguely sort of recognize. It’s like that old man in the pub who slaps everyone on the back as if they were old pals, when in actual fact he has no friends, largely because of this habit.

4. Adding single-serving Holiday Friends

Some people just don’t understand that the exchanging of email addresses at the end of a holiday is just a social ritual and is absolutely not an invitation to add you to Facebook and then turn up unannounced at your house three months later.

5. Accepting Friend Invitations from People you don’t know

It’s one thing to complain about irritating people adding you on Facebook, but if you accept those invites, you’ve only got yourself to blame. If you scan through your Facebook friends list, you’ll doubtless find a handful of people in there you barely know. It’s a horrible realization – like when you suddenly realize your hand is resting on a knob of someone else’s chewing gum underneath a desk.

6. Update Facebook Profile when you’re supposedly not well

How many times have we seen it? Someone calls in sick in the morning and then updates their Facebook profile minute-by-minute throughout the day, documenting a day of ice cream, chips, video games and jumping on the bed. Get dressed and get to work you lazy hoodwink, or else you’ll probably be fired. And it’d be your own fault for adding your boss to be your Facebook friend.

7. Moan in your Facebook Status

The most annoying thing that people do on Facebook is to spray their walls with vanity-filled drivel, by posting self-indulgent awfulness in their status updates. “Kerry is sorry how it ended but it had to be done. I love you and will miss you, and I hope you can apologies one day”. Oh sod off. If you’ve got something to say to someone, say it. Don’t post it on your wall because no one else is interested, and people just think you’re a part.

8. Lazy Grammar and Spelling Mistakes

Reading Facebook is like perusing a six-year olds’ English copybook. Come on, people: ‘ur’ is ‘your’. ‘You are’ is ‘you’re’. It really isn’t hard to get that little one right. And understanding the difference between ‘there’, ‘their’ and ‘they’re’ surely isn’t too much of a challenge?

9. Endless barrage of Personal Photos

Well there is nothing more annoying then updating photo albums of about each and every move you made on your Facebook profile. Get a life people nobody really wanted to know the pictorial evidence of last night dinner or fight that you have with friend/spouse/mother. Adding photos are fun but adding them nonstop is nothing but a nuisance on your friend’s profile page.

Facebook is one of the fastest growing and most popular social network sites on the internet. Many individuals and organizations have capitalized on Facebook’s popularity to connect friends, form support groups and promote their cause. Not to be outdone, the online educational community has also tapped into Facebook popularity and has used it to create various new products that are very beneficial to the online education community. These applications are grouped into various categories to make it easy for students to have choices on which one they prefer.

Choosing a School

Choosing a school is at the top of the list for anyone aspiring for higher education. Facebook has pooled several applications under this category that helps students to choose their online college.

• Gradzila is a Facebook application that gathers data from the US News and World Reports to create a list of the best online schools and colleges and their contact information.
• Connect a College allows prospective students to establish contacts with students of universities. This enables applicants to get an inside view of life at the universities directly from those studying there.
• College Toolkit allows you to view information about online colleges, conduct an IQ test and see students from the institution who can give you a breakdown of life at the college.

Paying for School

Tuition is always a big factor for students when pursuing a degree. Facebook has created an application to assist students find scholarships online.

• Scholarship Search allows students to search through a database of over 2.9 million scholarships that they can access to help with school fees.

Classes, Majors and Grades

Online students will differ in their learning abilities. As a result, Facebook has created several applications that assist students in planning their online course schedule based on their time and availability. In this category, students also get advice on choosing major or getting books from other students to buy borrow or rent.

• Course Topia helps online students build their semester. Students are just required to sign up and state their school and the application guides them through building their semester courses. They can then post their class schedule on Facebook so their friends can see which courses they are taking.
• Cheap Textbooks allows online students to compare the prices offered by dozens of online bookshops and then select the best option for making their purchase.
• Campus Buddy gives students an overview of professors, course work, past grade breakdowns and the ability to see if your friends are registered to a particular course.

Studying

Students always can use all the help they can get when studying. Facebook has created several ingenious ways of helping students to maximize their study sessions.

• Ask a Teacher has a database of teachers and professors who have volunteered to help online students gain an understanding of their subject area. They simply contact them through Facebook and establish a working relationship with them.
• Quiz Monster is a collection of questions from various subject areas that helps students to help prepare for exams.
• Study Groups allows students to form groups where they can interact, share study material, homework, create to do lists and plan their class projects.