As I mentioned in my last post, just being "out there" on social media is not enough. You can't sit back and be passive, thinking that the brilliance of your tweet (or whatever) is going to make employers hunt you down and offer you six figures. Once you get through all the bells and whistles of what these social media tools offer, the bottom line is that, for your job search, these tools are best used as a method of making human connections with people.
Looking for a job, especially right now, can be frustrating, and as this article about angry job seekerspoints out, awfully dehumanizing if you let it be. Social media tools can be an extremely effective part of your job search assuming you use them for what they do best: helping facilitate good old-fashioned networking.
This is not to say that there is NO benefit to the content you produce for these sites. It is important and can help build your on-line reputation. I think Dan Schwabel does a good job outlining some ways to do so, specific to a job search, with his recent article on Yahoo. You need to be thoughtful and deliberate about what you create. Just don't rely on your content to get you noticed on its own. Use it as a way for someone to get a more complete picture of you AFTER you have taken the other steps to get connected with them "in person".
Networking always has been, and probably always will be, one of the most effective ways to find a job. The only thing that has changed is how we get it done. All the major social media tools give you the opportunity to network more efficiently than ever before and to discover connections for yourself that you used to have to rely on others to discover for you. Let's start with Twitter since it is probably the most maligned and misunderstood.
I'll admit it. When Twitter first came out I thought it was the most idiotic thing I had ever seen. Who would ever want to know 140 characters worth of what I (or anyone else) was doing every five minutes? Had it ended there, it really wouldn't matter much as a job search tool. However, like many things, people saw potential for other uses and adapted quickly.
Twitter is now used by hundreds of HR departments from major corporations to advertise job openings. From our office account (@SHUCareerDev) we are following companies like GE, Gartner, AT&T, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Google, CBS, IBM, KPMG, Pepsi, Warner Brothers, Verizon, Mattel, Hyatt, Expedia and Ernst & Young among many others. Corporate recruiters tweet out job openings, company information and current news and events. All good stuff to be on top of if you would like to work there. Also, because Twitter moves so quickly, if a job is advertised through Twitter you know they are hiring right now, unlike most job boards where the job may be weeks old. There are also completely seperate sites, like TwitJobSearch which make the search even easier.
If you have specific companies you are targeting (and you better, but that is a seperate post) you can search for people at the company who have their own accounts and follow them. Not only will you catch any advertised jobs quickly, but you will get to know a little about the person which can be helpful when that interview comes along.
While there are ways to make direct connections with people using Twitter, I think it is best used to gather information and find opportunities. It is most useful when used in conjunction with other social media like LinkedIn and Facebook. We'll talk more about that when I cover those tools.
In other posts I've often advised that job seekers are best served by the ability to put themselves in the employer's shoes. This remains true when it comes to social media. If you can understand how employers are using these tools you can better understand how they might help you in your search. Check out this articleabout how recruiters are using Twitter. As one recruiter notes: "The people who are on Twitter are people who are comfortable with innovation, creative and collaborative work, and new and creative ways to get their job done."
Wouldn't you like to be known as one of those people?
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