Social Media

Social media is an increasingly popular way for employers and recruitment agencies to recruit staff.

The platforms they use the most are Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter.

You can set up an account on any of these and then:

• Look for jobs
• Create a profile
• Research organisations

Employers may look at your profile to ‘screen’ you:

• Keep them up-to-date
• Be careful about comments you make and photographs you put up
• Choose your friends carefully. You have no control over comments they make and photos they put up.

Linkedin is the most popular platform. It is aimed at professionals.

To use Linkedin you will need to Register,  then create a profile. Your profile should include a photo, a  brief summery about yourself, details about your qualifications, work experience and your skills.

You can then:

• Look for jobs by browsing the job adverts
• Contact other Linkedin users – such as friends, colleagues and managers – to develop a network of connections with people and organisations
• To research organisations
• Use the ‘Messaging’ facility to have conversations with your connections
• Ask your connections to ‘endorse’ you by writing something about your work skills. This will show you in a positive light
• Join Linkedin Groups to keep up-to-date with industry news

As well as connecting with friends, Facebook can be used to look for jobs:

• Check the Jobs on Facebook
• Create a profile which includes your qualifications and work experience
• Add key words to your ‘interests’ that are linked to your job goals
• Many organisations use Facebook to communicate with staff, customers and the wider public. This is a useful source of information about the organisation.

Twitter is a platform for people to post short messages. Again, it can be used for job hunting, networking and gathering information about organisations.

1. Set up a Twitter account
2. Create a profile. This will include a twitter handle, a bio, a header image and a profile picture

• Create a bio using your real name. You have 160 characters, so it needs to be a brief, employer focused introduction to yourself and the type of job you are looking for.
• Use  keywords to make it easily searchable
• Link it to your Linkedin account so potential employers can find out more about you

You can then:

• Look for jobs by checking for employers tweeting about job vacancies – some organisations have a Twitter account just for vacancies
• Search popular hashtags like #jobsearch to find opportunities
• Set up ‘Google Alerts’ for Tweets about companies you would like to work for
• Follow someone you find interesting and start to build your contacts
• Follow companies you are interested in working for. This will keep you up-to-date with news about them, their work culture and any jobs they have.
• Engage with people you follow on Twitter and retweet and reply to build up connections
• Tweet regularly to keep up with news