With an extremely competitive job market coupled with a down economy, you may be looking for creative ways to find leads and connect with hiring managers. You may even be wondering if social media is the answer. Is it worth investing the time? Will I really get results? Which site should I try first? These are only a few of the questions I'm sure you have.

If you feel you’ve exhausted all your options and haven’t tried social media, I would highly recommend it. What do you have to lose? Social media is very similar to going to a networking event, except its less invasive and you can network on your own schedule. Similar to a networking event, you try to engage with people you don’t know as well as maintain relationships you’ve already created.

When starting, first and foremost, if you do decide to try social media, you must know you have to make a time commitment. The more time you invest into sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, the more results you will receive.

Which site should you use? This depends on the type of job you are seeking and the people you already know. In general, I recommend using LinkedIn for job searching over any other site because of its professional nature. This is especially true if you are not using any social media and are looking to start.

Here is just an overview of 3 popular social networking sites:

LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) - is known for being business-oriented and can be used to find jobs, people and business opportunities. You build your network by asking people you may or may not know to connect with you. Once they accept your invitation, you then get access to their network as well. LinkedIn allows employers to list jobs and search for potential candidates through keywords, job titles, location, etc. Job seekers like yourself can review the profiles of hiring managers and discover which of your existing contacts can introduce you. If you are new to social media, this is a great site to start with because of its professional nature.

Facebook (www.facebook.com) – was initially created for college students and the tools and usage are more social in nature then business-oriented. The site is typically used to network with friends and family allowing users to send messages, update their personal profiles, share photos and videos, tag people as relatives, comment on someone’s public wall, etc. This site can be used for job seeking purposes by letting your network know you are looking and by providing status updates. If you are looking for a job and currently use Facebook; make sure to always keep your comments and pictures professional. If you don’t already have a Facebook account, you may want to try LinkedIn before you try this site.

Twitter (www.twitter.com) – is a micro-blogging service that enable its users to send and read messages known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on your profile page and delivered to your followers. This is great site to find experts within your industry and to get connected with them. As a job seeker using twitter, this site may take the most time to build a relationship that could ultimately end in a job.

On all social networking sites, you have to be diligent in updating your profiles and status. Make sure to offer your connections, followers, or friends some benefit so they want to continue to follow you. This can be status updates, knowledge, humor or insight into a topic. And always remember to only post items that you would want a potential employer to see.