For Internships, Jobs and Careers: Network by Joining Groups on Facebook

I’ve talked about Facebook in several posts – mostly what NOT to do to protect your professional image. Yet there are many things you CAN do on Facebook to help your networking efforts.

I have to admit that at first I didn’t really understand how to effectively use Facebook. But as I l earn more, I understand that the opportunities for networking on

Facebook can be quite numerous. (Yet as with most things in life, you have to be willing to give in order to get.)

Examples of two Facebook groups to which I belong

This month I’ve been part of a four-session teleseminar called “The Law of Action 2.0” put on by the BlogSquad (Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff) and Kathleen Gage with an accompanying secret Facebook group that does not show up in profiles.

On this secret Facebook group page are discussion topics connected to the teleseminar course. Here we can ask questions and get answers from each other. And in this spirit of helping, we get and give friend requests from and to others in the group.

I also now belong to the Facebook group Virtual Coffee Dates – which is an open group that anyone can join – started by MaryPat Kavanagh (www.queenofmarketing.com).

This group had a virtual coffee date on Friday -- and it was my first time on a Skype IM chat. For me this was an amazing opportunity to “chat” with some very successful women in the internet world. One woman even recognized my name as being in “The Law of Action” Facebook group with her. And another woman on the chat was Mari Smith, whose area of expertise is using Facebook “for fun and profits” (http://whyfacebook.com).

Find groups on Facebook that are of interest to you

If you click on GROUPS under “Applications” on your Facebook account home page, a search engine for groups will pop up. Put in a description of your interest (I just tried bird watching to see how many groups would come up – lots) and you’ll get a list of groups connected to that subject.

Click on each group’s pages to read about the group and then choose a couple of groups to join. Be an active participant in discussion topics (that’s the giving part) and begin to get and make friend invites in the group (the getting part). And you can always drop out of a group if you later decide it’s not right for you.

This is an organic way to start making friends with people of similar interests – and a first step towards utilizing Facebook connections “for fun and profits” as Mari Smith would say.

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Flipping Burgers and Beyond, Facebook groups, BlogSquad, Kathleen Gage, www.queenofmarketing.com, http://whyfacebook.com, internships, jobs, careers