How to use your Social Media Profiles to get your next job

At the beginning of this week we asked you to boost your social graph, so you could be our next R1000 winner. Today, we plan to give you a step-by-step guide to make your social media profiles better,so that recruiters will consider your talents and your online brand.

Some of you may have already started filling out the new Job Mail CV and have already noticed that you now have the opportunity to include your social media graph.  This new feature on our Job Mail CV is designed to show your future employee the professional but social side of you. More and more recruiters are researching future employees via their social media profiles. It makes sense that you optimise your social media profiles before your future boss finds you.

If you are not on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin yet, now is as good a time as any to join and start networking. If you are already an active social-lite it makes sense to optimise your social profiles better.  If your social media profiles project a respectable image of what you are about, then you will have a better chance of being noticed by a recruiter for your skills and expertise.

It is time for you to hide those ‘incriminating’ photographs, improve the quality of your online brand and get your social brand out there by placing these networks on your Job Mail online CV.

Read the below steps and find out how you can improve your social networks:

1. Use a professional profile picture: Your profile picture is like a first impression. Make sure that when you choose your Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter head shot image that this is clear and professional. It is a good idea to use the same photo across all your social media networks to show that you believe in a consistent online brand (this will also help recruiters to find you and relate to you better). This photo creates an important first impression, so make sure you select your photo with care.

2. Show-off your expertise: It is a good idea to link your education, previous work and present work as well as your current location on your Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin profiles.  This allows recruiters to see all your current information at a glance.

3. Optimise your Linkedin now: Linkedin is a job networking site that allows you to showcase your employment history. It is a good idea to have your Linkedin profile as up-to-date as your Job Mail Online CV.  You can add groups that link to your industry and start being a part of important discussions to get your online brand out there.

4. Position yourself as an expert: Building and enhancing your professional social profiles is crucial to selling yourself online. This is the best way to position your skills and give people the opportunity to get to know more about you and what you can offer. If you believe you add value, this is your opportunity to show people through the high-level information you share on social networking platforms. It’s about creating an online persona. So for example, sharing content on social media platforms from Times Live or Business Day leaves a very different impression to talking about a party you went to on the weekend.

Once your social media profiles are looking the way you want them to look to your future boss, it then time for you to add these links to your Job Mail Social graph. Some of you may not know how to do this and this is why we Job Mail has come to the rescue.

It is very easy to add your social profiles to your Job Mail social graph. All you have to do is find your Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin profiles. Once you have each of your social media profiles open all you have to do is copy the urls into your social media graph. Please review the ‘Social Media section’ below to see where you should copy and paste your Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter links. If you don’t know how to find your social media urls pay attention!

For Facebook, open your Facebook profile, then copy and paste the link at the top of the page into the “Facebook Profile Link category” on your Job Mail CV under the ‘Social Media section’. Please look at the example below of the Job Mail Facebook page, so you can see where to find your own Facebook url.

For Twitter, open your Twitter profile, then copy and paste the link (url) at the top of the page into the “Twitter Profile Link category” on your Job Mail CV under the ‘Social Media section’. Please look at the example below of the Job Mail Twitter page, so you can find the right url.

For Linkedin, open your Linkedin profile, then copy and paste the link (url) at the top of the page into the “Linkedin Profile Link category” on your Job Mail CV under the ‘Social Media section’. Please look at the example below of the Job Mail Linkedin page, so you can find your personal Linkedin URL.

Now that your social graph is complete, you have immediately been entered into the boost your social graph competition to win R1000 through Job Mail. We wish all the contestants the best of luck!

The Job Mail Team hopes that this lesson helped you to improve your social media profiles. It is important to be prepared and look your best online because you never know who may be investigating your profile right now – it could just be your future boss!