Here’s How Social Media Can Help You Find Your Next Job

With a generation driven by digital, technology and social media, looking for a job could be as easy as a click on your tablet or smartphone. Apps that allow you to upload your resume, or more extensive job results from job search engines are just as important as your resume itself. But how do you gain exposure with so many competitors out there? You aim to stand out – not only with the content of your resume, but utilize Social Media to expose your creativity and personality as well. This does not mean you should be tweeting a photo of you peeing while you’re drunk! This is going to be a very very bad move.

Researches have shown that one in six job seekers credit social media with landing their current job. Now think about this: in 2012, 92 percent of employers used social media for recruiting.

Using social media as your online social presence in looking for a job should present you to the professional world. Use social media to enable yourself to network with others in your field. Use it to give your potential employers a polished presentation of your skills and experiences.

You might say, “I’m already on LinkedIn,” but that is not quite enough. Building your social presence doesn’t just stop on LinkedIn, Typepad, Tumblr or WordPress. There are other sites you should check out. For instance, razume.com and ziggs.com allow you to build your social resume, connect to job search resources, track your profile and allow you to list yourself in professional directories. You can make it more visual too. Check out ResumeSocial.com and VisualCV.com allow you to create and share a video resume, and connect and interact with others in your field. They allow you to control who can see your profile. Also, take advantage of job-posting aggregator.

If you’re on social networking sites such as Twitter or Facebook, make sure you follow companies you’re interested in. These companies tend to post job openings.

What should you include when establishing a social presence when you’re looking for a job? You must include your membership in any professional organizations and mentions of volunteerism. These are quite a plus to big companies nowadays.

There are things you should avoid doing. While these seem obvious, a lot of job seekers are still reckless. Avoid profanity. Stay neutral on things – the best way to do this is to avoid political and religious posts. Focus on your skills, experiences. Always make sure to check your spelling and grammar.

Are these enough? Nope. You should also make your resume stand out. Here’s a wild idea: create a resume that looks like an infographic. Or better yet, make it look like Twitter posts – showing posts mentioning your skills and experiences, or make it look like a Facebook Timeline.

If you are not too crazy about the idea of creating your social resume yet, just think that last year, 89% of recruiters have hired through LinkedIn, 25% have hired through Facebook and 15% have hired through Twitter.