If you are employed in a career or looking for your next sales position, you need to have your profile on LinkedIn.com Why, you ask?

It’s a social networking site designed strictly for professionals. The beauty of this site: your direct connections (your professional network of contacts) become linked to your connections’ connections.

Think of the sheer numbers - 36 million professionals listed on LinkedIn in 200 countries around the world. In fact, many headhunters and top managers check out candidates for sales management on LinkedIn. Employees in companies often alert their network of friends about available positions and can provide job hunters with valuable tips about a company’s corporate culture and about the hiring manager.

As a candidate for a sales position, you can use LinkedIn to search for companies that you would like to work for, search for available openings, and quiz your network and their networks for anyone who may work for the company. After all, the best referral you can get comes from someone who works on the inside.

Both employees and job seekers can also keep abreast of the latest in their sales field by taking part in discussion groups. They can also alert their networks of any sales openings they discover. So, do yourself a big favor - take the time to update your professional profile on LinkedIn and make sure your contacts are up to date.

Now for the social networking service Twitter.com – that’s gotten so much press lately. Twitter is simply a way in which you keep everyone in your network informed about exactly what you are doing right now. (Think like a reporter on the scene.) However, you cannot “over-speak” with Twitter, as each message (known as a tweet) can only be 140 characters (spaces, not words) long. Because of these limits, you have to be REALLY BRIEF.

People use their laptops or their cell phones to send tweets to anyone (tweeple or tweeps) they allow to follow them in their day. Who’s taken to Twitter beyond the youthful tech-savvy? US Congress has, because they can speak directly to their constituents without the filtering of news reporters. Reporters have, for breaking news. People in court cases have.

How can Twitter help you in your hunt for the next best sales professional position? Every time you get a lead on a possibility, you can query your “tweeple” to find out if anyone knows anything more. You can also keep your sales recruiter informed about how you did right after the interview. And, if you hear of a position that you are not interested in, please let your Twitter network help someone else out.

So, go ahead and sign up for Twitter, but protect your profile by approving only those whom you trust implicitly to follow you. And, download apps so you can “tweet” to your cell phone. As with any social networking site, keep your private life out of your employer’s or future employer’s hands.

Target Consulting Group, LLC is a well-established sales recruitment and placement firm providing all kinds of companies and organizations in New England and nationwide with top performing sales professionals. They offer both commission-based placement and retainer search for companies.

You may be one of the many sales professionals who just lost their jobs, or maybe you’re hanging on to your job, but are understandably nervous!

The same old rules apply. Revise that resume. If you’re still employed, seek out more ways to bring value and $$$ to your company. If you have gotten out of the habit, start networking NOW.

Network the Right Way

Remember, good networking etiquette is important. Don’t just attend that industry meeting to pass your resume around, expecting a good connection without paying your dues. Instead, join a committee. Value these new connections, by volunteering your talents, your time, your sales knowledge, sales recruiters and company contacts or your advice. Then, when the time comes that you need referrals, they will gladly help.

Facebook – One Way to Find More Industry Contacts & Sales Professionals

Another way to network is by joining Facebook. Originally a social media site devoted to the 18-year- to 34-year-old market, Facebook’s fastest growing segment is the 30+ market. Currently, it has about 175 million active users.

We think Facebook is a great way to connect with other sales professionals and sales recruiters, friends and family and communicate with them. But when you sign up, we think you should keep each of these categories (sales pros, friends, family) as separate groups. Why? You wouldn’t share the same information with your family that you would with your boss, would you?

Keep Your Business Hat On

Always act professional and don’t "over-reveal" yourself like many students have mistakenly done on Facebook and MySpace. Your boss or prospective employer does not have to know that you do a mean tango, or enjoy fine red wine…either does your mother!

Be careful about the information you do include on your profile. (Again, if your mother would be shocked to hear about it, do not include it! If you wouldn’t put it on a sales resume, then delete it.)

Be Selective – Make Facebook Work for You

Facebook is one place to start networking with other professionals in your field – people you know and then colleagues and peers of people you know. We suggest that you be selective about whom you invite to join your "pro" list. The goal is to get more meaningful professional sales contacts, including sales applicants and sales recruiters, not just a huge list!

You can even share electronic samples of your portfolio on Facebook with interested companies, if you don’t have access to an FTP page.—Just make sure you respect your company’s confidentiality agreements and copyrights.

Target Consulting Group, LLC is a well-established sales recruitment and placement firm providing all kinds of companies and organizations in New England and nationwide with top performing sales professionals. They offer both commission-based placement and retainer search for companies.