Social media is more than just about fun and games. Now it serves more purposes than connecting you with your family or letting you spy on your ex-boyfriend’s life without hiring a private investigator.
Social media helps influence people to become advocates for businesses and most importantly serves as a valuable job hunt tool.
In recent years, social media has served as a valuable job tool for those seeking employment. According to a survey of recruiters and hiring managers by Live Career, Facebook has emerged as the clear winner for projecting your professional social media appearance 74%, which is then followed by LinkedIn and Instagram with 56% and 49% respectively.
LinkedIn has been a popular platform in this regard. As of 2021, 68% of recruiters said that job seeks should have a LinkedIn profile and 65% of managers claimed that they do not mind being approached by professional candidates on LinkedIn.
Studies have also revealed that 92% of companies are now using social media frequently to search for and hire three out of four hiring managers. Other than this, recruiters also search for candidates on social media or view their profiles.
This means that whether you are a fresh graduate or a social media enthusiast you need to use social media as a useful job search tool. However, for this, you need to have a stable and high-speed internet connection. Before you jump on to anything else you need to find the best TV and internet deals.
The following are some of the strategies that you can work with social media to land a job you want.
Google Yourself
For the most part, you should be prepared for an employer that has Googled your social media profile before inviting you for the interview.
The first and most easy way of leveraging social media to hunt jobs is by Googling yourself in incognito mode. Search using private browsing because this way your search of yourself will not be affected by stored cookies and signed-in social profiles.
Once you web search yourself you will know which posts, pictures, and stuff pop up. If you find anything inappropriate, you should instantly tweak your privacy setting or remove them.
However, you will still want the hiring managers to find you on social media so keep your information public. This might require details of your education, employment history. Location. Your skills and more.
In addition, no matter how stringent you make your privacy settings people will always find your profile pictures easy to view. Therefore, make sure you have an appropriate profile picture to give a good first impression to your potential manager.
Focus On a Few Social Media Platforms
The key is to focus on some and not all. If you try to keep managing all the social media accounts, you will end not putting a good impression on any one of them.
You first need to sort out which platforms are best for the hiring manager’s attention. For instance, having good Facebook and LinkedIn profiles would help you if you keep them up to date.
LinkedIn being the primary social media platform for job seekers, it is important to update your contact information on the platform. Other than this, you can also be visible on Facebook and Twitter accounts.
On your social media, profile let the recruiters know that you are in search of a good opportunity.
Use Social Media to Search
Social media is more than a just tool where you can find the past present and future of your friends and family. Instead, you can learn a lot about the organizations you are interested in through social media.
For instance, if you are interested in a marketing firm then by searching for the firm you might find relevant articles and posts from the employees working for the company.
Sometimes through social media, you can learn about the work culture, and how a company treats its employees.
Other than this you can even follow the company is you are interested in to have a constant update for any opportunities along the way.
Establish Yourself as a Thought Leader
Another effective job search strategy is to engage with industry leaders. By presenting yourself as a subject matter expert on your social media profiles, you can grab the attention of the industry leaders around you.
For this, you need to inject yourself into the conversation. Make sure you educated yourself from the industry-focused LinkedIn and Facebook groups to understand more. These groups help in your growth and help you become an expert in the field you are interested in.
Do Not Underestimate the Power of Social Media
Think of social media as a stepping stone to limitless opportunities. By highlighting your personality, skills, and your previous work history, you can land yourself on your dream job with the help of social media.
