HRMargo Social Media HR Evangelist

It’s Friday. TGIF if you are gainfully employed. Have you considered what Friday is like for an unemployed friend? A friend who has a family to feed, and a mortgage to pay?  It’s thank goodness it’s HireFriday, with a little help from my contact network, I might get an interview next week. It’s so easy to give a helping hand. Jobseekers everywhere rely on referrals from their friends, colleagues and business associates. I created this grassroots movement on twitter, facebook and linkedin to give jobseekers visibility. These social platforms don’t need another job board. What we need is kind people like you to encourage your unemployed friends, and family members to introduce themselves to our growing community. I encourage jobseekers to think like a recruiter when embarking on their search.

This past week, Huffington Post published an article about organizations who post job advertisments, stating they will only hire people who are employed. In hindsight, the bad publicity via bloggers went viral, and it sparked an outrage in the HR & Recruiting community. Companies that will only consider the employed population are missing out on a wealth of talent. I will address this issue in a future post.

As a community, HireFriday participants can be a force of good will. We can offer jobseekers exposure to our followers, contacts, and friends. The world is filled with positive, upbeat people who are committed to being helpful, generous, and kind. Encourage the jobseekers you know to post their linkedin profile to the HireFriday page on facebook, join our brand new group on linkedin, and tweet on their behalf. Better yet, empower them to introduce themselves to our community. Tweet your: @name/jobdesired/industry/location/keywords. Post your resume or linkedin profile in the #HireFriday twitter stream, and on the HireFriday fan page.

What started as an alternative to FollowFriday on twitter has mushroomed into a global community of jobseekers, recruiters, HR professionals, and business people from all industries. HireFriday is taking off in the UK and in Canada. It’s an easy way to pay it forward. Today, my thoughts are with unemployed Americans, disabled candidates, and military veterans who are struggling. It doesn’t cost a dime to be kind.

I’ve established guidelines for HireFriday, and I encourage you to read this post, and paying it forward by sharing it with your contacts. Together, we can put people back to work. Passion is not what you do, it’s what you are. If you do what you love, it is a gift. Jobseekers have the unique opportunity to brand themselves in an exciting new way. Use HireFriday as a jumping board to launch the new you.

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