Social Media Job Hunter: 5 Sites and 10 Things ‘To-Do’ on Them
Maximize Your Job Search Capabilities Across Social Media
Introduction
Networking is one of the most important tools when job searching. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that around 70% of all jobs are found through networking. According to the Society of Human Resource Management, greater than 90% of employers are using social media as a recruitment tool. Employers are using job boards less and social media more.
In this article, we’re going to give an overview of how the major social media sites are being employed as job search tools. Consider using the sites below to enhance your social media presence and, in effect, your career through a boosted job search capability. Further, we’ll review 10 important ‘to-do’ items to help properly position you on social media.
Now let’s discuss our social media channels of interest and how they can get you a job and where to go for more information.
It's no secret that LinkedIn is the top professional social networking site with 133 million users in the U.S. alone and reaching 200 countries and territories around the world (562 million users worldwide). Per the Jobvite Recruiter Nation Survey, 87 percent of recruiters use LinkedIn as part of their candidate search. Checkout Axelerate’s LinkedIn page.
LinkedIn allows you to do the following: create your personal network; join groups arranged around specific professional interests; incorporating samples of your work; and accumulate and dispense endorsements. Here are 14 ways to use LinkedIn to get a job.
With over 10 million active job listings, LinkedIn is an excellent source for accessing job postings. Job search results provide a listing of jobs and as well as identification and relevance of individuals in your network who might refer you to relevant jobs.
Always known as the social media of choice for friends and family, more and more employers are placing job advertisements on Facebook. Business Insider states there are 65 million businesses currently using Facebook pages, and a recent study by 'Jobvite' found Facebook to be the second most popular social network for recruiters. Here are 9 Tips to Leverage Facebook for a Successful Job Search.
According to the Society of Human Resource Management, greater than 90% of employers are using social media as a recruitment tool. Employers are using job boards less and social media more
Facebook job postings can be found in two places: on a specific company’s Facebook page under the Jobs tab and on a separate jobs page that you can use to search all job listings by location, industry, skill, and job type. Facebook also boasts interest groups of every imaginable kind – join those that might provide access to networking opportunities. Of course, Facebook allows you to ‘follow’ and ‘like’ companies of your choice. You can build a social resume with Facebook. Facebook also allows you to apply for jobs – but the functionality is limited (but expanding).
With 1.3 billion accounts and 326 million active users, Twitter is the premier networking tool. But how does a 140-character tweet help your career? It might not be apparent at first, but Twitter flies under the radar with some powerful career tools.
Active Twitter users can find hidden job leads. You can develop and promote your professional brand here by posting information of interest to individuals in your field. One benefit of Twitter is the free-flowing communication that allows you to talk directly to recruiters and hiring managers without the need to submit a resume first. Checkout How to Use Twitter to Find a Job.
Most job seekers aren’t using Instagram for professional purposes. As of 2019, there are approximately 110 million Instagram accounts in the U.S. 71% of American companies have Instagram accounts and 25% of recruiters are investing in Instagram. Companies are increasingly turning to Instagram to promote their cultures and their open jobs. Instagram is turning into a forum where recruiters want to put ‘life at their company’ on display and find out about your life outside of work in return. How to Use Instagram for Job Search provides excellent guidance for engaging potential employers on Instagram.
Instagram presents a unique opportunity to mine knowledge that might well give you a leg up on the competition. Insights gleaned from target companies’ accounts will be information the competition won’t have. This strategy is germane to both the company and its leading employees.
Pinterest is most useful for creative types like interior decorators, artists, and graphic designers who can post visual representations of their work. Pinterest claims over 250 million active monthly users and is heavily trafficked by women, so professionals like contractors who wish to promote their services to women are likely to accrue the greatest benefit from the site. In 2018, Pinterest was the fastest growing social site in terms of overall member growth.
You’ll want to do a couple of things on Pinterest to support your job search. ‘Pin’ your resume to the site for convenient access right from Pinterest. Link your pin board to your other social and websites. Follow potential employers and visually build your brand. How to Put Your Pinterest to Good Use and Land a Job provides the information you need to make Pinterest a brand building and job research tool.
YouTube
YouTube touts a user base of over one billion individuals. Its statistics are almost too staggering to even list here. 90% of 18-44-year old Americans watch videos on YouTube. YouTube is the second largest search engine and the second most trafficked site in the world. Not only can you get a job on YouTube, but it’s slowly becoming more popular to do so. Right now, YouTube is principally a passive vehicle – as are certain other social media platforms discussed here – for job searching as they put you and your skills, experience and talent on display.
