If you are seeking employment in today's competitive job market,
you're looking for every edge you can get to beat the competition. Social media can be that edge. When used
in a systematic and focused way, social media can provide you with multitude of
job seeking avenues and connections that you could not achieve using just your feet,
friends and a phone. In this article on Working the Web to Win, we will explore
how any would-be job seeker can gain worthwhile employment, start their career and
join today's workforce, with a job that they want, and the potential they seek.
This is a comprehensive article that
covers all aspects of using social media for your search. So read on and learn how
to use social media in the war to win gainful employment.
Let’s begin our journey with an understanding of what I believe
are universal truths that will help you get an edge over your competition for a
long term gainful career. First of all, I believe that a person with a positive
attitude will have an advantage over those looking to take shortcuts to get a job.
I believe in avoiding trickery, being consistent and fully understanding what you
want in a career. Even if you’re not sure of the type of job you want, being positive
and ready to serve when needed, will always help you make the right connections
and meet the right people who can help you.
Six Reasons
to Join and use a Social Network? If you
haven’t joined a ton of social networks yet, here are six important reasons to make
the leap. First, a large social network can help you further your career. It allows
you to connect with colleagues and share vital information. It can help you find
vital information on potential employers. It can be a stepping stone to your next
job or career move. It allows you to hunt for new jobs effectively. It allows you
to showcase your skills. Most importantly, it can connect you with people that can
help you.
Here are
Five
1.
Social networks are the primary source for job candidate
acquisition today. Gone
are the days when newspapers dominated the job hunt. Yes, you can still look for a job in the paper,
but it's much more efficient to search social media and job sites to find the right
job you’re looking for. The number one place people look for a job is “LinkedIn”.
Job sites like monster
and ZipRecruiter all post job listings on Twitter, Facebook and yes,
LinkedIn. Just search for them on the respective social nets and see what's there.
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| Courtesy of slideshare.net/bnixon/ |
2.
LinkedIn is the number one place businesses look for new employees. Employers
like LinkedIn as a business-friendly social media network. Their sales people use
it to generate leads and close more business. However, many businesses love using
LinkedIn to post jobs because they feel it produces better candidates. As a matter of fact, many businesses have company pages designed to recruit potential employees
while they are still in school.
3.
As a member
of a Social Networks – you are both a user and a product of the Social network. When
you join any social network you become a subscriber with all the benefits and privileges
that a network has to offer. However, you
are also a product in their database of users, which is bought and sold on a daily
basis. This means you need to make sure that your profile is polished and professional
and that zero grammatical errors are present. You need to choose your words carefully
and you need to make sure you connect with individuals and groups that can help
you achieve your goals.
4.
Social
Media sells your information to advertisers and other vendors. All social
media networks also sell your posts and information to other vendors. Your posts
are often sold to Google to be added to their organic search stream. Vendors also
routinely buy your profile information for sales and recruiting purposes. Heck,
you can look up (often for free) or buy anyone's profile on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook
or Google+. For the most part they are free for the taking.
5.
You do
not own what you post. The network does. Social networks are not free! When I
tell people this, they often seem surprised. But they shouldn’t be. You get to use
the social networks you join for free! You sign a EULA stating you have little or
no rights to anything you post and you get to use their functions at no cost to
you, except that they own all of your data. This means you have zero privacy, so
make sure you post wisely! Here are some reasons why they are not free. (a.) It takes time and effort to set up a social
network profile. Your time has value. If you multiply your efforts posting to 5
to 8 networks, you have invested a considerable amount of time. (b.) You also have
to provide useful, relevant & timely content for your audience to grow daily!
If you’re not posting useful information, your profile has minimal usefulness to
others. It takes time and effort to do the research to find the best content and
it takes time to post the information and format it for each of the different social
networks. Time equals money. Time spend equals money spend
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| Courtesy of the themodernconnection.com |
You need
to grow your network so that it has reach riffraff
How to Grow your Social Network based on your Skills
and Knowledge. You will have
to actively connect with people by
following and inviting them to connect with you – daily! If you know what
skill set you have, target industries that need that skill set. Follow the leaders
in your industry in LinkedIn and Twitter at a minimum. The more networks the better.
Send email, direct messages and InMails to HR managers, recruiters and decision
makers weekly. Follow up with postcards and regular snail mail as well, just to
stand out from the competition (chances are they didn’t send this kind of mail).
Include your resume along with a list of projects you have worked on, played a critical
role in, and or
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| Courtesy of digitalinformationworld.com |
Post/Send links of samples of your work & projects. Also send links to your
testimonials and endorsements pages. Post useful, timely and interesting articles
(curated posts) on a regular basis. Ask for opinions and comments. Share posts generated
by others and give them credit (i.e. Retweet). This is especially true for industry
leaders and influencers. Blog about subjects in your industry (these are authoritative
posts). Creating quality articles can showcase your skills and expertise. Make sure
you share your blogs with friends and coworkers and ask them to share them as well.
