Like, Tweet, Share, Follow: Social Media & the Job Search

Like, Tweet, Share, Follow:
Social Media & the Job Search
WHAT WILL BE COVERED:
 Why Social Media?
 4 Step Process:
1) Defining Your Brand
2) Establishing Online Presences
3) Publishing Yourself – Get Out There!
4) Managing Your Online Reputation
POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA
“We don’t have a choice on whether we do social media, the question is
how well do we do it?” -- Eric Qualman, Socialnomics
Play video below:
WHY USE SOCIAL MEDIA?
 92% of companies say they use LinkedIn, Facebook and/or Twitter to hire.
 Of those, 89% of them use LinkedIn and 26% use Facebook
 50% of recruiters say they can determine if someone is a good fit for their
company based on their social media presence
 1:6 Americans say social media helped them find work = 10’s of millions
 The number of recruiters successfully using social media to hire increased
from 58% to 73% the last three years
 Social media makes networking EASIER due to it’s interactive nature
 Social media allows you to demonstrate your personality, passions, and
uniqueness
 Having a positive social media presence makes it easier for employers to
find you!
STEP 1: DEFINING
YOUR BRAND
DEFINING YOUR BRAND
 “Your personal brand is what they believe about you based on
everything they’ve ever seen or heard – whether good or bad, true or
untrue.” – Barbara Findlay Schenck
 A brand is a promise you make to employers about the value you can
bring to them
 Before you use social networking technologies, you must first consider
your personal brand
PERSONAL BRANDING
 Personal branding is the art of communicating what makes you unique
 What is your brand? (Yes, you already have one!)
 Google yourself! (name, hometown)
 Ask your friends what word they would describe you with…. that’s your brand too!
 What and who are you following?
 You don’t need to create your brand, you need to manage your brand
so that people see you they way YOU want them to see you!
 Make sure your brand is represented accurately and consistently
 Manage your reputation by taking charge of search results
 Remember your brand is not just about you – half of it is about them
 Need to understand the needs of the target organization
WHAT’S THEIR BRAND?
 What is Oprah’s brand?
FINDING INFORMATION
 Steve Job’s?
 Miley’s?
PERSONAL BRANDING
 Self knowledge is key – helps you stand out and be unique
 Identify values
 Core values drive our behavior, help us make better choices, feel confident with who
we are, and motivate us in our career
 Knowing your true values, purpose, and mission make your job search easier!
 Also consider your passions, interests, goals, objectives,
accomplishments, knowledge, skills, and abilities
 Building your brand and profiles requires use of industry specific nouns
and keywords
 Let your personality shine!
BRANDING STATEMENTS
 What is at the core of who you are?
 You are in your element when…
 People recognize your expertise in…
 Other people comment on your ability to…
 What qualities set you apart?
 What is the knowledge, experience, or skills you hold that may interest
your target?
Example: Sitting at the intersection of technology and business, I use my passion for
communication to help IT professionals in Fortune 100 companies express themselves in
ways that are understood by business people.
STEP 2: POLISH YOUR
ONLINE PRESENCE
ESTABLISHING ONLINE PRESENCES
 Translate what you know about yourself into concrete, powerful, online
value statements
 Resumes show qualifications – social media shows your fit and
motivation for positions!
 “Put it in writing before you put it online”
 Personal branding statement
 Personal tagline
 LinkedIn summary
 LinkedIn heading
 Facebook bio
 Twitter bio
LINKEDIN
 A combination of your resume, cover letter, references, and portfolio
 A moving and living database of your professional network and
accomplishments
 Share relevant content with all connections or just other members of a
group
 Follow companies, explore career paths, and search for jobs
Why be on
Linkedin? >
LINKEDIN
 Before you do anything else, build your profile!
 Be yourself, expand beyond the resume; employers look for fit and motivation
 Include a picture
 Profile Summary – very important!
 Begin with an action plan – who are you?
 How can you help your industry or career area solve a problem?
 What do you do best?
 What are your key accomplishments?
 What role do you play in your organization’s success?
 What are you looking for exactly?
 Professional Headline – don’t just include a current job title; describe who you
are and what your value is to an organization
 Use keywords throughout your profile, but don’t overdo it
GETTING TO 500+ CONNECTIONS
 Add everyone you’ve ever met in person immediately after you
meet them
 Add ex-coworkers and alumni; use LinkedIn’s alumni tool:
www.linkedin.com/alumni
 Join groups, add group members you admire
 Add recruiters - they never say no
 Avoid keyword stuffing
 Give just enough information so people see your value
 Personalize your invitation to connect!
TWITTER
 Same profile pic as Facebook
 Professional handle
 Bio – what are you tweeting about?
