One of my job duties in my internship with Career Services is to look for career-related advice that might be useful for the student body. Today my supervisor asked me to look for articles that we might want to “tweet” or “retweet” on our Twitter account. (For those of you who may not know, Princeton Career Services has its own Twitter account (princetoncareer). If you are signed up for Twitter and want to “follow” us, or if you are just interested in checking out our tweets, click here.) While completing the assignment, I came across the following article entitled “Job Search: Facebook,The Untapped Job Board.” The article gave advice about how job seekers can sometimes use Facebook, a social media tool, to look for career opportunities. This may come as a surprise to those of you who only use Facebook to keep up with friends and find interesting and fun things to do. The article noted that a lot of companies often place job ads on their Facebook sites. So, “Liking” or “Becoming a Fan” of a company’s Facebook page could be an advantage for job seekers. At the same time, browsing a company’s Facebook profile and pictures can give you good sense for what the company culture is like and the company’s branding style. Other benefits could be receiving invitations to company events and gaining access to company employees–both great for NETWORKING. I liked how the article stressed the importance of having a work appropriate Facebook and how some may be hesitant to use it for job hunting. Since Facebook is one of the most highly used social media outlets, the article stressed that it had many benefits beyond the obvious “social” aspects. An example of this is that companies now advertise and maintain a presence on Facebook in order to reach employees and customers. So, the benefit to you as a job seeker is that you can merge your social and professional networking activities which is efficient and convenient. (Just be careful that your Facebook profile and wall are “employer-friendly!”) By using Facebook in this way, you may stumble upon an unexpected opportunity.

Speaking of stumbling upon an unexpected opportunity, sometimes you have to take the time to seek these out and use a variety of methods. When I was in high school, I spent one of my free periods reading the magazine “Black Enterprise.” I remember reading an article about an entrepreneur named Dawn Fitch who created her own natural beauty product line called “Pooka Pure and Simple.” Immediately, I fell in love with her story and thought to myself “I would love to work with her!”. The article featured her contact information, and it turned out that her warehouse and headquarters were less than five minutes away from my house! I thought to myself, “Hmmmm…… maybe I can work with her!” Later that day, I emailed the head of public relations and asked about a possible internship. I didn’t care about being paid, I just wanted to come in and learn how the company worked. At that time they didn’t offer internship positions, but they liked my enthusiasm and decided to create one! They invited me in for an interview and a few weeks later I was the new Pooka intern! The experience, which lasted for about a year, was amazing! I loved coming in the warehouse on Saturdays and helping customers with their orders. I also enjoyed seeing what happens in the factory”(where all the products are made, put into containers, labeled, and shipped). At the same time, the relationship I developed with Dawn and the other co-founders of the company was truly rewarding. They provided me with a fresh perspective about the joys of being an entrepreneur. Though I am no longer a Pooka intern, I still visit the warehouse when I can, and use their products regularly.

So, what does this all mean for you? Sometimes the key to finding a job and internship (or any other opportunity) is to use untapped resources and possibly create your own. Facebook can be a great place to connect, not just with friends, but also with companies. At the same time, reading trade or business magazines can be a helpful way of keeping up with trends while also learning about businesses in your area of interest. If you read about someone or a company that you like, there is no harm in emailing them to express your interest and desire in learning more about them. In fact, check out their company’s Facebook to see if you can find ways to better align yourself with them. Think outside the box and try not to limit yourself to traditional job posting sites when searching for opportunities. When approaching your job search in this way, the benefits and networking possibilities are endless!