I like Blogger, but many also use LinkedIn’s Pulse and Slide Share. Repurpose
Here are
some Simple Techniques for Supersizing your Social Nets. If you invite 30 people a day to
connect and have a non-connection rate of 75%, you will still grow by 2,738 new
followers in one year! Here’s the math. 30
x 365 = 10,950 invited followers. 10,950 x 75% = 8,212 people who unfollowed
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| Courtesy of socialmedia.umich.edu |
Share a positive - Share
a curren
t interesting article in your industry, especially on LinkedIn. - Encourage
others to read and share your posts.
- Thank
everyone who follows you or says something nice about you.
- Check
LinkedIn and other job boards daily.
- Connect
with at least 3 new people every day.
- Provide
written testimonials & endorsements for others, especially on LinkedIn.
8 Things to do every week
- Check
your profile stats every week.
- Contact
people who are looking at your stats to connect with them.
- Look
for
influencers - Share
the best post of the week on all your social networks. Encourage others to
make comments.
- Join
and actively participate in group discussions, especially on LinkedIn.
- Write
and publish a weekly quality article on Blogger.
- Create
and publish a weekly Vlog on YouTube.
- Share
your blog and Vlog posts on LinkedIn, your other networks and ask people to
subscribe to your networks!
Save time and energy by limiting your online social
networking. I recommend
no more than two hours a day. Don’t forget to engage in face to face networking.
Join local industry groups, Meetups and other social networks. The local Chambers
of Commerce offer a special job seeker membership; I’d take advantage of this offer.
Spend a little, get a lot. Get LinkedIn Premium to make job hunting easier. They
have a free trial that you can turn off at any time.
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| Courtesy of /veooz.com |
Take Advantage
of your audience’s preferences. Curated & authoritative posts
with videos & pictures are read and shared more often. This is followed by posts
with audio and then text only. There are generational gaps for followers. Baby Boomers
have very different preferences than do Millennials. Younger audiences prefer more instant and visual
messages. Being mobile-friendly is a must!
Use Leverage
to Magnify your message. Whenever possible, post to as many social networks
simultaneously. Use aggregation tools like Hootsuite, Hootlet, Tweet Deck &
others to schedule your posts. Use information gathering services like Google Alerts,
PaperLi & others content services. Gather & organize your posts in advance,
then schedule your posts with the aggregation software of your choice.
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| Courtesy of /urbantabloid.com |
Thank all
followers whenever it's appropriate. This includes new followers, mentions,
retweets, shares, forwards, comments and even questions. Use “Grandma’s Rules” of
social engagement (“you are your manners”). Rules like: Be nice to people. Be courteous.
Say please & thank you, help others, etc. If you want people to connect with
you, be nice to them. A simple thank you and lending a helpful hand carries more
weight than you realize.
Ask and you shall receive. If you
want people to share your information by retweeting and sharing your comments and
latest post, ask them to do so! You have a 33 % greater chance of them sharing your
post if you just ask. If you want to engage people, be engaging, ask open questions,
and compliment them on their achievements & good fortune. Console their grief.
Be sure to like, comment, share and retweet their posts! Don’t be pushy. Like begets
like! If you don’t ask, you won’t receive!
Recruiters are looking for specific skills + value
added individuals! They might check
your profile because you have the
right skill set or because your profile is in a similar industry. They might contact you because you have a significant
list of endorsements or testimonials. Another reason could be that you provided
them useful & relevant information in a group discussion or blog. A recruiter
may find your comments or content in a blog to be of high quality, timely and/or
useful. Or they may just follow you because they hunt by numbers – the more the
better.
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| Courtesy of. linkedin.com/pulse |
Some final keys to success. Dedication is your friend. A good attitude goes far beyond
just your immediate reach. Bring or add
If you’re really looking to launch
a career vs
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That’s my opinion, I look forward
to hearing yours.
You can find other related articles
by searching this blog. Just type in “Job Search” or Social networking” in the search
box at the top of this blog. Please share this article with your friends, family
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on Google+.
If you feel your business could use some help with its marketing, contact us at 904-410-2091. We will provide a free marketing analysis to help you get better results. If you'd like a free copy of our eBook, "Internet Marketing Tips for the 21st Century," please fill in the form below and we'll give you instant access to it. Your information is always kept private and is never sold. You will also receive our weekly newsletter covering current trends, events and happenings on the web.
Hector Cisneros is COO and
director of Social Media Marketing at Working the Web
to Win, an award-winning Internet marketing company based in
Jacksonville, Florida. He is also co-host
of the weekly Internet radio show, "Working the Web to Win" on
BlogTalkRadio.com, which airs every Tuesday at 4 p.m. Eastern. Hector is a
syndicated writer and published author of “60 Seconds to
Success.”
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