YouTube is an excellent vehicle for incorporating video samples of your work, as well as evidence of your communication skills or personality into your job search. Of course, musicians, actors, teachers, consultants, and trainers have used the site for years to promote not only their skills and products, but in many cases – YouTube video is itself the product. Many other jobseekers can benefit from creating a video profile that showcases their personality and demonstrates their career-related skills. 5 Ways to Get a Job Through YouTube covers what you can do with the platform to support your job search efforts.
Pay careful attention to these 10 ‘fact-of-life’ recommendations when employing social media in your job search.
To Do #1 – Ensure Images Are Professional and Consistent
The first thing visitors to your social sites will notice are the visuals and your name. Make sure your putting on a friendly, professional and relaxed face. What is professional, you ask? Look around and find out what your contemporaries are doing and wearing. Once you settle on your imagery, be consistent.
To Do #2 – Build Your Professional Brand
First, understand the difference between personal and professional brands. The distinction between the two is often obscure and the two are often used interchangeably. Your professional brand is built for your career and next employer as well as those you interact with in that process. The personal brand is about family & friends and what kind of person you are. Check this out – How to Create a Professional Brand.
Do #3 – Make Social Sites Starting Points
Social Media accounts are not islands. They should link to something where visitors can learn more about you. This would include a personal website, portfolio, blog or anything where an interested party can find out more about you.
To Do #4 – Corral Your Social Media Sites
Conversely, make sure that you also have a central location for your social media accounts. This is normally some type of website, whether personal or blog. You might also link your LinkedIn account to a landing page with all your social media accounts collected there. At Axelerate, we keep ours packaged in the footer of our website pages.
To Do #5 – Don’t Forget About SEO
For the social media job seeker, your objective is to have prospective employers reach out to you. You can ‘grease the skids’ for them by applying basic search engine optimization to your social media presence. In this article, Lily Zhang walks you through the steps of making your profile more easily searchable – making you more hire-able.
To Do #6 – Demonstrate Your Thought Leadership
LinkedIn is a great place to show off professional experience & prowess within your chosen professional community. Twitter (and to a lesser degree – Facebook) are excellent sites to establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry. The idea here is to focus less on your past personal
accomplishments and more on sharing great leading-edge articles and information about your field. It’s in this environment that you can provide commentary and enlightened perspectives on news in your industry. This is where you’ll have conversations with other folks of like interest as well as conversations with the major players. Soon you’ll notice that people will begin to follow as you demonstrate your expertise across a disciplinary space.
To Do #7 – Exhibit Some Personality
While LinkedIn represents more of the straight-faced professional disposition you want to project, the others allow you to be a little more personable and let the world see a bit of your individuality. Of course, you’ll keep it professional – no cursing, inappropriate jokes, or sharing of information that could be construed as offensive or divisive. Consider communicating comical observations, articles about non-professional personal interests. Popular TV shows can provide fertile ground to make associations. Being a real person will make it much easier to connect with new people—and hiring managers looking at your social media profile will be able to see what a great, fun co-worker you’d be for potential jobs.
To Do #8 – Follow the Leaders in Your Field
The simple truth here is that Twitter is the principal social media channel to start following thought leaders in your space as well as to begin to engage with strangers. An excellent way to start the engagement with strangers on Twitter is to re-tweet one of their posts that you like or reply to an article they posted thanking them for sharing that information. Twitter provides an excellent forum for associating productively with people and companies you don’t know. This is more difficult to do on platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn.
To Do #9 – Get Industry Specific
Social media channels have become so prolific that there is likely a channel tuned to your professional interests and specific industries. For instance, if you’re a developer GitHub is a prime example – it is the place for showing off your work and connecting with others. What about writers? Designers? Photographers? All of these professions have social media channels with functionality that organically accommodates one profession(s) over other(s).
To Do #10 – Clean It Up!
I’m certain that you’re aware of this but do make certain that your social media channels are squeaky clean. This means that there is no foul language – clearly. Any bigoted or sexist remarks/posts might well get you removed from a social channel, or gift you with pariah status. Avoid hot or highly contested political topics – unless perhaps you’re a political pundit.
Conclusion
Hopefully, our brief discussions of the 5 selected social media channels along with 10 recommendations on social media in general will help put you on a trajectory that will build your brand, enhance your credibility within your profession, and land you the new job!
Join Our Community
Latest Posts from the
Consulting Center
Blog
