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How to use social media to find a job online.
ONLINE JOBS AND SOCIAL MEDIA
Online Job Hunting: Harnessing the Power of Social Media for Effective Job Search - Essential Tips for Finding Jobs Online
APPLYING FOR JOBS ONLINE AND THE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR YOUR JOB SEARCH
TIPS ON HOW TO FIND A JOB ONLINE WITH SOCIAL MEDIA
JOBS: JOB SEARCH
Finding a job in the current economic climate amidst a pandemic is now harder than ever, extremely stressful and disheartening. It is now more than ever before very important to ensure that you brand yourself appropriately in your job search to secure a job.
Employers and recruiters who are hiring are advertising jobs and sourcing online for potential employees. Connecting with people online has become far easier with access to the internet and employers and recruiters posting their jobs online and on social media
Social Media are websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking.
Potential employers and recruiters who view your profile online can now get a better understanding of who you are and what you do as a potential employee. Your online presence is very important especially if you are wanting to open doors of job opportunity for yourself.
Building your personal brand online allows your potential employment audience to connect with you as a job seeker on a more personal level. Building your personal brand online allows employers and recruiters to view your personal and career life on various online platforms and allows them to get to know who you are as an individual.
To achieve a positive online impact as a job seeker, you need to decide how you would like to present yourself to employers online and what you want your own personal job seeker brand to be.
Your personal brand is how you promote yourself. It is the unique combination of skills, experience, and personality that you want the world to see. Personal branding is the practice of marketing yourself and your career as a brand. It is an ongoing process of developing and maintaining your reputation.
Your aim as a job seeker should not be to over sell yourself, but rather to make yourself known as a job seeker online by creating a personal connection with potential employers. As a job seeker you should make your online profile available to potential employers and recruiters who are hiring by presenting a balanced social media presence with business and personal updates.
Each person, as a job seeker, has characteristics that define who they are, how others perceive them and how we see ourselves. As an individual looking for a job you should ask yourself what qualities you want a potential employer or recruiter to know about you and how you will go about sharing this information with them.
A good place to start is to understand what type of information should be shared on the various online social media platforms.
Facebook is a social networking site that makes it easy for you to connect and share with family and friends online.
Twitter is a ‘micro blogging’ system that allows you to send and receive short posts called tweets
Instagram allows users to edit and upload photos and short videos through a mobile app
LinkedIn is a social network that focuses on professional networking and career development. You can use LinkedIn to display your resume, search for jobs, and enhance your professional reputation by posting updates and interacting with other people.
LINKEDIN FOR JOBS
Not all content needs to be shared on all online social media platforms. Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are great online platforms to share information about your personal life. LinkedIn is where your professional online job profile should shine. Your LinkedIn profile should showcase detail about your job and career achievements and successes, educational background and job specific content with regards to your field of expertise. You should be highlighting important job and career information which will help employers and recruiters to get to know the more serious side of you.
Decide who your target audience is during your job search:
Who do you want your posts to reach as a job seeker and how do you want to reach them. Are you targeting Recruitment Agents and Employers and which industry sectors of employment?
What message are you wanting to send to the potential employers?
How are you going to send this message? And
Where (which platform) are you going to use to share this message?
Who would an IT Recruiter in South Africa target, possibly:
Recruiting Agents who specialize in the placement of recruitment consultants within internal recruiting positions AND
HR Managers and Recruitment Managers in Corporate Companies.
What message would an IT Recruiter in South Africa want to share with potential employers and recruiters, possibly:
Their extensive knowledge as an IT Recruiter of the the IT recruitment space and IT industry.
That their personality is professional, friendly and optimistic.
That as a recruiter they are very strong in sales, able to negotiate and build strong relationships with stakeholders.
That family is important to the recruiter and the belief in a work-life balance and finally
That the recruiter is motivated by closing deals
HOW AND WHERE AN IT RECRUITER CAN SHARE THEIR PROFESSIONAL BIO WITH POTENTIAL EMPLOYERS AND RECRUITERS:
The IT recruiter can write short articles on talent sourcing, sales in recruitment or client relationship management to post and share on LinkedIn. They could share interesting articles regarding recruitment on LinkedIn and Twitter. The recruiter can respond to question posts about recruitment and should only do so if they have value to add. By doing this the recruiter is creating a name for themself on social media and becoming known within the right circles within the employment sector.
Once you have defined who you are a brand, it is essential that you as a job seeker are consistent at keeping a clean image online. Consider that once you have posted anything online and subsequently deleted it, there is always a possibility that others may have taken a screenshot and still able to share this information. It is advised to avoid posting any sort of content online that could potentially cause a negative response from others. Nurture your online presence as a job seeker and protect your online image.
Hiring Managers and Recruiters are increasingly making use of social media as a sourcing tool to screen and recruit potential employees. Recruiters are able to search for job seekers by name on social media and view your online posts, including older posts, giving the recruiter insight into who you are and if you would be the right person that will fit into their company’s culture. In other words, will your personality as an individual employee be in tune with the personality of their organization. Take the time to google yourself and analyze what the search results reveal about yourself.
A professional biography is a description or summary of your professional background, educational history, skill set and or achievements.
Once you are sure that you have cleaned up your online presence and you are now presenting a professional image online you can starting doing your job-hunting research. Find relevant job groups, job pages, job tags and influential people in the employment space to follow. Your findings should all be relevant as to where you can find jobs, share content and get professional advice from persons who are knowledgeable and influential within the career space and job market.
Follow up and tune in daily to your researched network. Review job postings, respond to posts only if you have value to add and get your name known on social media. The more you engage with potential employers and recruiters, the more online confidence you will build in your name. By engaging positively and adding value you are allowing yourself to be recognized by potential employers and recruiters as someone who can add value and this could potentially open doors of job opportunity for yourself. Remember to remain friendly and courteous at all times.
A personal website or LinkedIn profile allows potential employers and recruiters to find you readily online. It is important to note that you should be cautious with your online presence or websites and take care as to who your personal details are exposed to.
Recruiters and employers generally do have a database or ATS system but do also make use of a variety of online search techniques in their search for potential employees. A LinkedIn profile is always a good place to start when looking for a job as it is essentially an online CV profile showcasing your previous work experiences and education. Take care when creating and updating your LinkedIn profile and ensure that your online profile is set to be searchable to recruiters and hiring managers. Remember to add a link of your online portfolio to your hard and soft copy CV. Good luck with your online job search!