At
over 11 million visitors per month, Pinterest has passed the 10
million mark faster than any other standalone website (including Facebook and
Twitter). Could getting on board this booming social network help your job
search?

For
those who haven’t (yet) been lured in, Pinterest is an online pin board where
users can “pin” images they’ve found on the web. At first glance, it doesn’t
look like much more than a personalized online women’s magazine useful for
saving recipes and ogling unaffordable items, but there’s much more to
Pinterest that job seekers can take advantage of.

“Having
an active account can send a signal to an employer that you are an early
adopter of technology,” explains Shirin Khamisa, a career counselor and certified
coach at Careers By Design.

Don’t
forget that not so long ago Facebook profiles were reserved for university
students’ social lives, blogs were largely used as an online personal diary and
Twitter was often seen as a microblogging service thought to be used for celeb
gossip or sharing what you ate for breakfast. Facebook, Twitter and blogs can
still be used for everyday online socializing, but their ability to boost (or
bust) a job search can’t be denied. The same goes for Pinterest.

At
just a few years old, Pinterest’s personal branding potential is still being
played with. For example, U.S. Pinners are nearly all female users posting
about interior design, hobbies and leisure while the majority of U.K.
Pinterest
users are men pinning about venture capital, content management and
tech-centered content. With major brands getting on board, Pinterest can also
be used to research a potential employer’s brand in a space more frequently
updated than a website.

Designers
are using Pinterest to profile their work, writers to share their interests and
marketing professionals to show off their brand knowledge or eye for
advertising. College career service centres are using Pinterest to share career
words of wisdom and wardrobe advice (check out the University
of Pennsylvania,
for example). There are pinning categories for architecture, history, science
and nature and a quick search will come up with boards reflecting almost any
industry from HR to retail and nursing.

So
is it worth adding Pinterest to your online personality?

Online educators Nick Narodny and Thomas Samph
of Grovo.com think so.  In a guest blog
post they wrote for Career
Enlightenment, the online experts said that while “adding
another social network to your existing workload may seem overwhelming,
Pinterest is worth it. When a network has the kind of growth that Pinterest has
seen in the last few months, it’s the real deal: You want to be present from
the start.”