Manchester metropolitan university careers week

Using social media for job huntingManchester Metropolitan University May 2012

About me:

• Social media manager @delineo

• Graduate of Manchester University

• Found my job through social media

• @totmac/@delineo

The three things to consider when using social media to job hunt

• Finding the jobs

• Standing out from the crowd

• Making the best impression

• Cheaper than traditional methods

• Reach more relevant candidates

• Get more coverage

• Familiarity

Finding the jobs: Why do employers use social media to find candidates?

Finding the jobs: Twitter

• ‘Jobs’

• 3,836 mentions over 5-day period

Finding the jobs: Twitter

Twitter: Following the right people

• Follow people in the industry you want to work in.

• Follow official accounts - they tweet the jobs first.

• Follow recruitment agencies

• Search for job titles

• Hashtags

http://www.gmtweetmap.org.uk/http://www.filtertweeps.com

#MDTALENTDAY

Finding the jobs: LinkedIn

• Professional Facebook

• Recommends jobs based on your profile

• Search for jobs

• Jobs posted in groups

Finding the jobs: LinkedIn

Standing out from the crowd

91% of employers use social media to screen candidates

Extreme examples of standing out from the crowd

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FRwCs99DWg

Twitter

• Promotion

• Demonstrate a passion

• Create relationships

• Learn more

Twitter: Promotion

• Profile blurb – promotional box.

• Promoting anything you’ve done relevant to your career (blogs, work experience)

Twitter: Demonstrate a passion

• Post interesting content relating to what you want to do.

• Website links

• Your own thoughts on industry topics

Twitter: Let people know your situation

Twitter: Create relationships

• RT and reply to other tweets

• Leave your own opinion

• Get into discussions

• Look at popular events/hashtags

• Work experience

LinkedIn

• Online CV

• Allow you to keep in contact with ‘connections’

• Share links and information

• Promote your skills and experience

LinkedIn: Finding connections

• Work experience

• Past jobs

• Networking events

• Only use if it’s relevant to you

insight

Blogging

• Great for promotion and raising awareness

• Display a passion and knowledge

• Increase your knowledge- of industry and platforms

• Promote this content via your social channels

• Posterous/Tumblr

insight

Blogs don’t have to be serious

insight

Blog: What to blog about

• Industry news

• Your work

• An event you’ve been to

• Stuff that interests you

• One or twice every two weeks

insight

Making the best impression

“Every young person one day will be entitled automatically to change his or her name on reaching adulthood in order to disown youthful hijinks stored on their friends' social media sites.”

Eric Schmidt, CEO, Google

insight

Keep an eye on your online footprint

• Everything on Twitter is viewable

insight

Facebook

• Privacy settings – check to see what everyone can see

• 53% of employers take a look at Facebook

insight

Facebook

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Make the best impression

• Check your spelling

• The mum rule

Some general pointers

• There are no set rules

• Don’t feel like you have to do all at once

• Stick with it