Social Media Profile Becoming as Important as Your Resume
Your online social media profile may be as important as your resume if you are looking for a new job or to change careers.
Employers are more frequently using social media networks to find candidates for employment, rather than going through resumes or searching job websites.
People who have neglected to create and update a social media presence – particularly on LinkedIn, the leading professional networking site – could miss out on being considered for positions. Even extensive, targeted networking, which is the best way to find jobs, may not compensate for the lack of a complete and updated social media profile.
83% of employers are currently using, or plan to use, social media networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter for hiring, according to a survey by the Jobvite recruiting platform (www.jobvite.com). 58% of employers have hired through social media networks. The networks they have used to hire employees are LinkedIn (used by 89% of employers that hired via social media), Facebook (28%), and Twitter (14%), according to the survey.
People who have failed to build and maintain a strong social media presence, including older or less technically savvy workers, may receive fewer job inquiries. Employers are also using social media sites more often to find additional information about you after your resume is received, and you can benefit from having a prominent social media profile at this stage of the job search.
ClearRock offers the following advice on how to most effectively use social media to advance your career:
- Develop a compelling online brand for yourself. Your brand should define the areas in which you specialize, distinguish you from others, and persuasively convey the value you can bring and have brought to past employers.
- Use your professional headline to showcase your capabilities. On LinkedIn, the professional headline you craft right below your name is an especially important part of your branding. It should consist of impactful keywords that accentuate the range of what you can do, rather than just state your current job title.
- Position yourself as an expert in your field. Include searchable key words that detail the depth of your experience and skills. Employers not only search for employees on social media sites, but also for solutions to specific problems, and your expertise may be what they are looking for.
- Be on the lookout for any discrepancies between your resume and social media profiles. Dates of employment and other details on your social media profiles must exactly match those on your resume. Potential employers will pick up on any inconsistencies right away.
- Keep your social media profiles up to date. Give meaningful status updates, such as links to your blog, to demonstrate your subject matter expertise. Include your job search in your status updates with your connections.
- Join LinkedIn and Facebook groups that are comprised of people in your profession, industry, as well as targeted employers. Answering questions from group members and commenting on the latest trends is a way to stay current within your profession.
- Include your LinkedIn URL in the signature block of your e-mails. This will encourage people to click on your profile. The more activity in your profile, the higher up you will appear in a search.
- Make sure you have public profile setting so that your LinkedIn profile can be readily found on Google. Adjust your privacy settings to accept InMail, a service that is often used by executive recruiters.
- Devote a Facebook page to your work as a professional, and use this in your job search, in addition to having a separate, personal Facebook page.
