Social Media is a technological development that has changed people’s day to day lives as well as the way businesses operate, advertise and research their audiences. Although most social media initially started as a personal network for us to communicate with our wider groups, it has developed into an incredibly powerful business tool. Companies can advertise to a specific audience, build relationships, distribute information and sense-check potential future hires through social media. This means that people can also use social media to their professional advantage too, especially when searching for a role.
The job hunt is scary enough as it is. When applying for a role you don’t want to be like every other applicant, you need to stand out… Social Media can do this.
Benefits of using social media for a job search
Social Media has made everyone their own visible brand, sharing a large part of your personality and opinions online. Consequently, making sure your social media profiles are complete and professional is integral if you’re going to use them for your job search.
Social Media allows you to build your personal brand, honing in on the areas that interest you for future work. Therefore, while building your reputation, you are also interacting with brands that are in the industry or business area of your interest. By coordinating your social media, you are further building your personal brand across platforms, making your profile recognisable, whether it is on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter, you don’t want to open accounts on all social media platforms for your job search (unless your desired role is in social media).
Not only does social media allow you to present your interests, skills and expertise, but also provides networking opportunities (even if it is mutually liking posts between yourself and an organisation).
How to use Social Media for your job search
If used properly, social media can be a strong alliance of your job search, from Facebook to LinkedIn and Instagram. Your social media has hidden benefits to help your cause, by hyperlinking your social media accounts that you use in a professional manager to your CV, you can create an ‘edge’ over the other applicants in the hiring manager’s inbox.
Facebook can be used to reach your existing network of ‘friends’ about your search, whilst you can also keep it restricted to external searches with a private profile and professional photo. Facebook is also a good place to communicate with organisations and brands that interest you, with a number of brands advertising on their pages and within groups.
Twitter can be a controversial means of finding a position, predominantly because most people’s tweets can be emotionally charged conversations around controversial topics, which can go against you in future roles. However, many companies advertise jobs on Twitter, try searching “#Jobs” or “#JobsOfTheWeek” or “TransformationJobs”, to see what roles are there in your area of interest. You can also update your Twitter bio to say that you are looking for jobs to improve ‘job’ related SEO.
Instagram is a platform that can allow people within creative industries to demonstrate their creative ability on their profiles, whilst building an interaction or rapport between you and your organisations of interest. More and more companies are advertising roles on Instagram, making SEO and job-related hashtags a good way of finding roles of interest.
LinkedIn is the top of our job search social media platforms, although it is a more obvious choice for your job search, its professional nature provides an open community for job seekers. It acts as a platform of self-promotion, with an extensive reach and job search function, you can connect with people in similar roles to you or Hiring Managers to begin an initial conversation around your current work situation. Furthermore, LinkedIn allows you to attach your CV to your profile to promote yourself, whilst also providing the ability to join groups and conversations of interest to you.
If you’ve made that vital step from feeling the fear for change to looking into your options, then don’t rule out your social media as a tool. You will need to stand out and social media can help do this, whilst allowing organisations to understand you a bit more.
