Looking for a new job can be overwhelming sometimes, especially if you’ve been on the prowl for a while. While 20% of American adults are still shy about the internet, the other 80% – including most companies looking to hire – have found the Web to be a great resource for job seeking and finding. Most of us know how to use the big social media networks to interact socially – but why not use them to find a new job? Here are some ways you can you exploit Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to look for a new, exciting career:

1. Let Facebook do the Work

18,400,000 Americans found their job on Facebook in 2011 – More than Twitter and LinkedIn combined.  Most of us enjoy Facebook as a social platform, but the largest social media site on Earth can also be used for more practical purposes. How can you use Facebook to your advantage? Here are some simple ways to get started, and you can also read an in-depth analysis of them right here.

• First of all, let your friends and former colleagues know that you’re looking: update your status with the specific position/s you’re looking for, and ask them whether they’ve heard of any relevant hiring. Keep updating that job-related status every once in a while to let them know you’re still looking.
• Join a professional community, and “Like” potential employers’ pages. These pages can be a great way to gain new friends who can help you professionally. You can be an active member of a Facebook interest group by starting discussions, posting links and in general – letting people know about you and your field of expertise.
• Use Facebook Applications:  Branchout, the largest professional networking service on Facebook, allows you to search for positions and find out which of your friends are connected to the companies you’re interested in. SimplyHired aggregates job listings from thousands of sites across the ‘eb including job boards, newspaper, classified listings and more, and recommends jobs based upon your previous job titles and Facebook interests. BeKnown, an app launched in June 2011, acts as a sort of LinkedIn within the social network, letting Facebook users separate social activity from job-related activity without leaving Facebook. Facebook’s Marketplace has a Jobs section, where you can search for work by filtering location, keyword, job title, industry, company and type of position.

2.  Tweet for a new job

Unlike Facebook, Twitter allows you to connect to people according to common interests. Landing a job using Twitter can be done by following several steps, besides tweeting intelligently on the field in which you’re looking to get hired:

• Look for job listings under hashtags like #jobs, #recruiting, #jobadvice, #jobposting to name a few.
• Find out who currently works in the companies you want to work for.
• Create a network of people with like-minded professions. You can use Twellow in order to find people by area of expertise or profession.
  

3. Be on LinkedIn

The “Facebook for job-hunting” now boasts of over 150 million members, making it the largest business-related social networking site in the world.  Millions of Americans found a job using LinkedIn, using direct contacts or second or third degree connections.

There are abundant Job-related features on LinkedIn: you can review profiles of hiring managers and see which of your existing contacts can hook you up with a useful introduction, get notifications about available offers, bookmark jobs for which you’d like to apply,  use the “Apply with LinkedIn” button with companies that offer them, and much, much more.

Read 7 ways to get a job using LikedIn for an in-depth tutorial about the ways LinkedIn can help you land a new job.