Are you looking for employment? How many resumes and cover letters have you mailed out in the past couple of weeks? Are you confident that two pieces of paper can accurately portray everything you have accomplished?
With unemployment at 7%, it’s time to start thinking outside the box! You need to find a way to separate yourself from everyone else applying for those positions. Have you tried using social media to help you get your foot in the door? I’m not just talking about updating your LinkedIn page (although that should be done). Facebook and Twitter are two other great resources for your job search process, but those two platforms can also turn off a potential employer depending on how you are perceived.
So how do you leverage social media to help you land your dream job?
- Change your Facebook profile security setting to private. Make sure that only your friends can see your information.
- Update all your social media platforms with your current information.
- Make sure all profile photos are of you in a professional appearance. A potential hiring manager doesn’t need to see pictures of your wild nights out at the bars.
- Let your friends and followers know you are looking for a job. Check their information, see what companies your friends work for and if they are hiring. It never hurts to inquire about companies that interest you!
- Have a link to your resume on every platform. If LinkedIn feels too formal for some platforms, create an about.me page and put links to that in your social media. It’s more informal and fun but also an easy way for people to learn about you.
- Be active on LinkedIn. Having a page is one thing but joining groups and discussions is very helpful. Not only will you be able to network more efficiently, but you will probably learn a few things about your industry as well!
- Follow any company you are interested in on Twitter. You can interact with that company, retweet things you find interesting and get a better feel for what their culture is like.
- Search for relevant hashtags that pertain to your industry. Follow those hashtags, interact with people in your field and show that you know what you’re talking about!
- Start a blog to showcase your expertise and be sure you have links to it on all your profiles as well. This will give you good material to use during an interview, and maybe a company will come across it and seek you out as well!
- Consistently tweet about your industry and ask questions to experts using relevant hashtags.
It might sound vain, but Google your name and see what comes up. If you don’t like it, you better fix it. A hiring manager will be doing the same thing and if you don’t like it, chances are that they won’t either and you just saved them time by taking yourself out of consideration for the job.
Whether or not you actively use social media to search for a job, a hiring manager will be using it to screen potential candidates. Put your best foot forward…digitally!
