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Almost all of us have some or the other form of social presence nowadays. Whether it be Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. But how many of us have actually seen them as a means to help us land a job??
Whatever your answer be to the above question, what I plan to share here are a few tips on how having an effective social media presence can positively impact your networking activities and also tag into the hidden prospects of the job market that aren’t made as obvious.
Create An Effective Profile
How would it feel if your prospective employer visited your Facebook page and saw photos of you getting drunk at last Saturday’s party, or saw your tweet with a sentence full of “censored” words? Bad right!!
With the social world growing day by day, the concept of online privacy is becoming lesser. That is the reason why we have to be discrete and biased about what we post online because it can actually decide or at least influence a lot of decisions for us.
If you are serious about getting prospective employers to find you via the internet, first and foremost make sure you have a “clean” social profile. That doesn’t mean no family photos or photos of your dog licking you. Just keep such stuff private and not open to public. Make sure you post appropriate content related to your field of interest. This gives an impression that you’re focused about your goals and interests.
Build Strong And Trustworthy Connections
One of the biggest benefits of social media lies in the fact that now it isn’t tough to get in touch with people who share your interests or are from the same industry as yours. It’s now easy to grow your network by adding friends or following people with common interests, participating in chats, discussions and forums or send personalized messages to people you would like to connect to. But at the same time make sure that the connections you build this way are trustworthy and that you maintain these connections throughout.
Search For Opportunities
Rather than just broadcasting stuff related to your industry, social media is about pursuing and networking with people who are more influential than you. As a job seeker it’s not every day you would get an opportunity to interact with the CEO or top brass of a MNC. Use this opportunity to your advantage and connect and engage with the companies and people you want to eventually work with.
Be An Influencer
One important thing that you have to keep in mind is – Personal Branding. Just like companies brand their products and services you have to learn to brand yourself. Refine your personal brand. A great way for this would be to have a personal blog about the industry you are most interested in. Not only will this help you establish yourself as an influencer in the industry but it’ll also eventually turn you into a trustworthy source. This will help you spread your name in the industry and at the same time spread your content in social media.
Be an Offline Networker Too
After you have built trustworthy connection online, make sure you try to extend them to offline too. Attend conferences and meet-ups which help you meet the person in real and build stronger connections. Or maybe just invite someone over for coffee.
These are a just a few points based generally over social media. For more read on articles focused on the top 3 social networks, you might want to follow the links below.
