From the latest Jobvite survey we can now officially see that 94% of recruiters use or plan to use social media in their recruitment efforts.  Social media recruiting is huge and growing!  In fact, 78% of recruiters have already hired people from social media, in particular LinkedIn, with great success.  Guess who typically has social media accounts… Your friends and their business connections!  Knowing someone can be one of the fastest ways to get your foot in the door at a company.

If you’re a ‘hired through social media’ newbie this is your jumping off point:

1. First things first.  Get straight on which ones will actually help you.  The preferred social media platforms considered to be the most ‘professional’ for career-related activities are LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.  It’s true that there is also Instagram, Pinterest, and Tumblr, but these are better suited for the more creative careers like photography and baking. The first thing you should consider before you jump on these sites is the image you want to create.  You need one consistent message about yourself across the board. You want the right employers to be attracted to your profiles, not be confused as to what it is you want or do.

2. Well that seems easier said than done.  How do you actually accomplish that?  Don’t despair.  Remember when teachers or guidance counselors told us to write a personal statement?  This is quite similar and will give you a good blueprint for your social media presence. Write a personal brand statement. It’s sort of a combination of the “goal statement” on your resume + your bio + something about your portfolio/past work. Alternatively think of an organization’s vision and mission statements. These are equivalent and can give you a good jumping off point. Condense it down to one page, and always keep it at your fingertips. You should be able to pull content for your various profiles from it. It will keep everything uniform and clear across your profiles – who you are, what you do and what you are looking for.

3. Go ahead, make it personal.  This can be a great touch and really help you stand out. But make sure you are authentic, not flashy. Also, even though this should go without saying but keep it clean and err on the side of caution.  If in doubt do yourself a favor and just don’t post it!  If you wouldn’t say it or show it to your grandma you should not be posting it on the internet for the entire world to see.  Because believe me, they will see it. Social profiles give recruiters a peak into a potential candidate’s professional and cultural fit.

4. You need to be an expert in your area.  These days they call is a ‘thought leader.’ Whether you are a Jr. Java Developer, a C# Programmer, or a Drupal Developer, you need to show your experience in your craft.  Even if you don’t feel like you are an expert, you still need to demonstrate that you have a keen interest and an informed opinion on the particular area in which you want to be hired. There are many ways of doing this:

• Join groups, alumni groups, industry groups, share relevant content such as links to research, presentations, and talks and connect with people in the groups.
• Stay up to date on the latest trends in IT and post links to articles or studies on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.  Be sure to include your own take on it so your readers can see you did actually look at it.
• Create your own original content like blog posts.  Make sure you upload and share.  Make the social sites work for you! Or just start your own blog or website and curate useful content about IT. (This is also a great way to show off your Web Developer skills… hint hint.)

5. Be active. If you are in an active job search, it is of the utmost importance that you check in on your social media sites on a daily basis. Connect with your contacts, network, share stuff, comment on other people’s stuff. Just basically be present and put yourself out there.  They won’t be at all helpful if you’re not catching people’s attention.

Social media is a powerful tool that so many people are not utilizing to the full of its potential.  And the best thing about self-social media promotion?  It’s free!  Another tip that didn’t really fit into any of my neat headings: many companies initially post job openings on their social media sites, so follow them, especially on LinkedIn.  LinkedIn is especially useful for showing you who your friends are connected to as well.  You never know where you might already have a foot in the door. You can definitely leverage those social media sites to your advantage on your next (or current) job search.  We at Camden Kelly Corp would love to have you reach out to us for some more tips on how to really kick your IT job search into high gear.

Source: Jobvite.com