How Social Media Can Help Your Job Search
Friday, January 26, 2018
social media
jobs
Effectively using social media can help you land your dream job.
The nation is obsessed with social media these days. From snapping away for the perfect shot on Instagram to watching the likes roll in on Twitter, social media is never far from our fingertips.
In fact, at the beginning of 2017, Statista reported that the total number of social media users in the UK had reached over 39 million users which is around about half of the population.
It’s a phenomenon that shows no signs of stopping and is fast becoming our main way of communicating with those around us. In fact, there’s every chance you are reading this because you saw it on social media.
So, we know all about Facey B and Insta, but have you ever considered how your career could reach its next step or land you that first job out of Uni, all thanks to social media?
Maybe not, but the truth is that pretty much every type of employer and recruitment agency are targeting social media as their way to find hot new talent.
Your CV might have once upon a time only been seen by those you sent it to, but through sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter you can increase the visibility of your professional profile and be seen by the wider public.
Forget walking the high street CV dropping, because here are our top five ways to find jobs through the power of social media.
- Be Squeaky Clean
You’d have to have your head in the sand these days to not be aware of how damaging old messages and posts can be to your career. Severally high-profile names have lost their jobs because of historical social media posts, so ensure that all your profiles are squeaky clean.
That goes for images and shared articles as well, you wouldn’t want anything that may have been shared as a daft joke to come back and haunt you when you land that dream job.
- Don’t Go Social Media Crazy
The temptation with social media is to start opening accounts on every platform. The more your name is out there, the better, right?
Well, not necessarily. Having profiles on everything from Facebook to Linkedin and Google+ to Pinterest, may seem like a clever idea to start with but the truth is, it’s almost impossible to keep track of managing them all.
It’s much more effective to have just one or two well-maintained accounts rather than a bunch of them scattered all over the web. As a rule, professionals should start with LinkedIn and then use Facebook and Twitter to show their more personal side.
Then it’s about targeting the accounts that are important to your industry.
- Don’t hide, use your real name
If you set up your social media accounts to engage with your friends, it’s easy to pick a cheeky nickname as your Twitter or Instagram handle, but it’s time for those names to end.
MUFCJohn or Blonde Lizzie might be the way your mates refer to you but sticking with your actual name is certainly a better bet. Not only is it more professional, it also allows future employers to find you much easier, especially if your name is consistent across all of your social media accounts.
- Link Up
A social media account on its own is helpful, but linking it up to your personal portfolio, blog or website is the best way to make you stand out from the crowd.
On all your social media accounts, make sure you have at least one link to somewhere else that can give potential employers a chance to find out more information about you.
- Let Facebook be your job searching friend
Many of us like Facebook to be our private little hub to connect with friends and family, which is fine, but if you do fancy opening to a wider audience it could well reap its rewards.
Put some keywords around your desired career into your interests which can help when people do a search. So, if you are looking for a career in the media, type in journalism, PR, broadcasting, writing etc, it all helps potential employers to find you.
Equally, if you’d rather your account remained private then get in touch with your Facebook friends and see if they can point you in the way of possible opportunities in their line of work.
As they always say, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.
Don’t forget, First Achieve is always here to help you in your job search as well. We advertise all our roles on social media, but if you can’t find what you are looking for then visit our jobs page today to see the roles we have available.