How to use social media to look for – and get – a job...!!!
Networking has always been a great way to seek and gain employment. While attending industry events and engaging your friends and family are still valuable in the hunt for work, however, modern-day networking often means using social media – websites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn – to take your job search to the next level.
By Joydeep Das
Just make sure you’re doing it right.
“Because social media and online job-searching components are now part of the norm, candidates need to know how to benefit from the use of these tools in order to be successful in their search,” states Bernadette Kenny, chief career officer at Adecco, in a Holloway Schulz & Partners report entitled Job hunting in the digital age.
“A job seeker’s personal posts on social media outlets, as well as their overall ‘persona’ on the Internet, can harm their hunt for the perfect job – or they can turn it around and use these same tools to help them land a great position.”
Angela Crocker, a social media trainer with Beachcomber Communications, agrees. “We’re in a new age of job search [where] everything you’ve ever done online now has the potential to work in your favour or against you,” she says.
Crocker’s recommendation for any job seeker hoping to make a positive impression online: “Do a Google search for your own name and see what comes up in the first few results. Is that you? If not, then could the person be confused for you?”
Indeed, a study conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers found that “one in 10 employers will use social networking sites to review a job candidate’s information, gaining access through the public Internet domain into a person’s private life. More than 60% of employers who review the sites say that the information they glean there will have at least some influence on their hiring decision.”
This, says Dayna Chambers, a staffing consultant at Randstad Work Solutions, makes maintaining a positive online persona particularly important for job seekers.
“Remember, what goes online stays there forever, so represent yourself appropriately in your profiles and communication,” she explains. “Make sure others see you in the way you would like to be considered.”
For more tips on using social media to get a jobKeep reading for more tips from our experts, scroll down (that’s social media speak for read on).
FACEBOOK
Employers today know that, when they want to get a good, honest look at a job candidate’s character, Facebook is one of the best places to start.
“Every potential employer looks at your Facebook page when they do a search for your name, so make sure it’s locked down from a security perspective,” says Chris Breikss, president of 6S Marketing Inc. in Vancouver.
“Also, your friends of friends may not have their security settings set as high and people might be able to view pictures of you through others’ profiles,” he continues. “As a rule of thumb … try and remove any potentially objectionable content anyway.”
Adds Crocker: “Do the five-year-old drunk college photos on your Facebook profile represent who you are today? Are your [updates] filled with slang and profanity? Depending on the employer, this can work against you.”
Erin Gray, office manager at Wolfgang Painters, says it’s critical to “be aware of your online image and what it says about you to people who don’t know you.”
“If the company you’re looking at [joining] is advertising on Facebook, be mindful of your privacy settings when you are applying to it,” she explains. “If you can find them there, they can find you there.”
The fact that more and more companies (i.e., potential employers) are leveraging Facebook to spread the word about their products or services and build a fan base creates a new set of social media job search rules.
Breikss says you should “use the Facebook ‘Like’ button to like companies that you want to work for. You can also comment on posts that they make on their wall.” However, warns Crocker: “Only leave comments when you have something meaningful to say.”
TWITTER
Twitter, according to Lana Bradshaw, is a great way to follow staffing firms and “potential employers or companies you want to work for.” Just remember to keep your interactions professional (i.e., “no smiley faces”).
Chambers has some timely Twitter tips, too: be sure to have a professional profile and photograph; tweet the fact that you are looking for job opportunities; and search the site to find what you need.
“You can use visit search.twitter.com/advanced to search for jobs in your area and language,” she says. “Also check out third-party Twitter services like www.twitjobsearch.com.”
As a job seeker, it’s really important to take an active approach to your Twitter activity. “Twitter is best for contacting a company directly and asking if they have job postings or asking for clarification on job postings, rather than just combing their tweets,” Gray explains. “Use it to have conversation with people, rather than just as a broadcast tool.”
Breikss agrees. “Make positive comments on tweets by replying to them and asking questions,” he suggests. “Showing that you’re active and supportive will get their attention. However, you can’t build relationships overnight, so this type of strategy requires time and patience.”
LINKEDIN
When it comes to employment opportunities, Gray calls LinkedIn “by far the best of the big three to try and find a job.”
“LinkedIn is used by the HR departments of most organizations and is also popular among recruiters,” Breikss reveals. “It’s essentially your professional public resumé, and you should make sure that you fill it out well with previous work and school experience. Try and add contacts and ask colleagues for endorsements to improve your profile and leave a good impression.”
Bradshaw has some additional advice on leveraging LinkedIn for your job search:
join industry-specific groups, which usually include job boards with postings;
follow the human-resources staff of potential employers, who often post jobs; and
contact recruiters and try to set up a meeting to show them your resumé – even if they don’t have a current position, it helps to stay in touch.
Staying in touch on LinkedIn means “updating your status with news of your job search, changing your preferences to communicate with visitors to your profile that you’re interested in job opportunities and getting proactive by conducting an advanced search … for people, companies, jobs and groups,” says Chambers.
“Ask for introductions to friends of friends, and be careful not to have more than five requests to connect refused – otherwise your account will get blocked as a spammer
