Social media can be an indirect path to new opportunities. Most positions are filled by referred candidates before job descriptions are ever advertised. The secret to finding an opportunity then is to extend your professional network. Social media can be a way to reach potential references or attract potential employers. Additionally, exploiting social media by creating brand presence ensures that a potential employer will like what they see when they investigate your profile.
A survey of over 2000 hiring manager conducted by CareerBuilder in 2013, found that close to 40 percent of employers use social networks to screen potential job candidates. Companies hire depending on what social media reveals about you. Build a profile on LinkedIn, engage in some Twitter, join groups that interest you, and post articles. Employers may soon be seeking you out. Here are some ways to use social media to your advantage.
- Step 1: Clean up your Facebook account. Employers research potential candidates using aggregation tools. These tools gather data from many online platforms and analyze them together. Ensure that any online information is suitable for a potential employer’s eyes.
- Step 2: Create a profile on LinkedIn. Post your relevant experience and a brief bio. Don’t post your complete resume because that should be tailored according to specific job opportunities. Instead, describe your best skills and use language that might be picked up by digital searches. For example, if you hope to find a marketing or website analyst position, use relevant terminology to describe your experience such as data analytics and SEO.
- Step 3: Engage in online networking. LinkedIn will automatically send you suggestions for groups to join and notifications of people who want to connect with you. Choose wisely, but read posts from others and engage in discussion on relevant topics. LinkedIn will also sends listings of companies that are hiring and suit your profile.
Brad Schepp, the co-author of “How to Find a Job on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+,” advises searching for profiles that you would like to emulate and using those as a guide to develop your own online presence. Ensure that there are no typos in your information.
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