Introduction to Jobs Using Social Media
To get a job is never a easy task. But it has been seen that most of the passed out students, even the experienced professionals are still following the old rules of searching for job and landing an interview. Does the above description match with you? Do you search jobs in the same way? And still searching?
There’s good news and there’s bad news.
Good news is you can now learn the secrets of searching a job more easily and creatively than ever before. Bad news is your effort till now has gone in vain because things won’t work that way anymore. It’s being seen in the research that whatever information we get in a day, hundred years ago the same amount of information was being received by our forefathers in their entire lifetime.
Ring a bell?
Drop the notion that you need to be extra-ordinary to get a job. Yes, you need to have a skill or two, you need to be reasonably good at it and you should have the attitude to learn even if you don’t have much knowledge about the industry. No matter who you are, a fresher or an experienced professional, this article will help you tick and get a job using social media. After each tip, we will offer you one exercise to follow through. You need to take that action immediately (yes, within 90 seconds).
Get a Job Using Social Media
Let’s get started. The clock is ticking.
1. Pay heed to your online habits
Do you know that you have online habits? Even if you are not aware of the term, know that you have. Every day you go to Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In and update your status, upload photos and post comments. But what if what you are doing is not congruent with what you want?
Here’s an example.
Suppose, you have applied for a job in a company where you have mentioned yourself as a reserved, introverted person; but recently you uploaded a photo of you and your friends where you are being seen as extroverted as one can possibly be. Now, you may think that it’s quite natural to be exuberant with your friends even if you are reserved by nature. But employers see it differently. They search your profile and find out photos and match with your own description of your characteristics. Employers use this as a tool of screening potential employees who have applied for the same job. So who would win among all potential candidates? Of course, the ones whose description of themselves matches with the updates and photos posted in various social networking sites or social media sites.
When you apply for a job, what employers do is to google your name. Do you know what comes out first? If you don’t have a website or a blog, the first thing that comes out is your social networking sites. Then they view it and make their own decision.
To have a good impression and to be congruent with what you are depicting yourself as, first pay heed to what you are doing in various social networking sites.
Following are the list of don’ts that need your attention.
- Don’t moan about your current employer or any part of your job using social media in Twitter or Linked-In.
- If you post any personal photos, think before you post it. Is it aligned with who you are? If not, don’t post.
- Don’t complain about anyone (not even about a customer/management/subordinate/colleague).
- Don’t portray a negative picture of who you are. Your status and updates convey a lot about you than you can think.
- While commenting or posting, check the grammar. Don’t write erroneous English. It will act as an impediment to your selection.
- Don’t be a noise. Popularize something that is unique and which describes who you are.
These habits are crucial. All you need to do is to be conscious of what you post, upload or update. If you have a profile which highlights your skills and maintains a positive attitude all through, your way to get a job would become significantly easier.
Action Exercise:
Track yourself for 3 days. Write out everything you do online – from posting updates, to liking photos to commenting on someone’s status to uploading photos. Start now. After 3 days you would discover what your online habits are and how you can improve them.
2. Take advantage of the connections you have
Taking advantages of social media for your connections doesn’t mean that you would be exploiting them and their connections. No. Rather make a win-win situation for both of you.
Here’s the deal.
In previous era, where there were no social networking sites, people didn’t even get to know that there were jobs available in the companies they are searching for. But now, Linked-In, even Facebook has made the search easy. If you know someone who works in the same company, by looking through their profiles and updates you may get to know that there is opportunity awaiting for someone like you in that company. What you need to do is to connect with the individual at a professional level and ask him/her about the opportunity. If that doesn’t work, try to follow through what that individual is looking for at this moment. S/he may need a person who can design a website for him/her. Your job would be to help him/her solve that problem. Go to your own connections, look through, find out top 5 web designers and recommend. This simple act of kindness will help you get through the person and as a result you will also build relationships with those 5 web designers whom you’ve recommended.
The world is really very small. And with the aid of using social media in your job search sites it has become smaller. Thus when people say networking is hard, they need to know only one thing. They don’t need to social networks. They need to help, sincerely. Once they help the individual in need, they would receive help in return. It will create a win-win proposal for both of you and as a result, both of you would get what you want. Most importantly you will get a job using social media!
Action Exercise:
Go to Linked-In. Find out someone who needs help. Recommend someone from your connections. It’s super easy. Do it now.
3. Know where to Search
It’s not enough to post an update such as this –
“I am looking for a job in the marketing domain. If you assist me with any leads, it would be helpful.”
