Looking for jobs using social media

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Social Media for Job hunting

+This Session

Using Social Media for Job Hunting

Feedback

Break

Workshop

+Social Media

We’re going to quickly look at using social media for job hunting, before using the rest of the session for feedback, and ‘workshop’ style approaches.

While we’ve covered social media for personal and business use, it can also come into its own in other areas.

We’ve also covered the risks involved in using social media, so putting all of this knowledge into practice, we can try to see how your profiles can help, or hinder, when looking for a job.

+Job Hunting

There are two sides to using a profile when looking for a job.

The first is the actual seeking part – you can use the platforms to look for advertised positions, as well as networking with other professionals to find out about positions or opportunities as they arise.

The second is maintaining your ‘brand’ – you want your profiles to look clean, professional, and positive, to give a good first impression to any prospective employers who might look you up.

+Job Hunting

According to surveys, 86% of job seekers have some form of social media presence.

It’s advisable to clean up your profiles, which we’ll cover later, but bear in mind that it’s difficult to truly remove things from the internet.

However, at this stage of your ‘online life’, the things you remove will probably be superficial and it’ll be easy to get your profiles to work on your behalf.

So how do you use social media to find jobs?

+Job Hunting - Facebook

Facebook is difficult to use for job hunting, but not impossible.

If you’re out of work, post a status stating you’re looking for work – give an outline of what you can do, and what you’d like.

Fill out your Work & Education sections in your profile.

Maintain your network and group presence to keep abreast of job opportunities. Make sure you join local groups related to your industry too.

Use Facebook Pages to research a company if you have an interview there – it could give you info to ask questions about. Some companies post job ads on their Pages.

+Job Hunting - Twitter

Follow recruitment companies! They often tweet their job ads. Do the same for the companies you’d love to work for.

Search Twitter for tweets containing words like vacancy, new job, requirement etc – check the locations before you reply!

Try twitjobsearch.com.

Build a network of people in the industry you want to work in – you’re more likely to be passed opportunities if people know who you are.

Use your tweets to demonstrate your abilities so that your profile helps to advertise you and what you can do.

+Job Hunting - LinkedIn

Maintain a high profile by being active in groups and posting useful content to your industry.

There are groups dedicated to job hunting – try joining them.

Join groups related to your field – people may post opportunities there if they are particularly specialist.

Add contacts but only when there is a viable reason to do so – having connections for the sake of it is counter productive.

Use the skills field to show off your specialties.

Try the job search feature – you can be as specific or as vague as you need to be.

+To Hire or Not To Hire

The top reasons to hire after researching online… Good personality (50%) Professional image (57%) Wide range of interests (50%) Background info was accurate (49%)

The top reasons not the hire… Inappropriate content (50%) Info about candidate using alcohol or drugs (48%) Bad mouthing previous employer (33%) Lied about qualifications (24%)

+Profile Spring Clean

45% employers admit to checking out candidates on social media. 1 in 3 admit to rejecting candidates based on something they found online.

Make sure your social media is working FOR you, and not AGAINST you. You might be brilliant in interviews and write the best covering letters, but your profile might sell you short.

If in doubt, consider whether or not you need the profile. It is probably better not to have the profile at all than to risk having one that makes you look bad.

This also applies to universities, so make sure teenagers are also aware of how their boozy night out photos make them look.


Consider your profile from the point of view of an employer.

What are the visible photos like? If your profile shot is you brandishing a glass of wine, or pulling a silly pose on holiday, then it’s probably best to change it.

A clear headshot is advisable; choose an uncluttered background, aim for good lighting, and remember to SMILE.

Most people deliberately choose photos for LinkedIn that make them look professional, so do the same on the other platforms.

You won’t look boring – you’ll look reliable and dependable.


When choosing a profile picture remember;

A default image looks lazy

Images that aren't actually you will damage your brand - so no photos of your cat or car.

Pixellated or blurry images look unprofessional.

Distasteful or offensive photos are a big no-no.

Try not to post photos of yourself with your children either – it’s probably best to keep photos of them set to friends only until they’re old enough to decide they want their image online.


Now consider your content.

What were your last five tweets about?


Make sure your tweets advertise your interest in your specialist area – so if you’re applying for a job in the cosmetics industry, retweet makeup blogs, post articles about makeup on your blog, or have discussions with makeup artists or fans.

Feel free to tweet about your interests but make sure they’re the same interests you might list on your CV.

If you have an unusual interest, like rock climbing or baking for charity, then make sure you tweet about these as well. They make you look like an individual with a life beyond social media.

Try to keep your tweets positive!


If your Facebook profile is public, then consider what you have posted so far, and how it reflects upon you.

Consider turning your profile to Friends Only, but leave selected posts as Public, such as news stories you have shared, or businesses you have supported.

You can always ‘claim’ an individual username on Facebook so that you have a personal URL – this will demonstrate to employers that you have a grasp of your personal ‘brand’.

Rethink some of the photos that you have posted, do they really need to be online?


In essence, you need to consider yourself as a brand that you are trying to sell to a prospective employer.

If in doubt, get someone else to look at your profiles and give you their opinion about how you come across.

You want to appear as an engaged, approachable and confident person – even if you don’t feel you are!

At the same time, you don’t want to spend hours filling up your profiles – employers might look at the time stamps and think you have nothing better to do!

+TASK

Log into one of your profiles and begin to consider its content from the point of view of an employer.

Do you have photos? Have you shared content by other people?

How could you improve your profiles?

Spend some time editing!

+THE END

We’ve covered a lot in this course, but hopefully now you feel confident about using social media, whether it’s blogging on Wordpress, tweeting, or looking for jobs on LinkedIn.

If you have any questions after today, feel free to tweet me @ianclimb8, or send me an email: [email protected]

Now we’ll do feedback on the course.