Using Social Media to Jumpstart Your Career

By Marquis Codjia

Social networks are here to stay, but not as you imagined it. Beyond the traditional confines of B2B and B2C marketing, social media are permeating the realm of C2B marketing—meaning consumer to business, or how people use social networks to gain and secure employment and get promoted.

To use social media effectively in your job search, familiarize yourself with key platforms as well as best practices that successful professionals implement. Try also to stay away from unprofessional behavior online.
 

An Ever-Increasing Number of Social Media

A recent report on social media and recruiting—by MC&Co., a management consulting and content marketing firm—found that a variety of platforms mushroom every day, giving job seekers and organizations an expansive array of tools, techniques and tactics to use when applying for, and filling, open positions. Besides well-known names like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+, count emerging sites such as Pinterest and Instagram. Depending on your industry and the job you’re applying for, one or more of these media may be pertinent. However, the study found that LinkedIn and Facebook remain recruiters’ favorites when it comes to social hiring.
 

Recruiters are Jumping on the Social Bandwagon

Headhunters and human resource managers have wholeheartedly adopted social recruiting, and the move seems to be beneficial. Research by Jobvite, a recruiting software platform, showed that  88% of all job seekers have at least one social networking profile—and 64% have two profiles, and 44% have three. In this context, recruiters are increasingly sourcing qualified candidates via social media, posting jobs and conducting preliminary interviews through the platforms. The practice has decreased hiring costs across the board, as HR personnel now can tap into a broader pool of talent—quickly and instantaneously.

The Do’s

Create a sparkling résumé—hire a professional to write it if linguistic fitness is not your forte. The investment is worth it, considering the hundreds dollars you would disburse vs. the tens of thousands dollars you would reap in annual salary. Make the résumé as interactive as possible, featuring multimedia content like text, audio, video and infographics—think graphs, charts, drawings and pictures. If you have the necessary budget, create a personal website where you can post your professional data. Otherwise, maintain a professionally looking profile on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. The goal is to set yourself apart of the crowd, ahead of your peers.

The Don’ts

Watch what you post on social media—you may be fired for it. Employers recently have been eager to terminate staff for inappropriate, illegal or offensive social content. So rid your social profiles off of things like nudity, sex, poor grammar, and content featuring illegal drugs. Don’t let your LinkedIn profile incomplete or poorly built, as this may your employment chances in the future. Recruiters are increasingly keen on recruiting passive candidates, meaning those not actively looking but having an impeccable combination of experience, skills and education.

Image credit: joshdubya