Although many people would rather keep their employers and their personal social media accounts separate, many people are finding a great deal of success in utilizing certain social media outlets to locate, interact with potential employers, and eventually land a new job.

So yes, it is absolutely possible for you to gain an added advantage in locating and getting hired for a new career in corrections if you know where to begin your search.

Networking has always been known to be effective in gaining the inside track on new and upcoming jobs, but just how useful is social media networking in today’s job market?

Well, many people have had a great deal of success using LinkedIn. Not only can you use LinkedIn while engaged in your job search, but after you create an account and set up your profile, you can begin to connect with new and previous contacts as well as begin your networking in an entirely different way.

Getting Started

Step 1:  Sign-Up and Set-Up Your Profile

After joining LinkedIn, one of the very first things that you should do is set up your profile. Now this will consist of some basic tasks that you would complete in any other type of social media account such as uploading a profile picture, entering some basic information and facts about yourself, and updating your work history and experience.

Make sure you double-check the information you submit to ensure that it’s accurate and free from error. Since you will be making contact with future potential employers, you want to strive to set up the most amazing LinkedIn profile that you can and make a good first online impression.

Step 2:  Build Your Network and Make New Connections

Again, like most social media websites, LinkedIn will ask you for your email account information in order to search for people you may know that you can invite into your network. You can also add people to your network but searching for people you know by name if you don’t feel comfortable giving out your email information, but this step is a safe as any other website that performs the same task.

Step 3:  Find Relevant Groups

After you set up your profile and start building your network on LinkedIn, you should then search for groups in the area you are interested, in this case, it would be correctional officers. By conducting the search you will be able to see if there are any groups for correctional officers or other members that have identified a connection to corrections. The LinkedIn Groups Directory can be found here: http://www.linkedin.com/directory/groups/

So there you have it, you have laid the groundwork for a major tool in social media that should benefit you greatly in your search for correctional officer jobs, recruiters, and like-minded individuals interested and involved in corrections.

Now go out, be active, and engage your potential friends or employers on LinkedIn!