To match up with the fast-pacing competition in the job sector, social media sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter (majorly) have come up as a viable opportunity to make you land at a job without an exasperating struggle.
By Premlesh Machama
With polished skills, focused approach, and planned social media strategies, you can actually land your career smoothly.
LinkedIn: For this you need to:
Connect: To make strangers as friends on Facebook might be slight eerie, but that’s not the case with LinkedIn. At LinkedIn, you can connect with the unknowns, who although are in the industry that you want to be in. And yes, more the connections you have, more are the chances of getting help with job search. Also, join Active Groups, post questions about positions requirements against jobs to show your interest and stay connected. This would also make you find your mentor, as LinkedIn profiles are visible.
Tip for you: To connect easily with the people, consider those who are just a degree away from you.
Jobs Board: Stay tuned to the job board, as that brings to you all the open vacancies that you might be interesting in joining. To utilise the job boards at the max, you need to ensure:
· You pick right job board, and many job boards
· Search jobs on job board based on Job title, Location and Salary
· Activate account management
· Make the best use of functionality at job boards like filter questions, response templates etc.
Also, follow prospective companies to stay updated about the companies’ history & present activities. This would help you in your interviews.
Endorsement & recommendations: First of all, there is a difference between endorsement & recommendation. Where recommendation supports you and your work, endorsements are skills & expertise you possess according to others. Both endorsements & recommendations would help you in getting the job. You can request for writing LinkedIn recommendations to your connections via messaging system.
Share More: Did you know, if you share more content like articles or interesting insights, then your chances of getting contacted by the recruiter rises by almost 10%? This is a good %, so make the best use of this. So, add tips & tricks from your industry and help people find new jobs/ideas/suggestions.
Build profile: Last but not the least, make sure your profile is complete and you have mentioned all the details & sections in your LinkedIn Profile.
Facebook: For this you need to:
Like Pages: The companies that interest you and you want to be a part of their team should be in your like list. Select ‘get notifications’ option so that you stay updated about their job openings and other updates.
Stay updated: Keep your Facebook profile updated by revising all the work, qualifications details. Recruiter should easily get to know about your current & past experience.
Privacy settings: For all those posts/ shares/ comments that you do not want to affect your professional life should be hidden. Set your privacy settings accordingly.
Adding skills: Facebook has included an option for professional skills on the profile page. Did you check that? Make sure you have updated that.
Twitter:
To tweet your way to your next/new job, you need to:
Searches: Use the job keywords relevant to the job that you want to get in, like ‘engineering jobs’, ‘jobs in Delhi’, or ‘job vacancy in IT’ and search these in the search bar.
Hashtags: Using #tags before your search word would help you too, as generally employers post jobs with #tags for casting wide net.
Follow: You need to follow those several twitter handles, which are dedicated for job posts. Just write jobs in search bar and get the list of the handles, and then follow them.
Tweets: With tweeting, you can actually enhance the possibilities of connecting with likeminded people.
Quick Suggestions before we conclude:
· Let people know about your job searching / changing plans. Post your plans on your social profiles (with public view settings) and allow social recruiters to find you or let your friends, connections, or followers suggest you what you need.
· Along with potential use of LinkedIn, Facebook, & Twitter, you may also start exploring and utilising the sites like Pinterest or Tumbler, as these as well are pacing at a great speed. Either pin your resumes, follow pages for job tips & opportunities or start tumbling at tumbler & building your profile and be geared up for the right time.
· To be “active’ is important. Make sure you are active on social media if you want to benefit the most out of that.
With these tips, make the best of social media to bag your next big job!
Premlesh Machama is MD, CareeBuilder India