11 Tips for Using Social Media to Land Your Dream Job

At our BlueGlass TPA Conference last week, there was an excellent session on Building an Amazing Team. Melanie Mitchell, one of the speakers, mentioned something that really stuck out for me: “Passion is everything. Show them you care.” You have to work to get a job, they do not just come to you. Keep that in mind.

Something that helped me land my job here was researching the industry that I wanted to be in, then using my social media accounts to promote myself and get the relevant companies’ attention – not just looking at job sites. Using job boards like Indeed is a start, but you need to take a few more steps beyond emailing your resume to get noticed by employers.

With a national unemployment rate of 9.1%, the job market is hungrier than ever. If you haven’t been doing everything in your power to land that dream job, check out the tips below to use social media to help you get hired. These are some of the steps I recently took to get my job here at BlueGlass. Sure, it was a lot of work – it felt like a part time job at times – but it was worth it in the end.

Beef Up Your Profiles

1. Whether you are using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or any of the other social media platforms, it’s beyond important to make your profiles  full of useful content – with an emphasis on useful. Future employers don’t want to see statuses full of complaints, whining, and scandalous pictures. Find some good content and post it to your page. Share links and content about the industry you’re job searching in. Employers are much more likely to be impressed with a profile featuring links to useful information, rather than a post telling the world what you did last weekend.

2. Use a vanity profile to make all of your social profiles easily accessible. About.me lets you create a profile to house links to your entire social presence. I put the link to my About.me profile in my personal email signature, giving access to all of my social profiles without having to really even look for them. Being this transparent about your online activity shows you have nothing to hide.

3. Make your resume visually appealing and social friendly. Vizualize.me takes the information from your LinkedIn profile and creates an infographic. Once you make your infographic, you can share it on all of your social networks or house it on your blog or site.

source: http://vizualize.me/kenneth

4. Make it easy for employers to find you – be sure to use your full name on your social profiles, not a nickname or alias. Also make sure your Twitter and LinkedIn profiles are made public.

5. Choose a professional looking profile picture. Even if you choose to have your profile set to private, these images could come up in searches for your name. Which picture would you rather have representing you?

This one…

or this one…

6. Delete any dormant profiles or set them to private. If you are going to use social media, then use it! Don’t decide to put some work into it, and then not update it for months. Inactive profiles make it look like you lack initiative and can’t follow through.

Go Above and Beyond

7. Create a customized website. Matthew Epstein made his own site so that google would hire him. He made the site, created YouTube videos, and started a blog all dedicated to landing him a job at Google. The site shows creativity, innovation and going that extra mile. He did not get the job at Google – he did however get a job with an innovative startup that he chose to work for. They noticed him going above and beyond, and that got the recognition of the company.

8. Prove you can do the role you’re going after by publicly demonstrating you have the required skills. Bianca Caldoni has also taken a big leap by starting a campaign she calls “Hire Me Chipotle”. She tailored her website to revolve directly around getting her the social media and public relations coordinator position at Chipotle Mexican Grill. What better way to go after a PR and social media position than crafting a campaign around yourself?

Her Twitter account directly reflects this effort…

As does the website she made…

These methods cost you money if you need to hire someone to implement them, but how much is being truly happy in your job worth to you?

9. Find out who the decision makers are and contact them. This shows your interest in a specific company, as well as the tenacity figure out who’s in charge. Send a message to them on LinkedIn, Tweet at the company, etc. What is the worst that could happen? You don’t hear back – but hey, you never know, they may tweet back at you, and then you are in for that interview. I used this exact method and tweeted at BlueGlass and Chris Winfield. It was enough to get me noticed and have him get me in to interview.

Find the Right Fit

10. Follow the company you want to work for on all of their social profiles as well. You can gain much greater insight into their company culture, not to mention being able to stalk research them much more quickly and efficiently.

11. Be knowledgeable about the industry you are interviewing for. Just because you know how to use social media platforms to your advantage does not mean you’re the right person for the job. In fact, the transparency of social media can easily work against someone who is underqualified and inexperienced.

Conclusion

Of course, don’t forget the “real life” best practices to getting a job once you land an interview:

• Dress professionally, be prepared, and show that you are excited and want the job. The interview starts when you walk into the door of the office.  You still have a lot to prove.
• It is just as important to interview the company you want to work with as it is for them to interview you. Come up with good questions that have them know you did your homework.  How does their company culture fit in to what you are looking for?
• Don’t just tell them what they want to hear. They will see through it, and you’ll be wasting both your time and theirs if you accept the job (and then quit soon there after).

Find a job you love. Go after it. Love what you do each day. I sure do :) Now take it away, and show that company why they want to hire you!

Are you interested in starting an amazing career at BlueGlass? Check out our recent job postings!