Getting Social Media to Work for You

Getting Social Media to Work for You Rachel Coombes is a Careers Consultant based on the Penryn Campus. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram these are all social media platforms you use for fun, right? But have you also explored how they can help or hinder your job hunting? Here are my top 5 tips for how to go about making the most of Social Media when planning your career: If this is your LinkedIn profile photo youre probably not doing social media right What Happens in Vegas stays on YouTube, Instagram, or Twitter…for everyone to see We all know the importance of maintaining a good presence online, yet some people are still getting into problems with posts that they (or others) made. Remember, employers may check what information there is about you online before you join and have been known to withdraw offers based on what they find. So what can you do to protect yourself? Make sure you lock down your privacy settings and regularly check these as they are often updated, meaning that things you thought you had secured may have become open to the public again. Google yourself â€" check what is already online about you and do this regularly. Clear up anything you wouldn’t want anyone to see if they Googled you too. Set up Google Alerts for your name to be informed about anything that is posted about you. Always take a second to think about the effects anything you post may have before putting it online. Build Your Brand Having a presence online can be a positive thing, and building your brand online can really help you get ahead of the game and stand out to employers for the right reasons. The more active you are on social media sites, the higher you’ll come in the Google rankings. Even just having a LinkedIn account (we’ll come on to that later) can help you get to the top of a Google search, so get involved. To Blog or Not to BlogThat is the Question Blogs are easy to start up and one of the most popular and easy to use is Word Press. But how will blogging help you with your career? For a start you can use it to demonstrate your knowledge of certain areas, interest in a topic or skill sets. For example if you were interested in becoming a journalist your blog can show your writing ability. Or say if you wanted to get into marketing, you could blog about your views on various marketing strategies you’ve come across in the media, or any you had personally created. You can then add a link to it on your CV or LinkedIn account to demonstrate more about you. Make sure however that you update your blog regularly otherwise there’s no point. #Employers They may stalk you online but you can also do the same, so get proactive. Go to the employer’s website and find out which social media sites they use. Some may have separate sites for careers related information so always go onto the recruitment section of their website first to check. If you like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter you can then get regular updates on job openings/events/company information etc, all from the comfort of your phone. YouTube can also be a great way to find out more about the company and the various roles within it from current employees or recent graduates. Some employers will also post clips on how to succeed in their recruitment process and what a group exercise might look like. Interact with them â€" don’t be afraid to ask them a question or get involved in discussions. This can help to get you known to the employer so make sure this is for the right reasons. Make sure the questions you ask couldn’t easily be found out from their website or recruitment literature otherwise it will look like you haven’t done your research. We love LinkedIn And we hope you will too. Feedback from students however is that a great number of you have LinkedIn accounts but aren’t sure how to make the most out of it. So here’s some key tips to help you get started: Time it can take some time to start reaping the rewards of LinkedIn so be patient and know that the more time and effort you put into it the more benefit you will get from it. Research you have access to millions of CVs in millions of different job roles through LinkedIn so get researching. Just type some key words of roles you’re interested in into the search bar at the top of LinkedIn and find the profiles of people involved in those areas. Have a look at how they got into it, what companies they’ve worked in, and build a greater knowledge of that industry. Networking start connecting with people. This can be other students, friends, contacts, employers you’ve met, work colleagues etc. They may not necessarily be connected to the area you want to get into but they may know someone who is. You can even search for particular companies and then find relevant people within that company you may like to approach. Make sure when you send out your request to connect that you change the generic text box and target it to that individual so they are more likely to connect with you. Profile LinkedIn will take you through the necessary steps to help you set this up and give you pointers on how to improve your profile. Just like your CV it should be targeted to the area you wish to get into. Make sure you detail clearly in your work history the skills and experience you have gained, including key words which employers may search for. Groups this is a great feature of LinkedIn and allows you to join groups that may be of interest to you. Doing this can help target your profile and enable you to participate in discussions and learn about certain areas. But which groups should you join? Search for ones related to your career area or previous experience. The University of Exeter has a group so why not start by joining that. Professional bodies and company specific groups can also be great ones to join. Is it worth upgrading? There are a few benefits to getting the professional upgrade however the majority of what you need to do can be done without needing to upgrade so don’t feel you have to do this at this stage. More, More, More if you want to know more come along to one of our LinkedIn labs which will shortly be advertised on My Career Zone. In summary Social Media is a great way to open up your job search and help you approach your job hunting in a more creative way. Not only can it help you access that all important hidden job market but it can also help you network and get yourself known to employers. Make the most of it as a resource and be sure to include it in your job hunting action plan. To start on your social media journey why not come along to one of our ‘LinkedIn webinars’ or follow the Career Zone on social media to keep up to date with all things employability. Happy Networking!