5 Clever Ways to Get a Job Using Social Media

Social Media is making it easier for job seekers to find the right job. It’s also enabling you to connect to the right people that can help you to get that job. Many job seekers are still using traditional job search methods that are yielding poor results. Recently the New York Post reported that one woman applied for more than 1,000 jobs over 99 weeks, getting only 2 interviews. In the United States, nearly 1 in 3 job seekers have been out of work for more than a year, and the average job seeker gives up after 5 months.

By understanding who you are, what differentiates you in the job market and establishing your personal branding online, you can compete in the new talent marketplace. Once you have built your own website and established your social network profiles you will be ready to start leveraging your relationships and talents to get the job of your dreams, not just one that pays the bills.

More and more companies are recruiting using social media, and 40% of young professionals are using social media to get jobs. You could have a successful job search by following these 5 new ways to get a job using social media:

1. Leverage Your Social Graph: People get jobs through other people, not computers. By having a personal connection to the company you’re applying for your chances of getting a job should multiply. If all you do is submit your resume blindly on job boards, you won’t have much luck. 10 years ago, it would take you a lot of effort to ask your friends who they know and to remember where all your friends work. Now, thanks to social networks you can tap your social graph and have all that info at your fingertips. For job seekers, this means that they can get introductions to people who work at companies they’re interested in. For companies, this means growing your business though introductions. The internet is a personal research laboratory. LinkedIn has proven to be very effective in this regard. For those of you who did not know, LinkedIn gives you access to hiring managers through close connections. After creating your profile, you can upload all of your e-mail contacts so that you have a foundation to build on. You can then search for a company or position, filter your results by location and see who is in your immediate network that can introduce you to a hiring manager. All of their information is online, so it’s created an expectation that you are doing your homework.
2. Use Augmented Reality and Job Search Apps: People are starting to use mobile applications to see job openings near them and apply with just a few touches on their iPhone or Android Phone. 20% of job seekers use their smartphones to search for Jobs. Augmented reality blurs the line between what’s real and what’s computer-generated by enhancing what we see, hear, feel and smell. Some applications enable the user to see all the companies near their current location. The application then shows the user what positions are open at those companies. This information could be very useful if a job seeker spots a company they are interested in whilst walking around the city.
3. Build Your Online Influence: More than a decade ago, if you had the right “hard” skills (like C++ programming) you were almost guaranteed a job. You could almost trade your diploma for a job upon graduation. As the economy changed and became more competitive, companies started to pay attention to a new set of skills. Soft skills (like communication, organization, leadership, etc) became increasingly important as a way to choose one candidate over another. Companies were interested (and still are) in passion, teamwork and cultural fit. In today’s world, not only do you need strong hard and soft skills, but you need to develop online influence. When two candidates look the same on paper and are both good communicators, the differentiator will be their online influence. Online influence is measured in how many connections you have, who those connections are (and how influential they are), who and how many people are sharing your content and backlinking to your website and more. This can be measured on websites like Klout.
4. Use Multimedia Instead of a Paper Resume: A recent Office Team survey noted that 36% of companies think that it’s at least somewhat likely resumes will eventually be replaced by profiles on social and business networking sites. More and more professionals are using creative ways to promote themselves online with things like rap videos, dedicated Facebook Pages, a blog saying “hire me” and other presentations. Promotional tactics like these can be effective and even land some media attention, which could turn into a few job offers. Very few job seekers take the time to invest in tactics like these so they stand out and are shared widely.
5. Turn Yourself Into an Advertisement: Another way to get people’s attention is to advertise yourself to the specific people and companies you’re looking to work for. The 4 most common ways to advertise yourself are through Facebook social ads, Google AdWords, blog advertisements and LinkedIn Ads. These are all offerings used primarily for businesses, but can be applied to your job search. You can see an example of this being done by Alec Brownstein in 2010, when he advertised himself by targeting specific executives at companies he wanted to work for. Since people Google themselves, the executives saw his advertisement and he landed interviews. You want to create an advertisement that catches a recruiter’s attention and make sure that it links back to your main website or LinkedIn profile. Your advertisement should be specific and have your expertise clearly identified.

We hope that you will find this information insightful and that it will be helpful in your quest to find your dream job.

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