This article contains information on How to Get a Job through Social Media.
Apart from uploading your nice pictures, sharing fake and real news, liking and following your friends and non-friends, do you know you can also get a job via social media? There is a lot more to achieve with the social media tool, especially if you know how to play your cards right. I am sure you have heard of individuals who are making the six figures monthly, weekly with just their social media handles. They took some simple steps you are about to take in a few minutes. Do you know that with just a quick tweet, simple upload, like or subscription can land you your dream job? How? You may ask. With our ever-competitive job market, university graduates have to get more and more creative in order to get noticed. So let’s share some tips to help you secure a good job via your social media handles.
Social media platforms have made our daily life connections easy. From connecting to the known and unknown. Apparently, there is more to social media than just scrolling through nice posts, liking and commenting on them. As a graduate or a job seeker, if you strategize properly, you could be some few posts away from landing yourself your dream job. With such a competitive job market, graduates are having to get more and more creative in order to get noticed.
Using social media to land a new job goes far beyond updating your LinkedIn job history and making sure those party photos aren’t visible on Facebook. In addition to showing off your skills and experience in a personal way, social media can humanize the recruitment process for you and your potential employer.
Jazzing up your online presence and getting smart with what you post online will help you secure your dream job.
“Social media lets candidates stand out from early on in the process and gives recruiters a more holistic view of their capabilities and interests.” – Lauren Gambler.
STEPS ON HOW TO GET A JOB THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA
1. Research
“Do research on the company and see what you can do that plays into what they’re already doing”– Michelle Nickolaisen. Research is the essential foundation for your job search on social media as it allows you to target the right companies in the right way, which can be the difference between success and failure.
2. Own a Social Media Account
It would be cliché if anyone asks you if own a social media handle right? But really, I must ask what social media handle do you have and what do you do with them? LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook are some of the popular social media handles available. An average young adult can even have accounts in all of them. You do not have to be everywhere just a few that would help you push your professional life is just okay.
Make sure that your details are correctly spelt out and written with no atom of grammatical error. Errors automatically put the readers off; they immediately give a funny impression of you. But another question, what do you do with it? It is important that you update regularly your profile with the right information, decent pictures and uploads of rational contents. If as a journalist, you want a job as a reporter in a company, your social media account should contain some of your sample write-ups where you engage your friends and followers with your articles. An employee surfing through the internet can take an interest in your work and then send you a direct message to begin as soon as possible. There are a lot of stories of such. Also, note that being active on social media does not mean that you should have accounts on all social media platforms.
3. Share Your Profile
Share your Curriculum Vitae, online portfolio or a link to your works on your social media handle. LinkedIn, a social media account for professionals to network gives you the liberty to share your CV and gives you access to others too, you can monitor those that look at your profile while jobs that suit your profile are sent to you often when you put on the job notification function. If you are a graphics designer for instance, on your account like Instagram, you can share your link to your YouTube channel where you share some of your works, experiences and interests. By doing this, you impress upon your potential employee the type of person you are and the skill you possess.
4. Be Active On the Platforms
Be very active on platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter. If you are not on any of this, it is highly recommended for active job hunters. LinkedIn, for instance, makes a provision for job notification where employers can upload job opportunities while job searcher can be notified and apply with the “Easy Apply” function. Almost all companies have their presence on social media, and many of them are dedicated to providing information on their job vacancies. It would be a great deal if you follow them for firsthand information.
5. Engage
Apart from the regular chatting with friends, you should engage in social media debates and discussion. There are groups that are created for this purpose. Follow and like posts from companies, job search experts you are interested in. That alone gives a good impression about you. Twitter is one platform where you can engage in meaningful debates, however, it is necessary to do your own part by doing proper research on the topic of discuss and give clear and articulate comments when the need arises. You can also use hashtags, especially on twitter to find out relevant and trending topics of discussion, as well as post relevant articles you find interesting. When you do all of this, your reputation and followership grow, you would most certainly be hired.
6. Stay Up To Date
It is also important to keep up with news on industry online. You should also understand that just as recruiters can find information about you via your profile, so should you be up to date on what they are doing especially the area or sector you are interested in. What projects are they working on, what the new developments and how has technology influenced or disrupted the mode of activities. Technology has changed the way things are done; an accountant, for instance, would need to stay up to date on the latest training and skill relevant for the tasks at hand.
