As one graduates, it is expected to be a smooth landing to any relevant job one learned for, but this is not the case. Many graduates are flooding the market making employment opportunities scarce. In recent times, social media is being used by many employers and recruitment agencies to source for the right candidates.
This avenue should be a priority for any graduate as an initiative for seeking a job.It is a critical platform for job applications, a wide area of communication with many people and advertisements for many goods and services. Over the years, sites such as LinkedIn have dominated the highest approvals as the number one site for online job searching with many employers and recruiters using it as their site of preference.
In a nutshell, social media is an essential tool for graduates looking for jobs as it displays your CV to a large number of potential employers who will now have access to your professional qualifications, experience and abilities.
The following tips play a key role in getting jobs online:
- Build a Good and Relevant Profile
Make your online profile photo a good and attractive one avoiding all those casual and nasty photos that display lack of seriousness in your objective. Create good professional profiles that have a good summary of your job details. Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and Facebook are sites that are recommended to display such information.The profiles should expound on your accomplishments, strengths and skills that you can give to your future employers.
- Your Network is your Networth
LinkedIn and Twitter are best sites to connect with influential people working for the relevant organizations and industries that you’re interested in. LinkedIn has been the most followed site of professional employers and recruiters with vast numbers of viewers across the globe. Twitter is also a valuable tool when it comes to job advertisements and company approvals.These sites should be on the top list of an individual looking for a job as they link you with a large number of people worldwide. Find groups by searching for directories relevant to your field of interest and join the most vibrant and active groups.Once a member, improve your social image by frequently posting provocative contents.
- Get Updates On New Opportunities
Be an active follower of companies’ feeds on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook to be automatically notified about new job opportunities, changes in products and the next promising products. Use your email, preferred search engine, and even Idealist.org, to set up a custom job search alerts. This enables you to know about the current trending opportunities creating an impressive judgment to any potential employer. It imposes the virtues of commitment and determination to your field of interest. These are among the things that potential employers are seeking as their top priorities to any likely candidate.
- Look for Jobs
Today, many websites give information on job opportunities and are followed by a multitude of graduates because of their reliability. Over the years, these sites have proved to be of help to many potential candidates.They include Simply Hired, Career Builders, Monster and Indeed. The company Facebook pages, LinkedIn groups and Twitter feed also frequently have job postings.
- Have a Gameplan
It is important to know that you’re not the only one looking for a job online. A good gameplan gives you an edge over the others seeking the same. You should ensure that you are systematic on how you plan and execute your game plan just as an essay writer does before embarking on his/ her writing.
First, create a good profile by allocating sufficient time for this, for example, one day join the relevant groups in LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook then afterward develop an active follow-up on the companies to keep up to date. Assign each task separately and avoid doing them all at once as this will expose your disorganization and lack of discipline to your potential employers.
- Be Resourceful
Once a member in the LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook groups, you should be active by frequently answering questions, making introductions and debating on the relevant contents. This is also another form of social capital as every group member including potential employers get to know you and develop an interest in your personality. Ensure that whatever you post is of great importance and can captivate the target group. A resourceful mind is a great asset to any company that wants to grow in future, and nobody in their right senses will dare walk away from that.
- Build on Your Outlooks Online
LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook have options on public comments and approvals from those who follow you too. This mirrors you well if you truthfully display your proclaims on your abilities, skills and professional qualifications. It provides confidence to your potential employers as they can easily prove what you proclaim by simply looking at the recommendation accolades given to you. It gives them ample time to rate you and make the right decision for the company or organization. These attributes, in the long run, make you formidable to your other competitors in the job and give you an edge over them.
- Build upon Your Social Resume
Sometimes, you may get stuck searching for jobs online for a long duration of time to no avail. It is essential to backtrack your tracks as only countable companies have come up with programmes of providing consultations. Meeting with specialists helps you cultivate your social resume making you desirable to the organizations that you apply.
- Be Aware of the Limitations of Your Job Search
Searching for the jobs online has many limitations that an individual has to be aware. Most sites are unreliable; one has to make an analysis of the sites that they are engaging in by looking at the rates, number of followers and the group ratings of the site. Once this is ascertained, then you can be sure to be dealing with a reliable and effective site.
Conclusion
For any graduate who is seriously looking for a job, online platforms should be top on your list owing to the great numbers of employees and recruiters giving much attention to this avenue. Nonetheless, caution should be taken to verify the sites weeding off those with many limitations to realize their full potential. We’ve discussed some of the best tips that any graduate student can use to make progress in the quest of finding jobs through social media platforms. Use them to boost your chances of getting that job!
About the Author: Richard Nolan is a professional educator and team building coach, sharing his experience in spheres of writing, blogging, entrepreneurship, and psychology. Richard writes for numerous blogs and gives useful tips for bloggers and students.
1 Comment
Very useful article.