Dear Classy Career Girl, I purposely have no friends (I’m a happy loner). I’ve been that way my whole life. I have no online accounts whatsoever (Facebook, Linkedin, Myspace, etc). Will I not be hired just because of THAT? Thanks, Happy Loner
Dear Happy Loner,
No, you do not need to have social media accounts to get hired. After you apply, recruiters may look around the Internet for more information about you but they are mostly looking to find negative information about you. If they find nothing, it doesn’t mean that they will rule you out. Instead, hopefully it means they will call you in for an interview.
BUT, since this blog is about networking and reaching your full potential, I do have to say that I don’t think you can be the best you can be without taking the time to reach out and connect with other people. I know what it is like to be a happy loner – I could sit and read a book by myself for the entire weekend. Yes, we can learn from books and being by ourselves but there is so much more we can learn from interacting with other people.
Dear Happy Loner,
No, you do not need to have social media accounts to get hired. After you apply, recruiters may look around the Internet for more information about you but they are mostly looking to find negative information about you. If they find nothing, it doesn’t mean that they will rule you out. Instead, hopefully it means they will call you in for an interview.
By building your network on Facebook or Linkedin, you will have many people at your fingertips to help you find your next job. Networking expands your world view to include experiences different from your own. It provides you a support team that can give you advice and help you out when you have an issue.
Happy Loner – I challenge you to meet with one new person this month and then write down what you learn from them after the meeting.
Photo by moriza
Good luck!
Classy Career Girl
(This edition of Ask Classy Career Girl was sponsored by London jobs, charity jobs and environment jobs).
Readers – What is your advice for Happy Loner?
About Anna Runyan
man – I have WAAAY to many accounts, emails, Several Facebook, Linkedin, Google+, flickr, Youtube, twitter….. You can have some of mine!
As an introvert, I can definitely relate! I would much prefer to spend time alone, but I know I should expand my network. The 4 x 4 networking challenge feels like trying to run a marathon after doing nothing but sitting on the couch
I'm going to try and ease into it by doing a 2 x 2 instead 
I have a slightly different opinion. I think it depends on your industry. I happen to work in the eCommerce start-up world and having a social presence is paramount. I think of it this way, we're into technology and we want our employees to be into it too.
The "Happy Loner" has a great deal of self-awareness and I like that. It may not get him or her a PR job but I can think of several jobs that appeal to the introverted where employers look for that type of person such as programmers, accounting, cytologists (or lab jobs), engineering, editing/proofing, actuary, library. You may not want to have a social online presence or make new friends but you won't get hired if you don't have a savvy, well-written resume and cover letter that strongly highlights your experience and skills. If you aren't networking then you have to make sure the job hunting tools you are using are even more effective, and you might want to think about spending time preparing for your interviews since you aren't the social type. You'll have to put more time and energy into these areas than the "social types" and if you don't get a job ask for feedback on your interview or have another person who you trust to look at your resume and help you with your interviewing skills.
Elizabeth-Totally know how you feel!
I am the same!
Another Happy Loner: That is AWESOME!! Good luck with the 2 X 2 networking challenge. Congrats on pushing yourself out of your comfort zone! I am an introvert too so I definitely know how you feel!
Keesha-Thanks for your thoughts! Agree that it is important to do research on the industry that you want to get into and see if having a social media presence is important.
Anonymous: Those are perfect jobs for introverts. Thanks for listing them! I am also a fellow introvert and I think that it is important to push yourself outside of your comfort zone also otherwise you will not know what you are capable of doing. For instance, going to business school was huge for me because I felt like the only introvert in my class:) Preparing for an interview is also important for me because I don't wing things like many other people I know!! Lucky us!!
I love social media, especially blogging, but I don't spend the time on it that gurus say you need to spend on it to really reach people and accrue your maximum audience. I wish I had more readership on my blog, but I just don't spend the time on networking that it takes to make draw that readership in. I guess, in the end, I really just like living my life over connecting through a virtual medium, but that MO comes in a very close second to the real thing. There's just not enough time in the day, but it also – and most likely – could be that I'm just not balancing my daily activities the right way.
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