Social Media and the job hunt…
Who would have thought that Social Media would play a key part in jobhunting today? Although many of us may prefer to use traditional job searching websites, sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are being utilised by more and more employers each day and more than half of us are actively using Social Media as a tool to job hunt.
The stats
- 94.5% of recruiters have successfully hired candidates through LinkedIn
- Recruiters spend 58% of their time sourcing applicants and 49% of their time posting jobs on Social Media
- In 2012, companies were said to use Social Media to recruit for over 80% of their job openings
- More than half of employers react negatively to spelling mistakes and poor grammar on Social Media
So how can you effectively use Social Media to help land you a job?
LinkedIn is perhaps the most important and most useful Social Media platform when it comes to jobhunting. A bit like a professional online CV, LinkedIn gives you the opportunity to. You can even search for jobs on LinkedIn, as well as request for recommendations and referrals – the perfect opportunity to make you stand out from everyone else!
Top Tips:
- Use a quality headline – headlines are highly searchable so use keywords to describe your role, talent and skills
- LinkedIn is PURELY PROFESSIONAL! So no status updates about your crazy weekend or drunken photos!
- Make sure you have a PROFESSIONAL good quality profile photo
- Upload your CV and use key words relevant to your job search – tailor your profile to the kind of jobs you are looking for / the field you want to work in
- Think about your target audience – who are they and what are they looking for?
- Get and use connections in the industry – the more connections you have, the better chances having a connection that can help you with your job search!
- Add links to examples of your work/portfolio if necessary
- Join industry groups and participate in discussions
Twitter is also a successful job hunting tool.
- You have 140 characters for your Twitter bio, so use it to your advantage – promote yourself! Use keywords in your bio relevant to your job search
- Follow recruiters and potential employers
- You can even tweet your job search using #hashtags
- For Twitter, content of your tweets is important! For example, if you are looking to pursue a career in the fashion industry, then tweeting about fashion would be a good start! This would be a good chance to showcase your expertise to employers! It is not a good idea, to tweet about inappropriate topics such as how much alcohol you consumed last night or have a slanging match with your enemy using profane language! Just think, anyone can see it and that someone may be your future employer! You always want to make a good impression!
Many of us tend to have Facebook for personal use, but this doesn’t completely rule it out when it comes to job hunting. It is also important to note that some recruiters like to take a look at an applicant’s Facebook page just to get an idea of what they are like – so it is probably a good idea to make sure your profile photo makes a good impression!
Top Tips:
- Keep your work and education history up to date and relevant
- Add milestones and experiences that enhance your image
- Use your cover photo to show off your personality
- If you are really concerned on who might see your posts, then adjust your privacy settings! You can control who sees what on everything you post on Facebook – so you can make sure only your Facebook friends see your photos from your night out!
What are your tips for Social Media and job hunting?
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