Good Morning Internet People! Before I get started I need to do a shameless
internet plug. Capstone Search Group (My
employer) has recently reworked it’s Facebook page. We are going to be offering a lot of good
stuff including:
- Career
tips
- Top
Jobs
- Pictures
of me!
- Important
Announcements
Please take a moment to check out our Facebook page and like
it! You can find it here:
Today I want to talk about social networking and how it can
affect your job search. Looking back at
the past decade or so it is really amazing to see what an impact social networking
and the internet in general has had on the act of looking for a job. When I got started in this almost a decade ago
things were really different. For
starters, fax machines were still considered an effective mode of communication…
today that seems as silly as mail delivered by horse or for that matter, by a
person. People still looked for jobs in
the newspaper and job hunting on the internet truly consisted of posting your
resume on a job board and responding to job postings on the job boards –
ultimately it was really no different than posting something in the paper except
it reached more people and was faster.
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| Just think... It used to just be "Hello. You've got Mail! |
About five years ago one of my trusted acquaintances called me
and told me that I needed to check out this LinkedIn thing. I’ll be honest – I didn’t get it. To me it seemed like it was a searchable
database of people that wanted to be noticed – essentially it was a neat way to
show up on Google. Like most people I
created a profile and connected to people – but I didn’t really do anything
else. Then came this thing called
Twitter. It was all the rage and I didn’t
really buy into it. It seemed like most
of the tweets were about mundane daily things.
It wasn’t until a couple of weeks later that I had a watershed
moment. I was listening to an NPR news
story (please don’t judge – I know that this makes me not very cool) about
Twitter and it shared an example of how a company made a hire on Twitter. The company was a tech firm that was doing
work late on a Friday night. They needed
someone with a specific technical skill and sent out a tweet to the
twitterverse asking who was working on something like this on a Friday night at
10:00. Several people responded and they
ended up hiring someone. It dawned on me
– Social Media is a tool that you can actively use to get a job.
Here’s the deal.
There is a lot of stuff out there about how your Facebook page can hurt
you and how employers are using it to screen people. If that is the case – why aren’t you taking the
time to make social media a tool that will help you? I truly believe that more than half of the
employers out there if not more check out future employees on social
media. Here’s the kicker - they aren’t going there to disqualify
you. They are going there because they
want to know what kind of person you are – it’s because they are excited about
you and they are probably disappointed when they find out that there is no
public information. I suggest that you
embrace this and make it something that will land you the job! Here are five things to keep in mind when you
are working in this arena:
1. Use it to Brand
Yourself
Social Media is really cool because you can reinvent
yourself. Say for instance that there is
a really competitive market for getting into pizza delivery. You can shape your posts and profiles to make
you appear as a pizza delivery guy.
Change your Facebook profile picture to show you in your Domino’s or
Pizza Hut uniform – make your posts on Facebook about pizza delivery. Join groups on LinkedIn about the
industry. Not everything you do has to
be about that industry but if you let it be your guiding force people will
begin to associate you with it. Here is
the other important part of the branding.
You need to make yourself look like a real person – share things about
your life. Just use caution and keep
those late night pictures off of the internet.
2. Set Yourself up as
an Expert
This is an extension of the branding to a degree. However, instead of just talking about your
industry or profession you should give your opinion (Just make sure that it is
informed and not too controversial). If
you read an article about your industry – share it and share why you liked
it. Get on places like LinkedIn and
answer questions that others ask. Remember
this – experts don’t become experts because they call themselves one. They become experts because others value and
respect their opinion and knowledge on a subject. The goal is to make people believe you are an
expert. Whatever you do – DO NOT call
yourself an expert – you will look stupid.
3. Announce Your
Accomplishments
As you build your network make sure that you are updating people
on what you are doing. You need to post
and share with others when you get that big promotion, finish a big project or
get a designation. People remember
seeing these things and it will elevate you in their minds. Just remember that there is a difference
between announcing and bragging. Be gracious and humble.
4. Connect to the
People you Want to Emulate
First and foremost I feel that you social network should
include a wide range of people from different backgrounds. You should connect with your friends,
co-workers, family and business relations.
The reason is the Kevin Bacon factor – you just never know who that
person knows and how it could help you.
However, I don’t think you can solely rely on random occurrences to have
success. You need to do it on
purpose. So – it is important to seek
out people that you want to be like and connect to them. Look for the top pizza deliverers in the nation
and connect to them. This can only help
you as there is a higher likelihood that they will know more people that can
help you out in the future. As my boss
always says “Ducks fly with Ducks!”
5. Ask for
Information – Not a Job!
We live in a society that values directness at face value
even though it seems to make us uncomfortable.
This is really true when it comes to issues of employment. If you ask someone to help you get a job it
usually doesn’t work out very well.
Similarly if you ask people if they know of anyone hiring they almost
immediately say no – our brains aren’t wired to recall things. Instead, ask people for their opinion and
information. If you are getting ready to
interview with a company and are connected to someone in that company don’t ask
– How do I get hired? – instead asked them – Why do you like working for the company?
– What skills does the company value? -
this will get you a lot farther. Instead
of asking people who is hiring – ask instead “What companies do you think are
the best to work for? - the person will
start thinking about it and give you their opinion – if they know of a place that
is hiring it will jog their memory and they will share it too!
Bonus – What Not to do
So – I know that this goes without saying but here is a
quick laundry list of what you should avoid:
- Political
statements – I don’t care how right you are – offending people does not
help you improve your career
- Airing
Dirty Laundry – If you are fighting with someone or have a beef – leave it
off of Facebook – companies will assume that you will bring this drama to
work too
- Excessive
Partying – Look – I’m not against this and I don’t think you have to get
rid of all of it. Just make sure
that if you have 500 pictures on your Facebook account that at least 5 or
6 of them aren’t from the bar – make yourself look well rounded
- Innapropriate
comments – sexism, racism, comments about others religion don’t help you –
again offending people won’t always hurt your career but it certainly won’t
help
- Complaining
about your job – if I need to explain
this one…
- Complaining
about your job search or your life in general – no one likes a negative nelly
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