How to use social media to boost your job hunt

By Sophie Blumenthal

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Social media is a valuable tool to help get you noticed in your industry and connect you with the best opportunities. But you need to make sure you network and sell yourself in a positive light to make the most of this.

After all, most of us have heard of the damage caused when these platforms are misused. Read on for our advice on how to make sure you’re taking the right approach to using social media to boost your job hunt.

Create a positive image of yourself

The first step is to remove anything that puts you in a poor light - think of your social media pages as your personal brand where you need to sell yourself to get noticed. You need to find out what information is out there about you on the web, so start with a Google search of your name. This can help you find anything you might need to remove or any settings you need to make private.

This might require cleaning up some old Facebook posts from 2008 and updating your cover photo to something more professional. And don’t forget to check that your email address or username is sensible.

Then, go about creating a positive image. Think about the ways that you can promote the key skills employers are looking for – good communication, teamwork and leadership. Something as simple as ensuring your posts make sense with no errors can promote your effective communication skills.

Search for vacancies

Often companies will post their vacancies on social media, linking to the job boards where they’re advertised. You can use hashtags and keywords to search the sites and find the most relevant vacancies for you. For example, general words such as #jobsearch can bring up loads of potential openings or searching for the job title of the role such as #salesassistant or #marketingexecutive.

Follow or like the pages of the key companies you’re interested in to make the most of this so. This means all you have to do is log on to your Twitter account to check for new openings. This will make it easier for you to job hunt on the go.

Get head-hunted

It’s possible to get head-hunted on social media. Recruiters use websites such as LinkedIn to search for candidates. But, this doesn’t mean you can sit back and relax. You need to manage your profile to help them find you.

Make sure your profile is complete - if it looks like you haven’t been active for three years it can put off recruiters. Think of your LinkedIn profile to be another type of CV – it should include your skills, experience and key selling points.

On your profile, you must make it clear that you’re searching for a job. You can do this in the ‘summary’ or ‘bio’ section of your social media profiles. Structure this to be a small snappy statement that explains your purpose. For instance, ‘I’m a media graduate with a range of experience in digital marketing, currently looking to secure my first full-time opportunity in the industry’.

Engage with others

Getting your name out there can help you get noticed. Make sure you follow all the key people and companies in your industry. A tip is to make a second social media account that you keep for professional purposes. That way you can make sure all the right information appears on your timeline and you avoid missing something important. Plus, all these key people in your industry may post about job openings at their company.

While it’s great to connect with someone through a friend request or follow, it’s also important to initiate a conversation. It’s common for significant people in an industry to post thoughts, articles and engaging material – you then need to interact with this.

So tell them why you agree with something they said or why you enjoyed reading their latest blog post. This can help you get noticed and may help to initiate a conversation with others.

In summary

Social media is a great tool to boost your job hunt, but you must use it in the right way. Make sure you create the best impression of yourself as professional and are enthusiastic about your industry - you will soon find success.

CV-Library is the UK’s leading independent job board and owns a range of other career sites, including Education Jobs. For more expert advice on careers and the workplace, visit their Career Advice and Recruitment Insight pages.





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