Jeremy Johnson has a new guest blog post this week on using social media in your job search.
Jeremy is a recruiter in Kansas City for EHD Technologies, a recruiting, staffing and managed services company serving the IT, Engineering and Automotive industries.
Are you Socially Awkward? Using Social Media in Your Job Search
Facebook. LinkedIn. Twitter. Google+. Pinterest. Instagram…….YouTube, LiveJournal, MySpace, Foursquare, StumbleUpon, Ning, Podcasting, Blogs……Aagh!!!
Social media is all around us and it’s not going away. Recently, at a company meeting, I stood in front of 40 people and asked them how many social media sites or apps they used. These were people working in different states, with different ages, backgrounds, education, and interests. But every single person was using no less than three social sites on a regular basis, and most were using more.
Social media has caused a revolution in how we interact with one another, and it is currently creating a revolution in how people find jobs. If you are in the job market, especially within a technical field, you are doing yourself a serious disservice if you avoid this medium as you contemplate your next career move.
Twelve to fifteen years ago, electronic job boards changed how we searched for jobs or were found by employers. All of a sudden, Careerbuilder, HotJobs and Monster became the engine that fueled everyone’s job search activity. It was great! All those jobs in one place. And, you could just put your resume online and all of a sudden people started calling you. Gone were the days of snail-mailing your resume and cover letter on nice stationery or walking into businesses with a load of resumes in tow, hoping to speak with a hiring manager. Some people, like me, had mixed feelings about this new online job hunting. What made it convenient and easy also made it enticing to become lazy and passive. But regardless, job hunting had forever changed.
As I write this, we’re in another revolution in job-hunting, where social media is now catching fire like Careerbuilder and Monster did over a decade ago. Recruiters and HR professionals are increasingly turning to social media to sniff out that hard-to-find talent. Here are some social media essentials for your next job search:
1) You have to be on LinkedIn – If you’re in a technical field, chances are that you’re already on LinkedIn. If you’re not, start immediately. In some fields like IT, LinkedIn is used as a recruiting tool more than Careerbuider or Dice. It’s by far the best place to find passive candidates, as well. And LinkedIn knows this. Though it was created as online business networking platform, LinkedIn’s revenue is now driven by selling upgraded account services to recruiters. There is a lot of current buzz that a LinkedIn profile will, in the not-too-distant future, be more important than a traditional resume in finding your next job.
2) It’s not enough to just be on LinkedIn. You must have a well thought-out profile and connect with other people – I see so many LinkedIn profiles with no details and only a handful of connections, and I immediately know that these people are on the site because that’s what other people are doing, but they really don’t ‘get’ the value of it. You have to think of your LinkedIn profile in terms of how other people will see you as a potential employee (meaning as a solution to their particular needs). To show that, your profile has to be fleshed out just like a resume. It must be thorough and show not just what you’ve done, but why it’s valuable. That takes thought and effort. Also, keep in mind that the way potential employers find you on LinkedIn is the same way they find you on Careerbuilder: they have to search for you. And the only way they’re going to find you is if your profile contains words and language that they’re searching for. Also, start connecting with people. The more connections you have, the more people’s search results you’ll fall into.
3) Google+ and Twitter – Believe it or not, people are getting jobs through their Google+ and Twitter accounts. Recruiters are starting to look here because that’s where the technical talent is – especially for passive candidates who aren’t easy to find otherwise. A person’s 160-character Twitter profile can tell me enough about what that person does professionally to make it worth reaching out. And, since Google+ indexes so well through Google’s search engine, it can provide useful information on possible candidates. And, there are resources and strategies helpful in finding job candidates from these sources. Sites like findpeopleonplus.com, www.twellow.com and others make it possible to find and contact potential employees that they wouldn’t have had access to before. And because of that, Google+ and Twitter are now viable sources for job hunting and hiring.
4) Be conscious of your online professional image – Whether you like it or not, potential employers may be using public information about you before an interview or job offer to see if there are any red flags about moving forward. Whether companies should or shouldn’t do this is still a big debate, but it is happening. Also, things are still being played out in the courts and legal circles as to where the boundaries are. Still, it’s best to put your best foot forward when it comes to your online image, if it can be viewed by people who could offer you a job. According to a Careerbuilder.com survey reported last year, thirty-seven percent of employers use social networks to research potential job candidates. Putting crude, offensive or immature tweets on your Twitter feed may be fun, but just be mindful. Employers are watching.
5) Facebook isn’t just for personal stuff – Not only is Facebook the number one social media site in the world, it’s also becoming one of the most popular for finding jobs. Over fifty percent of job seekers now say they’ve used Facebook in some way to assist them in their job search. And, it’s being used by over sixty percent from the other side of the fence – the talent seekers. As I mentioned in the above entry, however, be mindful of your professional image. Those party pics of you passed out drunk may be good for a laugh, but they won’t impress an employer. Even if they can’t see your personal photos, they can still see your profile pic. So make sure it’s appropriate. Facebook’s Graph Search capability also now makes it easier than ever before to find information on friends or friends of friends, so recruiters are starting to use tools like these. There are also Facebook apps you can use yourself: BeKnown, CareerSonar, Facebook marketplace, Jobvite and BranchOut make it possible to better search your network for potential business contacts and job opportunities. Didn’t know Facebook could do all that? If you’re looking for a job, you should.