It’s a universal truth that people do things for themselves. And by looking at your update, it’s difficult to fetch many responses. Then what to do? You need to look at places, where expertise and skills are required by other people. When people apply for a job, they have a mentality that by employing them in a company, the company or recruiters are doing a favor to them. But it’s not. It’s a win-win game. They needed someone who could serve them with the skills, knowledge, and expertise and at the same time the candidate who is applying needed someone to recognize and use the skills, knowledge, and expertise/he has.
So, no-one is doing anyone any favor. Everything is win-win. If it’s not, it’s not the right approach to social media job search. So, without trying to plead anyone, go to places where people need your skills, experience, and expertise.
Here’s a list of job sites which may be helpful in your job search and get a job.
- Technical/Engineering jobs – Dice.com
- Media jobs – MediaBistro.com
- Finance jobs – eFinancialCareers.com
- Salary info and reviews – Glassdoor.com
- Google in job search – SimplyHired.com
Other than that there are also job sites like Monster.com, Indeed.com, Craigslist and the number one job site in the world, Linked-In.
Action Exercise:
Go to any job site that is mentioned above. Write the keywords and search for jobs, right away.
4. Make your resume unique
What makes you tick in your social media job search online? You would say your resume. Yes, it’s your ticket to represent your unique talents, experiences, skills, knowledge, expertise and professional competencies. But are you doing it right? Tweaking a few things in your resume and trying to attract employers with language proficiency and bright colors are not enough. Everyone is doing that. What will make you unique is to create a resume that nobody would think of doing?
There are a few options you can think of:
- Video resume: This is the age of having a virtual resume. What if before the interview you give an introduction on a short video and post online for employers to see? In this short video, you would be able to talk about your current skills, occupation, what you are good at, what projects you are working on and why should the employers choose you over others. Yes, these questions are generally asked in a face-to-face interview. Thus, when shooting a video, you need to include all these things for employers to see. Make sure you have expressed everything clearly because your communication skills would also be monitored. For shooting this sort of video, you can use your smartphone and ask any of your friends or family members to do the needful. After that, you can use any video-editing software (most easy is Windows Movie Maker) if you are using Windows. You can watch this as an example.
- Resume in Slide: If you are too shy to shoot a video of yourself or feel comfortable in writing down things, then you may like to create a slide resume which will help you stand out in the crowd. The way you create PPTs, you can create the same with some creativity and unique ideas. As for example, you can see this resume and then accordingly do the needful. It’s also mentioned that the resume you make in PPT should be uploaded in SlideShare to get maximum views.
Action Exercise:
Choose any one of the two. If you choose Video Resume, write an outline about how you would shoot the video. If you choose Resume in Slide, create the first slide now.
5. Create yourself into an advertisement
The best thing about being online is you can reach so many people in so little time. In social networking sites, it’s more important to realize that when you are using social media for job search, actually you are trying to attract potential employers to you and to your profile. The way top companies using social media platforms as a base for recruiting candidates i.e. using social media for recruiting and fetching customers, in the same way, you need to approach your profile. But there are millions and billions of profiles on social networking sites. And there are thousands of people who do what you do. How the potential employers will get to know about you and your expertise? You need to scream.
You heard it right.
Image source: pixabay.com
The spiritual guru Osho spoke about it. When one reporter asked him about his way of popularizing himself, he responded – If I would not do it who else will? I have something to offer to the world. If I don’t say it myself to people who matter, then my gifts would be wasted and I would not be able to be of any value to people who need my gifts most.
Thus, if you have an uncanny feeling about promoting yourself, let it go and begin self-sponsorship. All you need to do is to enroll yourself for Facebook and Linked-In ads and promote yourself in as many ways as you can. Now, you can do it for free on certain sites. But guess what, if it’s free everyone else is doing it. Thus, it’s always better to pay a few bucks and promote yourself to the people who matter.
Now, there is another way if you can’t at all pay for advertisement. Here it is – Writes a book. Open a word document. Think about what you are promoting yourself for. Narrow down the subject. Write an outline. Write the book in the most practical ways possible and format it. Then simply go to Amazon Kindle and upload your book and promote the book online. At the end of the book, mention your name, contact details and also mention your skills and expertise.
You are done.
Action Exercise:
Scream out loud. Write an outline for your advertisement and just try for few days how things work. If it doesn’t try another one (Amazon Kindle).
I hope this piece of information proves useful to you and helps you get a job.
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