Using Social Media in Your Job Search Transcript
Hello, from Career Services!
I'm sure you've heard it's not what you know, but who you know when it comes to getting a job? Well, there is a lot of truth to that. About 80% of the jobs are filled through networking, meeting people who can help get your resume into the right hands so you can secure an interview. But how do you find the right people when you don't know anyone at the company or in the industry? Using social media professionally and effectively is a great way to make these valuable connections.
Your industry may not require the use of every platform out there. With so many to choose from, how do you know which one will be the best for you and your career? First, decide what your goal is before making multiple accounts. Too many accounts could end up being overwhelming. Do you need to show images of your work? Maybe Instagram would be the best fit. Do you need to demonstrate a skill or process? Perhaps YouTube is better. Determine who you are trying to reach. This will help guide you when deciding which outlet you can use effectively and put in the right amount of energy to maintain.
Employers are increasingly using social media as an informal background check. Hiring new people is scary and expensive. Employers don't want to make a mistake or have an incident ruin their company's reputation. Your reputation is your brand, and you need to ensure employers see a professional brand when they look at your online presence. What are employers looking for when they do a quick internet search? Basically, any red flag that makes you appear unprofessional or unreliable.
Anything that distracts from your professional brand or clashes with the company's culture, such as any drug use, negative rants, spelling and grammar errors, and excessive alcohol use are just some examples. For some careers, not having a professional brand online is a negative. For instance, if you want to work in a job where you use social media, but you don't have any professional profiles, they may not take you seriously.
Networking is simply getting to know people. It's not brown nosing or anything negative. In fact, you're always networking. Your classmates are part of your network, your professors, coworkers, career services, basically anyone you meet. It's important to nurture these relationships by liking posts, sharing articles, and checking in to see how they are doing. Employers like to hire people they know, so it helps to network with companies you're interested in working with.
In this video, we will focus on the big three social media platforms you can use professionally, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.
When you're building your LinkedIn profile, be sure you have a nice photo of yourself. Make sure that it's clear that you're smiling and is a nice photo of you from the shoulders up. Don't use one where you've cropped yourself out or there's a distracting background. The headline under your name can be your major or the career that you're aiming for. You don't need your current job title. You want recruiters to find you and they will search for the job titles they need to fill, which may not be your current job title. Your summary is a short description of your top skills, why you're interested in this career field and any accomplishments.
The summary is basically your response to tell me about yourself. Just like your resume, you want to fill out your experience section starting with your most recent job and going backwards. Be sure to mention accomplishments and key skills related to your career. If you are in professional or college organizations, you can also put that on LinkedIn.
When it comes to your education, all you need is your college information. High-school information is not needed. If you attended another college but did not graduate from there, you also do not need to list it. Many employers like their employees helping the community. If you have this experience, it may help catch the employer's attention.
The Skills section is where you can list all your relevant skills and you can choose the order in which they appear. When others endorse you for your skills, it lets the employer know that others recognize your expertise. LinkedIn gives you the opportunity to showcase your awards and it's okay to brag here.
Hiring managers want to see the great things you have accomplished. By listing some of the courses that relate to your future career, it lets hiring managers know what you have learned in your degree. If you have any projects that highlight your skills, be sure to list them. You can upload PowerPoints, slide shares, videos, and PDFs.
Recommendations are a short version of a letter of recommendation from supervisors and colleagues. These recommendations are another way for people to validate your experience and how you do a great job. Other topics you can include in your profile are publications where you can upload the document itself or a link to your work.
Any non-college courses such as additional professional development certifications and licenses, professional interests. And you can follow industry leaders and companies. By following companies, you will gain valuable information about the company's culture, values, and updates on hiring.
Since many companies have a Facebook page, you can easily follow them for company updates. And sometimes they will post jobs. With thousands of groups on Facebook, you can join career related groups to network with others in your field. If you plan to use Facebook professionally, be very careful with what you post, which you should do any ways.
As you can see on this slide, when I searched for marketing jobs under groups, there are many to choose from with thousands of members who are very active.
Twitter is a great source of information. You can follow companies and see job postings and follow industry experts to stay up to date with important news and information. Just like with any social media site, you can follow many different people, groups, and companies.
This is a part of the stream on the UNG Career Services Twitter page. Only the administrator sees this. We follow companies and career leaders so we can stay up to date on the latest employment news. However, we don't post everything we follow. We have a brand to maintain. So, when you land on our Twitter page, you will only see what we post.
By posting only relevant information to your career. You start building your professional brand. Even if you do not plan to use Twitter to build your online brand, you can still follow industry news, so you can stay up to date with important information.
Keep in mind that social media is a great way to build your professional brand and network with people in your industry.
And one last key point. Be sure to network even if you are not looking for a job. You never know when you may want to either change jobs or you might be forced to leave your job. You need your network in place before you find yourself in that situation.
You can follow us on our social media. We post great information about events, employer visits, and resources to help you in your job search. You can find us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. You can make an appointment at UNG.edu/careers.
Also be sure to activate your account on handshake, which is our UNG job board.
Thank you for joining us today. We look forward to working with you.