You grab your phone, check to see if anyone posted anything new on your Facebook Timeline, switch over to Pinterest to see what your friends have added to their boards, and then over to Instagram to see some cool photos; and you haven’t even rolled out of bed yet. Sound familiar? Now, how much time are you spending connecting with people who can help you land a job? When it comes to starting your new career, the key to success is making connections.

According to many career search professionals, more than two thirds of the available jobs in the U.S. aren’t posted anywhere online. If a job isn’t posted, how are you going to learn about it? If you’ve developed a strong network of connections in LinkedIn® and perhaps on Twitter, then you may be fortunate enough to learn about job openings before they get posted.

How do you know who to connect with? How do you make the connection? What do you say? Before answering these questions you must know the first rule of a successful job search:

Don’t search for a job. Search for the companies you want to work for.

By doing your research and compiling a list of companies that you’d like to work for, you have immediately created a tangible goal for yourself; to find a way to land a job with one of the companies on your list.

Researching companies –

LinkedIn® is the ideal place to begin your company research. By using the advanced people search function to search for industry specific keywords, you can quickly identify companies in your designated geographic area that have hired people with similar backgrounds to yours. From there, jump on over to Glassdoor.com, where you can learn what current and former employees say about a company’s culture, pay and benefits, and even the questions they ask during an interview.

Who to connect with and how to connect –

Your goal in making connections at the companies on your target list is to gain information. The best source of relevant information is from someone who is already doing the job you’re interested in doing, or someone who supervises the people that are doing the job you’re interested in. Again, using LinkedIn’s® advanced people search, enter the company’s name and likely title of the person you’re interested in connecting with. The next step is to determine if you have any shared connections with the individuals identified in this search. If you do, then requesting an introduction is your next step. If not, then you should contact the person directly. In either case your message should be something like this:

My name is Mary Smith and I’m graduating next week with a Bachelors Degree in Computer Animation. I’m doing research on companies in the area that work with computer animation and was wondering if you had 10 minutes to speak with me about the Acme Company? I’m interested in learning about the culture of the company, the type of work you do and the type of individuals the company hires.

Never ask a connection if they can help you get a job! If the person agrees to speak with you, be respectful of their time. If they agreed to speak with you for 10 minutes then be sure to conclude the call within 10 minutes. Be sure to follow up with them with a “thank-you” note; either hand written or via email.

What’s in it for them?

As many companies continue to streamline, situations where an individual is being asked to do the work formerly done by several people are commonplace. This means that every position in the organization is that much more important and the consequences of a “bad hire” are more severe than ever. Companies are much more comfortable hiring a referral - someone they’ve made a connection with - versus a stranger whose resume is sitting in a stack with a hundred others. Many companies also offer referral bonuses to employees who refer candidates to fill open positions. In some organizations these incentives can be several hundred dollars. This is another reason why the person you’re asking to speak with you for 10 minutes may be motivated to do so.

A less stressful hiring process –

People tend to find the hiring process to be quite stressful. Some companies intentionally make the process stressful to “weed out” the weaker applicants; however, many job candidates that are referred to an opening by a current employee find the process to be less stressful than with companies where they did not have an inside connection. “So, how do you know Susie?” is a common opening to an interview where you have a connection. These interviews tend to be more conversational and less interrogative than traditional interviews. If “Dave” referred you to his boss, and “Dave” is a great employee, then Dave’s boss is excited about the chance to hire another great employee like Dave.

A few words of caution –

In another recent survey, the majority of companies surveyed said they review the social media profiles of their applicants and 44% have rejected candidates because of something negative they found. It’s prudent to assume anything you’ve posted online can be seen by anyone. Do not rely on privacy settings to ensure your privacy. Some things to exclude from all of your social media sites include:

Any references to drinking and/or drug use.
Inappropriate sexual comments, jokes or other references.
Any political commentary.
Any strong religious comments.
Any negative comments about current or previous employers
Inappropriate photos.

A good rule of thumb is if you wouldn’t want your grandmother or your boss to see it, take it down!

As a society we are “connected” like no other time in history. Learning how to grow and leverage your connections is the key to career success.