7. Build Relationships
Social media also gives you the liberty to build meaningful relationships. You can create and nurture genuine relationships especially through Twitter and LinkedIn. Social media provides a quick way to connect with people through the likes, shares and direct message function. You can also speak directly with your desired employer via your accounts. Stay in touch with people you know and create a relationship with people you don’t know. Also, apart from following recruiters or your dream company, follow major players in the field. An aspiring journalist is advised to follow personalities like Christine Amanpour of CNN. You can engage them by re-tweeting their posts and sending appreciation texts when they send in useful information via the DM function. While it is important you interact with people, you should know your boundaries.
8. Look Professional
You must have had friends on social media with very weird names or nicknames, but as much as possible use your real name especially if you are an active job hunter. It looks more professional and people would be able to search and find you easily by just typing your name. You should be consistent with them across your other social media handles. Don’t also forget your images too, they must be clear and look professional enough. You can take a cue from the social media handles of other professionals.
A careful consideration of these steps would boost your chances and create a lasting impression of you.
9. Make creative online posts
While we wouldn’t suggest signing up for every single social network just for the sake of it, there is a world outside Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
Picking out a few different tools and using them well can really make you stand out. Perhaps you could make a portfolio of your work on Instagram or Pinterest? If you’re a visual thinker, you could show this by taking the time to curate your pages artistically.
LIST OF SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS AND HOW TO USE THEM TO GET A JOB
1. LinkedIn
The most crucial social media job search site for any job seeker is LinkedIn. If you already have a LinkedIn profile, good for you! If you’re not already familiar with LinkedIn, it’s time you take the plunge! In either case, you’ll need more than just a passive profile to reap the benefits of this powerful professional platform. Why powerful? Because, beyond its capabilities as a networking tool, LinkedIn can help you research companies you’ve had your eye on, may help you determine the best people to contact at those companies and will highlight existing contacts in your network who might be instrumental in serving as a bridge to new connections. Research is an important first step because, once you know what makes a particular company tick, you can demonstrate how you can add value to their bottom line or all-important mission.
Building your LinkedIn credentials is an endeavour best-accomplished piecemeal. Your existing resume can serve as a framework to jumpstart your inclusion of education, experience and skills on your LinkedIn profile. Want to really stand out? Add organizations you’ve joined, volunteer work you do, cause you champion, and wrap it all up with a concise summary that grabs the reader’s eye by highlighting your personal brand. Ensuring consistency between your resume info and your LinkedIn profile is essential because recruiters and hiring managers will be using both platforms to make a hiring decision about you.
2. Facebook
Think that your social media job search begins and ends with LinkedIn? Think again. Facebook, Twitter and Google+ can help you, scout, for new opportunities as well. Your Facebook page can now be used to your professional advantage rather than just a way to keep up with high school buddies. Before you go job searching, however, wipe clean any remnants of inappropriate photos or comments you may have posted in an earlier time period when you were less concerned about your ‘professional online presence.’ Employers are often there, too, scoping out new recruits.
Just like LinkedIn, Facebook can link you to potential connections through their Groups feature by typing keywords such as “Human Resources” into the search box, which will present a selection of HR-related pages. In addition, organizations with company Facebook pages use them to promote their latest and greatest products and services, post videos and news about the company and even allow you to interact with other company ‘fans’ and customers. As jobs get posted on company Facebook pages, don’t overlook this potential source for opportunities.
3. Twitter
Your next stop on your social media job search is Twitter. The real-time nature of Twitter is such that opportunities come and go at a rapid speed, so you need to be signed in often, reading and commenting on others’ posts, and displaying your professional smarts while steering clear of dishing dirt or airing your family laundry. Your Username or handle can reveal a skill or an interest but when you’re seeking work, the most effective thing you can do is simply use your real name; that, and a brief bio suited to the type of work you seek, will enable hiring managers to find you. Unlike LinkedIn, where formality rules, you can show a bit more personality on your Twitter bio.
Whether using social media to find a job via Facebook or Twitter, position yourself for success by following industry blogs, news sites and people you find interesting. When something strikes you as useful, funny or shareable, you can repost. Since anyone following you may read what you post, maintain an upbeat, professional tone and gear your posts to topics that are aligned with your industry or field.
Try not to overdo the use of links or rely heavily on re-posts or retweets, as doing so doesn’t show you to be a good conversational partner. An important feature of both Facebook and Twitter is using hashtags to mark subjects you are tweeting about so that others who have that topic in mind can find like-minded followers among the throng of users. Try #jobsearch, #jobpostings, #jobhunt, #employment, #recruiters, #careers or similar hashtags to locate people who may be currently seeking you for their company’s opportunities. Looking for a job with a huge company?
