Job Hunting with Social Media
I’ve been a big fan of social media for quite a while now, using it in some shape or form for the past 5 years or so, although much more heavily in the last 2 or 3 years. One of my main uses of social media has been to pick up freelance work, which I have discussed briefly in a previous post.
There is a lot of talk across the web on how employers or recruiters can use Social Media to find new talent, but there is very little advising jobseekers how to best use Social Media to help them land their next move. So I am going to offer a few tips on how to best use Social Media to help you in your job hunt.
The most important tip…
It’s more than likely that any potential employer WILL look at your Facebook profile, when deciding whether to a) interview you, or b) offer you a job. Those drunken pictures of you playing the Lying Down Game outside the Taxi rank at 4am may not exactly be looked on favourably by your would-be boss. Now I’m not saying for one minute that you should moderate the content on your Facebook account, but what I am saying is that you should make sure you have the right Facebook Privacy Settings to ensure that only your friends are able to see your Facebook activities.
Whilst a lot of people have a LinkedIn account, they don’t necessarily know how to use it properly. LinkedIn can act as a job board, a networking tool, your CV and a search tool – there’s a bit more to it than creating a profile and adding a few connections.
First things first, make sure your profile is as accurate and as up to date as possible, you should take as much care getting this right as you would your CV. Choose a photograph for your profile that is professional yet not too ‘corporate’, try to find a good balance between the two. Take advantage of the new “Add Sections” feature, in particular the Skills feature and the Certifications feature to mention any recognised qualifications that you may have.
Next up you should ask any current or former colleagues for a recommendation on your LinkedIn account. Recommendations are more than just traditional references, they can be from anybody you’ve worked with – colleagues, team members, your managers, pretty much anybody you’ve ever done business with. Try to get a good mix of people to recommend you, sometimes it’s not just the number of recommendations or what has been written that matters most; the connection between you and the person writing the recommendation often carries a lot of weight. Recommendations can act as ‘proof’ of your achievements, they help add weight and credibility to your profile.
Now this is the point where a lot of people then sit back, relax and think they have LinkedIn well and truly boxed off. Yes you’ll appear in some search results, and if hiring managers happen to stumble across your profile I’m sure that they’ll be very impressed. However, unless you have a moderately sized network, the chances of being found and contactable are slim unless you take some action.
This is where I get to talk about one of my favourite parts of LinkedIn – LinkedIn Answers. Recently I’ve found myself asking questions on LinkedIn on certain topics rather than just searching Google for a quick answer. Sure it takes a lot longer to find a good answer, but the quality of some of the answers are fantastic. In the last week or so I have asked questions on Web Development, HR Law and Social Media Marketing and I haven’t been left disappointed in the responses I’ve received. You can also check the credibility of those answering your questions by viewing their profile. So what has this got to do with your Job Search? You can be the person answering the questions, sharing your expertise, engaging with other professionals in your industry – getting your name out there and proving that you know what you’re talking about. Social Media is about engagement with other users, communicating with them, providing your audience with some value, in this case by answering their questions.
LinkedIn also has a pretty good job board, it doesn’t have as many jobs advertised as some of the more mainstream job boards, but one advantage is that if you have a decent sized network you can see how you are connected to the hiring manager.
How can 140 characters help you find your next job?. When I very first starting using Twitter, my main aim was to use it as more of an RSS feed of useful information, so I followed a lot of web designers, knowing that they always shared useful tutorials and articles. Then I started to reply to Tweets where I thought I could provide some value to the Tweeter, if they sought advice on something, I’d point them in the right direction if I could. Over a relatively short space of time I’d began to build up quite a valuable network, which lead to me picking up more freelance work – the same could be applied to finding a new job.
The most difficult aspect of Twitter is building up a quality following. Notice the word quality, I would much rather have 20 quality followers who I can engage with, than have 20,000 followers who do nothing but pretty much stalk me and contribute nothing. The best way to build up quality following is to follow people with whom you share interests, that way their tweets should be of value to you and you’re more likely to be able to provide value back.
LinkedIn have not too long ago introduced a tool that checks your connections to see if they are on Twitter, this may be a good starting point when deciding on who to follow.
Another tip which I have found particularly useful, although initially time consuming – use Google Maps to search for companies in your local area that may hire people with your skills at some point in the future. If that company is using Twitter, then a link to their account will usually be on their website, next them they’re hiring there’s a good chance they’ll tweet about it!
These are just some very basic tips on using social media to find a new job, the main thing is to be active and remember that whilst you may be using social networking to land a job, don’t be selfish in your approach and make your social activity all about your goals. Engage with your audience, provide them with valuable content and they will no doubt return the favour, that favour could very well be a job interview or recommendation!
