Social Media for Job Searchers

To some people, especially among those who did not grow up with it, the word “social media” is extremely foreign and a little intimidating. Because it can be intimidating and unknown territory, some prefer to cast it aside and not bother with it. This is not a good idea, however. Social media is one of the best ways to connect with potential employers, clients and retailers. If you’re looking for a job, passively or actively, social media is a great way to market yourself and also learn things about the companies you are targeting that you might not find on the companies’ website. Depending on the platform, it is a great way to show personality while still looking professional. Below is a comprehensive list of common social media sites, their purposes, and how you can utilize them.

LinkedIn is by far the best social media platform for job searching. It's overall purpose is for professional networking. Individuals and organizations can post profiles describing themselves and their accomplishments. An individual can upload a resume, picture and fill out a series of professional questions about himself to create a professional profile. Likewise, an organization can upload a description, picture and other information about itself.

LinkedIn is a great way for individuals and organizations to share professional articles, reports and job opportunities with their networks. Individuals can also search through current online job postings and search through their contacts to see if they have any connection with the organization with the job posting.

When it comes to posting articles and other information it is important to not post too much. Since LinkedIn is a more professional social media portal, people do not want to get constant updates on their feed. About 1-2 times should be your target number of postings per day.

It is important for any professional, entry-to senior- level, to have a LinkedIn profile so that you can continue to build your network. Even if you are not actively searching for a job, it will benefit you in the long run if you keep your information up-to-date.

• Share professional articles and content
• Search and apply to job boards
• Connect with other professionals and organizations to build your network

Twitter is a great tool for marketing yourself, either professionally or personally. You want to remember to have a distinction, however. If you choose to have a professional Twitter account, make sure that you only post professional articles, facts and things about yourself. At the same time, Twitter is also a platform where you or your organization can show more personality than LinkedIn. Show that you are a real person, but remember to keep your content appropriate. If you want to post about more personal or less serious things, create a separate Twitter account where you can be freer with your content.

Twitter postings should be short and to the point. Likewise, if you want to share anything that you have to click a URL to get to, the URL should also be short. One good website that many people use is www.bitly.com.

For Twitter, research has shown that accounts that receive the highest level of engagement post 4 or more times a day. For the individual who is just starting out or isn’t looking for that much attention, twice a day is a good medium. Always make sure to have relevant and interesting content. In this case, if you don’t have anything interesting to say or post, wait until you do.

• Share interesting articles
• Connect with other professionals and organizations
• Promote your social media pages such as your blog, online portfolio, LinkedIn, etc.

Because Facebook is the most used social media platform in the world, it is important for individuals and organizations to use it. Like Twitter, Facebook is a social media platform where you can show your personality a little more. You can post less serious content and you can post more often. Facebook also allows you to say a little more than Twitter, but try not to post anything too lengthy.

Unlike Twitter, for individuals, it is not smart to create more than one account for yourself for professional versus personal purposes. Have one account for yourself, but be careful what you post. For any social media platform, you want to make sure that all of your content is clean and appropriate. One way to remember what is appropriate is the grandma rule: “If you wouldn’t want your grandmother to see it, you shouldn’t post it for everyone else to see.” Also, remember to have the right privacy settings on your profile so that if you only want people to see your posts or nothing at all, you can dictate that.

• Share interesting articles
• Connect with other people and organizations
• Promote your other social media pages such as blog, online portfolio, LinkedIn, etc.

Lauren Malcolm is the Marketing Manager at The Frontier Group, one of the leading career coaching practices in Atlanta and Charlotte.