How to use social media to find your next role

Posted by efficiencycoach on Sun, 04/07/2010 - 06:47 in Blogs 921 | report

Social media is a great way to increase your profile and get recognised. Here are seven top tips to use social media to help you find your next job.

1. Keep an updated profile on Linkedin, Plaxo and Xing.

The recruiters and headhunters tend to use these social networking sites for professionals as an extension to Monster. You need to make sure your profile can be easily found on these websites, and is peppered with keywords. Whenever you meet someone, ask permission to connect with them on LinkedIn and stay in touch.

A quick word of warning, make sure any internet links to you enhance rather than decrease your personal brand. You may find it easier to ramp up the privacy settings on your facebook account to the highest level possible, rather than ask your friends to take any photos of you socialising as a student down.

2. Use LinkedIn to target companies within your preferred geographical location

Do a search on LinkedIn and find out all the companies within your preferred geographical location, which are likely to hire someone like you. You can then use LinkedIn to find out more about these companies & contact former employees and current employees to get the inside scoop – plus who you should contact within the company to find out about vacancies.

3. State clearly on your e-mail signature & short bios that you are currently looking for your next opportunity

This only applies if you are openly looking for your next job...

4. Write a blog & post articles & comments on internet forums

Writing a blog is a great way of demonstrating your expert skills. If maintaining a blog is too much work, how about getting an article published on a popular on-line magazine? (When I say popular, I mean popular with potential hiring managers) This is an excellent way of raising your profile and getting yourself noticed. When you do answer a question on Linkedin, or another internet forum, ask permission to connect with them on LinkedIn and start an off-line dialogue.

5. Use your personal status updates to keep people informed of your job hunting progress

Your facebook network is a great place to keep people informed of how your job hunting is going. You can use your status to jog people’s memory on who they know who may be able to help you.

6. Use LinkedIn (and other social networking sites) to expand your personal & professional network

80% of all vacancies are not formally advertised – and your network is the best place to find out about these vacancies. Or, who may be able to help you find one of these vacancies! 33% of all job hunters who use their personal or professional network to find out about vacancies, were successful.

7. Aim to connect with well connected people

For example, recruitment consultants, people who run networking groups are generally one of the first people to hear about potential job vacancies. Befriend these people – and they are all over LinkedIn, they may be able to help you.

8. Read blogs of career coaches

Many good career coaches will write blogs dedicated to helping people find their next role. It's worth reading these blogs and articles to help you with your job hunting.

Heather Townsend is the Chief Coach at The Efficiency Coach, and Founding Elder of ‘the executive village’. The Efficiency Coach, an award-winning business, works with professional advisors and business owners to help them achieve better business results for less effort. The executive village brings together business owners to help them solve their business challenges.

Add comment

This blog

The Joined Up Networker

I help professionals and firms become the Go-To-Expert. Unusually for someone with an Engineering Degree, I accidentally became a writer and used my knowledge on social media to write the current best-selling and award-winning book on networking, The FT Guide To Business Networking. (75 five star reviews on Amazon - and read the 1st chapter for free here) People frequently talk about me as someone who really knows her stuff – which may be the reason I have, over the last decade, worked with over 300 partners, coached and trained over 1000 professionals at every level of the UK’s most ambitious professional practices. After nearly 5 years for working for BDO LLP, I realised I loved the intellectual challenge of working with accountants, so made working with accountants (and lawyers as I am a glutton for punishment) my sector specialism.

I was honoured to be a judge at the British Accountancy Awards in 2011 and 2012, plus I am a member of the Accountant's Club Global Advisory Panel.

I’ve always loved a challenge which is why I have solved the problem in my next book, which has perplexed many accountants in practice – ‘How to make partner and still have a life’. Click on the link to read the 1st chapter for free.

The Excedia Group was founded by myself and Jon Baker to bring clarity, perspective and knowledge to help our clients achieve their business goals. Over 75% of our work comes from professional service firms - both large and small, helping them get more clients via referrals utilising networking and social media. Over 30% of the Excedia group’s clients are small professional practices of between 1-50 employees.

My work splits into about 50% Executive & Business Coaching with Partners, Practice Owners & Potential Partners, with the rest split between training, consultancy and writing.

I adore writing, (as well as helping others achieve their business goals without selling their soul) which is why I blog regularly at Partnership Potential, Joined Up Networking, How to make partner and still have a life and venture-Now

Visit this blog's homepage