The Great Job Search Divide

It wasn’t long ago when the playing field for finding a job was relatively simple.  For the most part (and I’m sure you can add a few), it consisted of the following:

• Resume – Make sure you check the spelling, the formatting is clean and the content is easy to follow.
• Interviewing Skills – You had to make sure that you could answer questions and keep your nerves under control.
• Professional Attire/Appearance – Clean suit, clean nails, no “I drank a keg of beer last night” eyes… you get the idea.
• Networking – Asking around and going to networking meetings to find potential contacts.
• Job Search – This had a lot to do with job boards and newspapers… posting resumes and searching for potential roles.

Nowadays, it’s a bit more complex to find a job.  Most of the “necessities” listed above continue to be true.  However, for someone who is really hungry to find a position, they are going to have to reinvent the way they handle both the Networking and Job Search approaches for finding their next role.  The great news is that keeping pace with the job search world also builds your resume…

Let’s consider some of these new areas and what a job seeker can do about it.

Social Media In Job Search

Facebook

• Spend some time completing your personal profile.  What you do, what you like… give your connections something to get interested in.
• Join some of the thousands (perhaps more) groups you will have to pick from on Facebook that relate to your career field.
• If you can identify causes, non-profits or fun initiatives that are of interest… do that too!  You never know who you’ll meet!
• If you really feel adventurous, consider a Social Ad campaign targeted at your ideal hiring managers.

Twitter

• If you still give a blank stare when someone mentions Twitter… go review the tutorial I put together for SHRM.
• Learn the concepts of Hashtags, @replies, Lists and ReTweets (RTs).
• Play around with tools like Twubs and TweetDeck… they will make your “Twitter Life” easier – I promise!
• Start attending TweetUps in your local area… or put one together!  They are the Nouveau Networking and a lot of fun!

LinkedIn

• Put the time, energy and effort into making this profile as professional and interesting as possible.
• For some companies, this has become the main (in some cases the only) way that they are finding candidates.
• Connect and join professional groups and get involved in the conversation.
• Answer polls and questions thrown out by strangers.
• Use the tool to study companies of interest.
• Look for past colleagues and start to rebuild your network… forget the Rolodex – LinkedIn will help you there!

Blogging

• I know it seems out there… but, it sure makes it easier to show what you know if you can blog about it somewhere.
• Great way to start or engage in conversations… share a link to a blog post that you wrote.
• Employers find people in a variety of ways – if they find you because you know what you’re talking about, that can only be to your benefit.
• It’s fun… that’s right, FUN!  Job search can be a drag sometimes, so mix it up and share a bit.  Who knows who you can help with what you already know.

YouTube

• It never hurts to introduce yourself first… so, why not make a video doing just that.  If you already started your blog, it could actually be a post with an embedded video!
• Explain your career field of choice, your ideal role, what inspires you… be yourself.
• YouTube is a massive search engine at this point… your video may show up the next time someone Googles your skill set.
• If you are tired of being judged simply based off of your resume… think about including your YouTube video link on your resume.

What exactly are we going to do about it?

I hate to see good people in the job market who don’t know what to do next.  There are some fantastic candidates who are absolutely lost with their efforts at this point.  This situation, in and of itself, creates a pretty substantial divide between those who are “in the know” and those who are not.  So, I just hope that we can help and as a result allow the best candidate to secure the job!

The list above is not meant to solve all of your job search problems, but hopefully it will get you started.  By the nature of technology, the person who this post was written for will probably come across it via email or through searching on Google.  If you found this due to Twitter or Facebook, you are probably already on board – consider helping a friend that has yet to take the leap and forward this posting to them.

What other techniques, methods or technologies would you recommend for someone who has yet to jump into social media job search world?  Your advice matters

Photo Credit, striatic

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Tagged as: Blogging, Facebook, Job Search, LinkedIn, Recruiting, Social Media, Twitter, YouTube