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Social networking: the new way to find digital jobs

Finding a job in the digital industry may appear difficult.

Finding a job in the digital industry may appear difficult. Whether you've been working in the e-marketing sector for a while or you're a bright, young IT graduate hoping to enter the digital industry, the overwhelming number of people applying for digital jobs can be a daunting factor. However, if the thought of wading through dozens of job listings - on the web or offline - is enough to put you off your search for a digital job, rest assured there are a variety of inherently more social ways to seek out your ideal job in the digital industry: all you require is a little proficiency in the techniques of online social media.

In today's increasingly crowded job market, social networking and its related forms of communication play a more significant part than many realise. A wide range of digital marketing experts are avid bloggers, taking every opportunity to publish their thoughts and theories on the future of the digital industry on a site that is easily accessible by their peers, clients and fans. As a result, they often look to other members of a social network or virtual community - for example, Live Journal or social bookmarking site Digg - for inspiration when advertising job vacancies or recruiting new employees to their company.

What's more, burgeoning digital sectors, like search engine optimisation and online media planning, are coming to increasingly rely on social networks to spread news of any job vacancies in their company. Sites like Facebook, for example, allow their members to create "groups" of similar interests, which anyone in the Facebook community is allowed to join. This means that if a group is set up whose primary interest is something of digital relevancy - for instance, groups that profess a love for Google or knowledge of a specialist IT subject - their members are more likely to be targeted as potential employees by digital companies.

This viral approach to advertising digital jobs works because it is beneficial to both the job seeker and the potential employer. News of the digital job vacancy is spread quicker and potential applicants may even be able to find out whether any other members of the virtual community are already working for the company in question, and get their feedback before applying for the job.

Many sites which specialise in digital job recruitment and careers advice have "community" sections, where people searching for digital jobs will be able to find blogs and forums that might enrich their job hunt and add value to their existing knowledge of the digital industry. Who knows, one day your MySpace profile may even act as part of your CV! The power of social networking and social communities in finding digital jobs is endless - and provides a great alternative to sifting through boring classified ads.