Social media is no longer just a way to stay in touch with your friends and family. In today’s world, many people are using social media as a tool to help land a job. If you’re in the market for a new job like many other people out there, using social media tools can help improve your odds significantly. Here are five ways that you can use social media to help your chances of getting a job.
1. Set Up LinkedIn Profile
While most people use Facebook and Twitter for their personal social networking needs, LinkedIn is the social network of choice for employers looking to fill open jobs. LinkedIn is a social network that provides individuals the opportunity to create a professional profile with information about their careers. With LinkedIn, you can build a profile that shows off your skills and professional experience while networking with other people in your field. While there’s nothing wrong with using Facebook, Twitter and Google+, LinkedIn is where it’s at when searching for a job.
2. Develop Contacts
If you want to use your social media influence to get a job, you need to develop as many good contacts as possible. Experts say that networking with others is still the best way to get a job in today’s market. Networking in person is always good, but developing friendships with the right people online can also be beneficial. Regardless of what social media profiles you have, you need to get to know many different kinds of people. Try to focus on people that are in your industry or in a related industry when it comes to building contacts. If you’re friends with the right people, you can sometimes find out about new job openings before they are posted anywhere else. This can sometimes give you a leg up on the competition.
3. Ask for Help
While you may have plenty of contacts on various social media sites, they won’t necessarily know that you’re looking for employment if you don’t let them know. You may want to ask a few different friends to keep their eyes open for specific types of opportunities to help you out. You may also want to put a note on your page that provides information about your current employment status so that your contacts will know.
4. Add Value
Participate in discussions and forum posts on the various social networks that you are a part of. Instead of just randomly making comments, try to add as much value as you can. People who have jobs to offer may take notice of your knowledge or ability by the value that you add.
5. Update Your Profile
Try to keep your profiles as updated as possible when you’re in the market for a new job. If your profile still has information that is outdated about your work history or your education, it could negatively affect your chances at successful networking. When your work situation changes, it’s important to update this information so that people can see what you’re up to. Every time you change jobs or leave a company, take that opportunity to update your resume and your social networking profiles. It could make a difference in your job search.
Based in Toronto, Canada, Alexis MacDonald is a social media maven and a content contributor for Kanetix.
Great post Alexis! I am a graduating with a degree in public relations in about a week and social media has played a big part in my job hunt. I have a LinkedIn account, but the past few weeks I have been working on updating my information. Making sure all your social media platforms are up-to-date is key when job searching. LinkedIn accounts allow for people to really showcase their skills and experiences, compared to a résumé where you have to keep everything to a single page.
Mariah Fairweather
Editor/Writer
Platform Magazine
platformmagazine.org
This post has great information in it because so many people are on different social networks today. I really enjoyed finding out about LinkedIn.com and will set up my account as soon as I can. This will be a great tool for helping locate job opportunities and an easy way for employers to know that I am available. Additionally, another great piece of information is to participate in discussion questions on company pages on social media. This allows the company to see your name and if you make intelligent responses that are in depth and beneficial to the company, they may try to contact you and an opportunity may present itself. Also, with social media the best thing you can do is build contacts. Most business people have contact information on their pages and if you are interested in the company they work for this is an opportunity to contact them and talk with that individual.
I did not realize how big of a role LinkedIn plays in today’s job search. I created a profile about a year ago on the advice of a friend, but I had no idea how important the website was. I will definitely have to update my profile as soon as possible. I had also not even considered that participating in a forum on LinkedIn could be beneficial. I will have to take LinkedIn more seriously from now on.
Great post! I currently have a LinkedIn account but I know I need to update it and utilize it more efficiently. I really like the advice about participating in websites and forums for companies/businesses you’re interested in. That is a great way to not only get your name out there ahead of time, but also gain some knowledge about the company that may come in handy during an interview.
Abby Menke
Southeast Missouri State University
I like to think I’m efficient in social media. I enjoyed this post because of the information on how to conduct a professional account. When asked if I am competent in social media in an interview setting, I feel i can answer yes without any reservations.
This was a very helpful post. Full of useful information. I created my LinkedIn account a few months ago and need to go back and spend more time on it to make sure it is as professional and updated as possible. Now knowing just how big of a role social media is playing in job searching now I will have to start working harder at keeping all my profiles and resumes current. LinkedIn is a great way to make connections and land a great job with all the companies using it to find new employees.
This post was very helpful to me i currently did not have a LinkedIn profile but i do have one now. I am going to do my best over the coming months after my internship to frequently update my profile page. My internship did not currently use any social media websites and i am now in charge of utilizing social media to market to consumers and potential employees. I never knew how great of a tool to linkedIn was and i am positive it will be a great help for me when i begin searching for jobs.
Thanks for the helpful information,
Nick Garlik