Most of us have heard or read about an employee who was fired for posting something less-than-appropriate on a social media Web site. And for good reason-over-sharing personal information online is the number one faux pas professionals make, says Tony Stajduhar, president of the permanent recruitment division for physician recruiting firm Jackson and Coker.

But don't let that scare you, because social media are an excellent way to boost your job search, he says.

"Life is always about networking and getting your name out there and getting in groups that will get you involved with finding out who different recruiters are," Stajduhar says.

The best social media tool for job searching is LinkedIn, and specifically, the job boards and group pages there, he adds.

"When someone does that and [connects with] a recruiter, that job may not be the one they want, but the recruiter may have another job and they may keep you in mind when other things come up," Stajduhar says.

No matter the site, keep your profile page updated with your information and curriculum vitae-with a caveat.

"Don't go into detail,” Stajduhar says. “Too much information about where you played a lacrosse tournament is probably not going to be interesting to some people.”

For physicians who may not have been in job-search mode in the last decade or so, a lot has changed, and embracing social media and the Internet in general during a search has ample benefits.

When Stajduhar entered the physician recruiting industry more than 2 decades ago, sending out flyers and letters in the mail was the primary form of attracting doctors.

"That's the biggest diff[erence] to me-it's not just happenstance of opening the right letter at the right time or running into the right person at the right time," he says. "Today, people can be very proactive in their search. If someone is looking hard enough, they'll be able to find the right thing."