亲爱的安妮：我是刚毕业的大学生，到现在还没有任何一家公司向我伸出橄榄枝。不过，我未婚妻已经找到了份好工作，再过几周她就要正式踏入职场了。可问题在于，她的工作地点与我们现在的住所相隔千里之遥。当然，能搬到那里，我也很高兴，可是要在一个人生地不熟的城市找工作，这让我有些不知所措。早在我未婚妻找到工作之前，我就在目前所在的城市找到了一份暑期工作，因此我要到九月份才能搬过去。可我不想在搬到那里之后，只能依靠未婚妻“吃软饭”，我该怎么做呢？——再见了，豆城

    亲爱的豆豆先生：有一点你做的很好——你意识到现在就需要开始寻找目标，而不是等搬家之后。西雅图在线营销与品牌推广公司榕树枝（Banyan Branch）总裁布雷克•卡希尔称：“搬到一个新地方，不做准备，匆匆忙忙找工作是最不可取的。求职者需要逐步建立与当地的联系。首先，要找到正确的人。其次，要提出正确的问题。这样就能为搬家之后的面对面交流打下基础，也就有可能得到工作机会。”

    听起来很有道理，那么求职者到底应该怎么做呢？不妨试试下面六个建议：

    1. 充分挖掘社交媒体的潜力。保证自己在商务社交网站LindeIn上的个人资料是完整的，并及时更新；你的Facebook页面也已准备就绪，可以接受潜在雇主和同事的检阅。然后，利用社交网络上的搜索功能，找到你所中意领域中的职场达人。

    卡希尔强调：“LinkedIn小组是获取重要信息的绝佳途径。可以提出各种问题，比如某个城市中某个行业的就业情况如何，以及当地有哪些行业协会和职业团体最为活跃。通常来说，这些人对求职者非常有帮助。”

    卡希尔补充道：“Twitter也是一个非常强大的工具。比如，求职者可以搜索‘会计，西雅图’，然后就能看到有哪些人发布了与此相关的微博。然后关注他们。”此外，卡希尔还建议求职者尝试一下Twitter的目录工具Listorious，通过这一工具，求职者可以将自己感兴趣的领域与人、话题和职业等实现对接；而WeFollow工具则可以让求职者找到与自己具有共同商业利益的人。

    2. 有的放矢。卡希尔发现：“人们经常犯的最大的错误就是广泛撒网。不要漫无目的地关注所有人。有时候，有的人虽然Twitter粉丝相对较少，但在实际生活中，他的影响力却要强于那些微博红人。求职者应该与那些能真正提供帮助、而你也能给他们增加价值的人保持联系。”

    3. 先搜集信息，再着手找工作。卡希尔表示，既然在搬家之前还有一段时间，“别一上来就说：‘我需要一份工作。’这样是不会得到回应的。”

    更好的做法是参与讨论，然后等待伯乐的到来。要知道，工资收入调研机构PayScale最近调查发现，44%的大公司、65%的小公司和51%的中型公司，甚至包括许多猎头公司都会通过社交媒体进行招聘。（最近，互联网上诞生了一个直接从各大社交媒体网站整合工作岗位的全新求职网站JobsMiner，一个月内聚合的工作岗位就多达100万个。）

    所以，只要提高自己在网上的知名度，保持活跃，就可能有潜在雇主慧眼识珠，甚至省去了到处自我推销的麻烦——至少这项工作不必等到了当地就可以开展。

    Dear Annie:I just graduated from college and have not yet received a job offer, but my fiancée got a great job, which she's starting in a couple of weeks. The only thing is, it's on the other side of the country and, while I'm excited about making the move, I'm a little nervous about looking for a job in a place where I don't know anyone. I do have a summer job here, which I committed to taking before she got the news about her offer, so I won't be moving until September. What should I be doing in the meantime to make sure I'm not just riding her coattails when I get there? — Farewell to Beantown

    Dear Beantown:You're smart to realize that you need to start looking now, rather than waiting until after you move. "What doesn't work, when you're moving to a new place, is rushing in," says Blake Cahill, president of Seattle-based online marketing and branding firm Banyan Branch. "You need to build connections gradually. First, find the right people. Then ask the right questions. This way, by the time you actually move, you'll have laid the groundwork for face-to-face meetings that can lead you to job opportunities."

    Sounds great, but exactly how do you do it? Try these six tips:

1. Tap into social media. Make sure your LinkedIn profile is complete and up-to-date, and your Facebook page is ready for viewing by potential employers and colleagues. Then use the search fields on these social networks to find people in the field where you're hoping to find work.

    "LinkedIn groups are a terrific way to find important information," notes Cahill. "They let you ask questions like how the job market is, in your field in a particular city, and which local trade associations and professional groups are most active there. People are usually very helpful.

    "Twitter is also a powerful tool," Cahill adds. "Search, for example, 'accounting Seattle' and see who's tweeting about it. Then follow those people." Cahill also recommends checking outListorious, a directory of Twitter lists you can use to match areas of interest to lists of people, topics, and professions; and WeFollow which lets you locate people whose business interests match yours.

2. Be selective."One of the biggest mistakes people make is over-networking," Cahill observes. "Don't randomly connect with everyone out there. Sometimes a person with a relatively small Twitter following is more influential in real life than someone else who has a gazillion followers. You want to be in touch with people who can actually help you and for whom you might be able to add value."

3. Ask for information now, and a job later.Especially since you have time before you'll be moving, Cahill says, "don't just throw out there, 'Hey, I need a job.' You'll hear crickets."

    A better approach is to participate in discussions and see who contacts you. Bear in mind that, according to a new study from PayScale, 44% of big companies, 65% of small businesses, and 51% of medium-sized companies use social media for recruiting, as do many headhunters. (There is even a new job board called JobsMiner that aggregates about 1 million job openings a month directly from social media sites.)

    So just being visible and active online is likely to get you noticed by prospective employers, without your having to push -- at least until you get there and can do that, subtly of course, in person.