Using Social Media to Find a New Career

Social media websites have opened up a whole new channel for finding a new career. There is no longer a reliance on unreliable recruitment consultants or knowing the right people. Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are a democratic way to Build A Network that helps people find their next career move.

Of course, it doesn’t just happen. It’s not possible to sign up to Twitter and all of a sudden get offered the job of your dreams. It takes tenacity, research, effort and little bit of luck. Here are some top tips for finding a new career using the three top social media sites for networking.

Twitter

Twitter is not just about celebrities telling fans what they had for breakfast, it’s a great way for normal people to build a business and personal network! Remember that each tweet is like a mini business card that you’re putting out there to the world, so while it doesn’t suit the medium for everything to be clean, crisp and corporate (you want to show some of your character), don’t be rude or offensive.

Once you’ve started a Twitter account, make sure you get the layout of your profile to suit your business or industry. This is easily done with an uploaded picture or screen shot of your home page, if you have one.

Then get tweeting! Find people in your industry, people that you know and people that you’d like to know and follow them. Tweet links to interesting stories that are relevant to your industry and reply to relevant tweets in order to build your network.

Facebook

Although Facebook has a reputation for being for teenagers, it’s a great way to keep in touch with your old school or university friends and colleagues. The one thing to be careful of is that you don’t want to put too much personal information on your profile, or have pictures that are personal, such as holiday snaps, if you’re planning to use your Facebook profile for networking. Either have two accounts, or just keep it professional by not putting status updates that are related to issues that you would not want a future boss to see.

Using Facebook to find a new career can be done by making sure you join relevant groups to your industry and participate in any discussions. You can also ‘friend request’ people that you’ve worked with or know through contacts. Updating your status to reflect your aim for a career change is possible too, although word it carefully so you don’t look desperate!

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is often referred to as Facebook for professionals because you don’t put holiday snaps or information about your personal life on your profile. It’s a social media site that allows you to have an online presence with Your CV and a photo. You invite people to ‘join your network’ and get invited by others to join theirs, thus making a string of ‘connections’ that can potentially be used to introduce people to each other.

LinkedIn is perhaps the best way to network on line as it’s understood that that is its purpose, so you don’t look cheesy for talking about work opportunities. Make sure your profile is snappy, accurate and up to date and get linking!