I must say that Social Media has changed the job search landscape dramatically over the past several years but many jobseekers have not embraced or accepted the changes and for the life of me I do not know why? So here are some ways to get the most out of social media in a job search.
LinkedIn: Of course LinkedIn is the #1 social media tool for a job search with the duel ability to help you find jobs you are seeking and be found by the recruiters and employers seeking the talent you offer. Today there are more jobs that can be searched on LinkedIn than any other search engine, and once you find the position you can then use LinkedIn to find out more about the company and identify people who can give you a possible in to the job posting you just found.
Briefly LinkedIn also offers an opportunity to literally and figuratively picture what kind of candidate you will make. Your photo will allow people to see how you look (so keep it professional), and you can post all of your academic credentials along with relevant courses, certifications and training seminars you attended , most of which should not appear on your résumé.
In your summary you have the ability to talk to people and use 4,000 characters to get a strong, powerful and personal message across to people and establish your personal brand.
On LinkedIn you can list the skills you have that others will use as key words to search for talent, and now you can even collect endorsements for these skills although I do not consider them a true representation of ability due to how they are acquired.
I find the recommendations you can collect on LinkedIn to be the most valuable tool because they can validate all of the information you placed here and on your résumé. This and more makes LinkedIn a must social media to master for all jobseekers and recruiters.
Twitter: You hear the word Twitter and immediately assume we’re talking about tweets, but your Twitter page itself is also a useful tool in a job search. Here are some ways your Twitter page is useful in a job search.
You can use your Bio to let people know you are looking for a new position and market what you have to offer. You can also create a custom background on your Twitter page that offers additional details about your qualifications, and you can place a link to your resume and work samples that are posted somewhere online.
You can also follow experts in your industry and use Twitter to establish yourself as an expert in your industry as well by using your status updates to tweet about industry topics, tips and advice to be viewed as someone “in the know”.
Many companies and users tweet about job openings, which you can actively search for. Using the search function, you can search by job titles, companies, locations, and hashtags such as #jobs, #job, #jobsearch, #jobseeker, #career, or #hiring, which are common hashtags for job posting tweets.
You can also use TwitJobSearch.com to search and sort job openings on Twitter and TweetMyJobs can send job recommendations directly to your Twitter account through custom alerts or by suggesting job channels to follow.
Facebook: I am not a big Facebook fan for job search but many recruiters look at your Facebook page and I suggest it be used in a similar way as your Twitter page to convey solid general information about you.
As always I am happy to critique U.S. resumes and LinkedIn pages at no cost. Email me at perry@perrynewman.com
No comments:
Post a Comment