How to Use Social Media to Find a Job

Online job-hunting sites have been extremely popular for many years now. If you have ever tried to search for a job online, you will most likely have come across and/or used one of these sites.

However, there is another method that you may not have thought of – using social media to find a job. Although you may use Facebook and Twitter to chat with your friends and family, you may not have considered that they can be just as useful for your career prospects. Here we will look at some of the ways in which you can use social media to your professional advantage, as well as some of the pitfalls to avoid.

LinkedIn

The professional world has its own specific social networking sites, of which LinkedIn is probably the most popular and widely used. LinkedIn works similarly to Facebook, with profile pictures, statuses, “likes,” and sharing functionality. However, it is designed specifically for working professionals, with handy recommendations features, hashtags that enable you to see what other users in your field are talking about, and even job postings. Creating an effective LinkedIn profile can be every bit as useful as an impressive resumé.

However, it is not just LinkedIn that provides these features – Facebook has recently also added job hunting and recommendations features.

Network and Promote Yourself Effectively

Don’t be afraid to promote yourself on social media! Contacting potential employers on LinkedIn is not frowned upon, provided you do so in a respectful and professional manner. Promoting yourself as a potential employee is not too different from how businesses promote themselves online, and often many of the same tips and tricks can be used (although you should definitely avoid more “aggressive” sales techniques when looking for a job).

If you are looking for inspiration, there are many tips to improve your social media campaigns that apply just as much to jobseekers as to existing businesses.

Maintain a Professional Profile

It is very important that your chosen social media profile is appealing to potential employers. You should generally avoid expressing controversial opinions or posting content that may be considered in bad taste to public social media profiles. While this may seem obvious when using a site like LinkedIn, this is also important if you intend to use Facebook or other social networks in your search for employment – this is not to say that your Facebook profile picture needs to be a professional portrait shot of you in your best suit, but there is no use using your personal Facebook account to apply for jobs if your profile picture or public newsfeed shows you engaging in unprofessional behavior.

You should also keep in mind that employers often do a search of your name on social media sites other than the one that you use for job hunting. It is no good having a professional appearance on LinkedIn if your Facebook and Twitter profiles show you in a bad light. There are many examples of people who lost their jobs as a result of their social media posts.

If you want to post content on your personal accounts that is not suitable for the professional world, you should keep your privacy settings on these accounts very high to keep your personal and work lives separate. One could apply this same logic to Telegram, Parler, and anything that can pop in a search result on Google, DuckDuckgo, or Ecosia.

FAQ

How can I use social media to find a job?

Don’t be afraid to promote yourself on social media! Contacting potential employers on LinkedIn is not frowned upon, provided you do so in a respectful and professional manner. Promoting yourself as a potential employee is not too different from how businesses promote themselves online, and often many of the same tips and tricks can be used (although you should definitely avoid more “aggressive” sales techniques when looking for a job).

Additional Resources:

How To Write an Instagram Bio

How To Make A Twitch Banner

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