Looking for a job? Get your social media house in order

According to career coach Terri Lee Ryan, by way of Jobvite, 92 percent of companies in the United States now use social media as a recruiting tool. Almost all those companies use LinkedIn to search for employees, but a good two-thirds turn to Facebook, too, while about half use Twitter.

That means a social media profile is working its way toward being as important as a list of references or a résumé for job-seekers, particularly those looking for PR and communications work. Allie Herzog Danziger, founder and president of IntegratePR in Houston, says social media is her only stop when looking for job candidates.

“I’ve never looked for a candidate outside social media,” she says. That goes for employees at Integrate who manage social media sites for clients as well as those who do traditional PR. Those two sides of the business are growing together more and more, Danziger says.

She and other recruiters offered up a few key factors that make a social media profile stand out to someone seeking out potential employees.

Personality and poise