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Job Search Using The Power of Social Media

Searching for a job these days doesn’t mean just printing out a resume with a nice font and a friendly cover letter,sending it out  and just hoping for the best. Although there are still ads in the paper, a lot of positions now adays are filled through connections, and what is social media other than a large network of people you are currently, or could potentially be, connected to?

 Today it is completely possible to get a job using simply social media as your tool. Here are the important steps to take to job search using the power of social media.

Focus on Personal Branding

Personal branding is the way that you present yourself online, and it’s easy to use social media to set up your personal branding. If your Twitter profile picture is you holding a shot of tequila, or your bio states ‘starving student looking for work’,  you may want to clean things up to make your personal branding work for you.

The best way to start is to have all of your social media profiles reset with an approachable, professional photo of you. Grab a friend with a half decent camera, brush your hair and you may come out with something slightly more acceptable than a cropped photo of you in a crowd, or a strategically taken selfie.

Consistency is key, so ensure that your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn,  Google+, and whatever platform you’re using has the same photo and bio. Have your bio reflect your professional skills and interests, and if you want to keep Facebook for friends and family, be sure to set up tons of privacy settings so that your images or status updates don’t reach potential employers.

facebook privacy

Use Twitter to Your Advantage

If you haven’t had much luck networking in your city, Twitter is the solution. All levels of people from the company you want to work at are on Twitter, from the intern to the CEO. A number of people have claimed that Twitter is the most direct place to reach people that are higher up in companies. It is also more efficient in some cases because the person you could be trying to reach might have an overflowing inbox but a fairly calm Twitter account.

Here are a few different ways to connect with others on Twitter:

  • Network with other job seekers through weekly conversations like #jobhuntchat or #careerchat.
  • Search for relevant hashtags from your field or interests
  • Engage with users in your field – or better yet, users who are doing the job that you want to be doing
  • Follow the people who do the hiring at companies you want to work for
  • Be sure to put it out there that you are looking for a job and the ideal position

There are over 500 million users that are active on Twitter, so there will always be new people to connect with. As with all other social media outlets – be careful of the content that you put out there. You may want to do a quick clean up of anything that may be considered inappropriate or unprofessional. Also be sure to make meaningful contributions on your feed to give people a reason to follow you.

Use LinkedIn to Network

On top of having your LinkedIn profile completely filled out with relevant and recent work and volunteer experience, you should use LinkedIn to reach potential employers, as it is one of the best networking tools out there. To start you could simply search for professionals in your field and send them a message asking them about their work. Remember that not everyone is open to connecting with strangers, so this won’t always work.

Another way, which I have personally found very successful, is to use LinkedIn groups to network. Join groups related to your field and interests and get involved with the discussions in those groups. The people you’ll meet are active on LinkedIn and you have a common interest, so you’re bound to make amazing connections, which is the first step to learning about new career opportunities.

Remember that posting status updates and using LinkedIn’s messaging feature also lets you keep in better touch with your current connections who may also have fresh career leads.

 Search For Jobs Through Social Networks

This last method is slightly uncommon, yet effective. Companies are more and more social these days, posting available positions on Twitter and Facebook in addition to LinkedIn. Doing a quick Twitter search for “#Job #YourField” could yield surprising results.

Seeing the job posting on social media allows you to interact with the person sending it out in a much more personal way than the other applicants. Try to use social media to your advantage to get in touch with the people in charge of hiring once you’ve found a job posting online, and then take it one step further and make sure you hyperlink your resume with your twitter and LinkedIn URL’s under contact information to show future employers that you are social media savvy.

 

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