 Follow companies, organizations,
people you admire and recruiters
 Identify relevant hashtags and chats
 Twitter: Supercharged
Networking>
OPTIMIZING TWITTER FOR JOB SEARCH
 Don’t protect your tweets
 Have a customized background for your profile
 Have at least 20 tweets under your belt before you try reaching out
 Tweet articles and share information relevant to your audience and
industry
 Follow companies, recruiters, industry leaders, career centers, job
posters (i.e. @TweetMyJobs)
 Search hashtags relevant to job searching (i.e. #jobs, #jobsearch,
#careers)
FACEBOOK
 Profile picture of just YOU
 Make some parts of your “About Me” public - work experience,
education, clubs and organizations
 Set privacy controls for anything you don’t want employers to see
 Disable the ability for people to tag you in pictures and videos
 Clean up past posts
 Best for interacting on a more personal level with contacts – most
referrals come from here
 Add campus events that you attend
 Follow company pages, professional groups, and career sites
STEP 3: PUBLISH
YOURSELF
TIPS FOR ONLINE NETWORKING
 Hiring managers ultimately are looking to answer these three questions:
 Can you do the job?
 Do I like you?
 Are you motivated?
 Don’t spam, shout, beg, or be a troll
 Don’t add someone to your network without an explanation
 Share your voice – practice it so it gets easier
 Don’t be generic, add value to the conversation
 Be genuine – your authentic self, show personality
 Keep interactions positive
 Be proactive, reach out, and interact
 Be respectful of others’ time – get to the point
REACHING OUT TO EMPLOYERS
1. Find companies, people, and opportunities you want to follow
 Be specific, also identity who you need to network with
2. Get to know what the company and/or contact cares about and
considers relevant – do your research!
 Get noticed by reading industry news, following social media outlets, and
understanding how YOU can add value
 Find ways to show you can relate to the person/organization; what do you have in
common?
3. Track down someone who is willing to give you time for an
informational interview
 Identify “low stakes” individuals to talk about what it is really like working there,
invite these people to your networks
4. Start interacting with people who have the power to hire you
 Now you have information, make a good impression
WHAT TO SAY?
 Share, comment on an industry related article you read
 Ask a question to the audience
 Share a quote you found relevant or inspiring
 Post pictures of yourself participating in a hobby or professional event
 Give advice to someone else
 Share insights, opinions, frustrations (keep it professional!)
 Retweet or share someone else’s post
 Give updates on your job search
 Tell people what you are looking for
TIPS FOR WRITING
 Write in first person
 Make sure more permanent info is polished, such at your LinkedIn
profile and Twitter bio
 Shorter lifespan posts are less rigid, okay to be more informal and the
occasional typo is okay
 Be brief – get to the point
 Include pictures
 Don’t sell, yell, or troll
YOUR DAILY SOCIAL MEDIA
20-MINUTE RITUAL
 LinkedIn
 Update your status
 Comment on one other person’s update
 Post to one industry-relevant update
 Comment on a post from a group
 Invite three new people to your network
 Find and follow an interesting company
YOUR DAILY SOCIAL MEDIA
20-MINUTE RITUAL
 Facebook
 Post to your timeline (at least one public post per week)
 Comment on three other peoples’ posts
 Like five other peoples’ posts
 Like companies you want to work for and say hi
YOUR DAILY SOCIAL MEDIA
20-MINUTE RITUAL
 Twitter
 Respond to any Direct Messages or @Mentions
 Tweet something original, use industry hashtags
 Retweet someone in your network
 Follow five new people/companies
 @Mention someone you admire
 DM someone to start a conversation
 Participate in chats
STEP 4: MANAGE
YOUR REPUTATION
FIND OUT WHAT’S ONLINE
 80% of employers say they will Google you – know you will get
Googled! (careerspots>social media>google yourself)
 Also check out Spokeo, Zoom Info, social media search engines
 Your goal is to ensure that employers see you in the best possible light
 Assess search results – what’s already out there?
 Does the “real you” show up more than 3 times on Google’s first page?
 Do you like the results?
 Not showing up in results at all is just as bad as having negative results!
 If you have a common name, try narrowing it down by adding a middle
initial, city/state, or previous job
REPAIRING A BAD REPUTATION
 Bury old content by creating new content
 Blog
 LinkedIn
 Personal website (buy your domain name now!)
 Build profiles
 Share portfolio
 Build up over time, not all at once
MONITOR YOUR IMAGE
 Stay updated on your presence, even if you aren’t job searching
 What are people saying about you?
 Address inaccuracies or problems before they are widespread
 Thank people who share good information
 Search your name once a month
 Set up alerts through Google Alerts and Social Mention
PINTEREST
 SCSU Career Services Pinterest Site
THANKS FOR VIEWING!
Additional
Resource:
DEED Social
Media Guides