Is Pinterest The New LinkedIn For Job Seekers?

Meghan Casserly, Forbes Staff

I cover the juggle of work, life and play for smart, ambitious women.

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Pinterest, for the uninitiated minority, is an online bulletin board for “pinning” images you like from around the web. It is also the fastest growing social network since Facebook.

But is it the answer to your unemployment?

What started as an addictive platform embraced by ladies, who commonly posted fashon, interior design and recipes (guilty as charged), was quickly descended upon by companies hoping to gain traction in the new social space that boasted more than 3% of all referral traffic online. That’s more than Google+, Reddit, LinkedIn and Myspace combined. We use the site at Forbes to highlight some of our more visually stunning real-estate and car coverage, as well as to archive some of the awesome photos taken for the issue. Seems about right.

In a post this morning, contributor Erica Swallow warned companies (including ours) against “haphazardly joining Pinterest” without a smart, well-considered strategy. Namely, “posting visually stimulating, marketing-free content” intended for the site’s key demographic of “mature female consumers.” Keep that in mind, she wrote, and you should be golden. I’m with you, Erica. But when theBrazen Careerist told job searchers that the “it-girl” of social media could be just the ticket to landing your dream job, I actually laughed at my editor.

Oh, heck no, I thought. A quick check-in with my own Pinterest feed (boards include: Stripes, Dream Rooms and Foods To Eat), unless I was hoping to land a job at Martha Stewart Living, I can’t see how my keen eye for design and delicious things would pique the interest of a headhunter or human resource executive.

But digging further, it seems my own user habits might be blinding me from all Pinterest has to offer. On his blog, Career Enlightenment, Joshua Waldman, the author of Job Searching With Social Media For Dummies writes that it’s best to consider Pinterest as just another outlet for exposure—and one with an audience of 11 million users and counting. His tips include how to perfect your “about me” section and curate your interests through pins and repins to build your personal brand on the site. On whether it works:

Can Pinterest get you a job? As with any kind of business decision, you have to consider the ROI. In our case, the ROI of social media is landing a job. So: is Pinterest worth it?

In sum: Yes. When you look into the data that’s flying around about the success of Pinterest, leveraging those stats will help get your personal brand in front of more eyes and more people who will hire you for your talents.

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