Don’t remain invisible

While you don’t want to share too much, leaving all personal information out of your profiles to protect your privacy can put you in the same league as colleagues who show up for casual Friday in a business suit. A few well-chosen items about your interests or charitable activities can make it easier for other like-minded folks on a site — including potential employers — to strike up a conversation. “If you just put your resume on LinkedIn, you’ll be like 500 other people who share the same skill set,” says Hain.

Antoine Dubeauclard, president of the Web-development company MediaG in Troy, Mich., says his company routinely researches potential hires on social-networking sites to figure out what type of projects would be a good fit for them. If he found from a person’s Facebook page that a candidate was really interested in music, for example, he might try to see if he could have them work with music-industry clients. “We want to get to know them,” Dubeauclard says. “What are the things that get them really excited? When we can dovetail, that makes them much happier.”