5 Tips for Leveraging Social Media in Your Job Search - CareerAlley

5 Tips for Leveraging Social Media in Your Job Search - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. One of the well-known ways to land a new job is to network. Whether networking with colleagues from work, friends, professors from school, or in other areas, networking plays a vital role; giving us access to people who can recommend us for positions or simply inform us of them. With social media proliferating society, networking using social media may now be one of the best ways to market yourself to potential hiring managers. Here are 5 tips to leverage social media to get that next job. 1. Get information: Social media gives us access to more company information. You can easily check to see if a company has a presence on one of the many social media sites, like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google Plus (almost all are on one or more sites these days). You can easily read up on the company to learn whether they are doing the kinds of things you are interested in doing. You may discover they are expanding into a market you wished to work in or that may require a second language skill you possess. Better yet, this is an excellent source of information for your company research prior to interviewing or applying for a job. 2. Feedback and discussion: You can use social media to provide feedback about products and services, commenting on information the companies are providing or news that has been written about them, including recent business decisions or events. This may give you exposure to product representatives, managers and other staff members who review these social media pages. Getting your name out there on the Internet will help (assuming you use social media in a positive way) so that it will show up in searches (which all companies do on job candidates). Sites like LinkedIn will also let you link your blog to your profile (again, any blog in your name should be something that an employer would view in a positive way). Updating those in your network about the things you write about, possibly making you an authority in your area. 3. Networking: Having access to a wide variety of people is the most important thing about social media. You can easily check to see if the users on a particular network share your interests or work at companies you are interested in. You can then become friends with them or follow them. Most users are fine with making new friends within these networks and are even fine with being contacted for their expertise and knowledge. So, inquiring about a job lead or company information is usually welcome. 4. Your status: The more people you know (or know about you) the better your chances for leveraging your network in your job search. Keep you LinkedIn profile up to date, including your current job status. If you recently were laid off, you can let your network know and inform them about opportunities you might be interested in. This is a great way to get noticed by recruiters and hiring managers which often leads to job opportunities. Get and give recommendations on LinkedIn, this is another great way to get noticed. 5. Link to yourself: Not only can you link to your blog, but you can, and should, link to your resume, web site or portfolio. LinkedIn provides a URL for your profile. Use this link at the bottom of emails and when corresponding with recruiters and hiring managers. Link your profile to in as many ways as possible. If recruiters, hiring managers and other people are considering you for a position before calling you, they will look for your Internet profile and any sites related to you. So, give them your resume and other information that will help them get an idea of who you are. Book Corner [easyazon_link asin=1440569711 locale=US new_window=default nofollow=default tag=caree07-20 add_to_cart=default cloaking=default localization=default popups=default]Knock em Dead Social Networking: For Job Search and Professional Success[/easyazon_link] Social media has definitely changed the times in which we live. It is important to utilise them for networking in order to advance your career and your personal goals. However, you must utilise them correctly in order to gain results. We are always eager to hear from our readers. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions regarding CareerAlley content. Good luck in your search,Joey Google+ what where job title, keywords or company city, state or zip jobs by