Using Social Media To Find A Job
Using Social Media To Find A Job
Finding a new job can be difficult and nerve-racking, especially in today’s economy. With 14.5 million Americans currently out of work and an unemployment rate of 9.4% and rising, how does one find career opportunities fast?
The old approach to a job search – developing a resume, writing a cover letter, submitting your resume to corporate sites and job banks, and crossing your fingers in hopes of receiving a call from a hiring manager – is, for the most part, no longer viable.
Most people know that the best way to find a job is through networking. You can go to networking meetings, tap into your own personal network, or ask friends who they know. Similarly, there are many ways to use social media in order to network, and eventually find a job.
At Ogilvy, we use social media (among other things) to recruit potential new hires – a recent twitter example: “@kaimac looking for a social media strategist in NYC, 3 to 5 years of exp, client facing, must be awesome, DM me for details pls” resulted in the hiring of our newest Digital Strategist in New York, Priya Kapoor.
Listed below are some useful tips in using social media to find your next job…
Blog, Blog, Blog
Blogging allows you to showcase your talents to potential employers – they see how you write, see what’s important to you, see who you are personally and even see examples of your work. All that, before they even meet you. It helps make you a real person versus a piece of paper resume.
Consider posting comments on other blogs – this gets your name out there even more, and if you write something interesting, it may catch the eye of a potential employer. Social media guru Chris Brogan suggests blogging on the types of jobs you want. For example, if I want a job at a specific company doing public relations, I can blog about ideas I have for them.
Be Proactive On Twitter
Twitter is evolving as another resource for both job searching and recruiting. By conducting Twitter searches, following recruiters on your account and using the “@” sign to communicate with them on occasion, you will start to learn a lot about them and their companies.
Before you follow anyone on Twitter, you HAVE TO have a completed profile. Make sure your profile has a short bio, the location where you’re from, a link to a site that recruiters can go to for more information (e.g. your blog or LinkedIn profile).
Mashable has a great recent post on how to find a job using twitter – includes tips on maximizing your page, as well as various search tools and resources to assist with your search.
Take Advantage Of LinkedIn
With more than 44 million members in over 200 countries around the world, recruiters are starting to use LinkedIn as the main place for sourcing candidates because it’s free, and the top professionals are on there.
If you don’t already have one, create a LinkedIn profile, import your address book, and start taking advantage of this tool. You want to complete your entire profile, just like you would a resume, but include the same bio/profile you are using on Twitter (see above) and ensure that the summary section is complete.
The majority of the site is completely free to use, with varying monthly plans for additional features and options. There is also a growing number of applications that users can add to their profile, such as RSS feeds from a personal blog, local events, local job postings, polls, and other useful tools.
Try to get at least one recommendation from a supervisor or friend, which will give you a “1″ next to a “thumbs up” graphic when people search for you.
Build A Social Media Resume
The problem with submitting your standard resume online to job postings is that most job postings aren’t even vacant, might not exist, and 80% of jobs offers are received through networking. Social media resumes are useful for attracting hiring managers directly to you, without you having to submit your resume, blindly, to them.
Social media resumes include various multimedia elements, sharing options, integrated social networking feeds and the same elements you’d find in a traditional resume – for an example, check out personal branding expert, Dan Schawbel’s social media resume.
There are several websites to get you started, both free and paid. Bravenet.com is a free solution with many different tools, such as a polling feature and guest book to help you get started. Bluehost or Godaddy are a few paid options to host and build your website.
by Emily Harris
Pamela Day