Today’s job market is challenging – perhaps more so now than at any other time in recent memory. Old rules of the job hunt still apply while news ones are being made, and to add to all of that, social media has turned the entire game upside down – at least in the world of communications. Seven years ago, when I graduated college, social media was in its infancy. AOL Instant Messenger was one of the hottest things on the planet, Blackberries were for powerbrokers, and Wi-Fi access was considered the golden egg.
In those past eight years, I’ve been lucky enough (cursed?) to dive into the job market three times. And one thing that has changed more than anything else is the process. The questions, the etiquette, attire, and actions are the same but the actual process of how I went looking for a job changed dramatically. In 2003 most of my applications were emailed, but some were printed out on –gasp – paper and either mailed or faxed. However, in my most recent job hunt, everything had become different. There wasn’t a single time where I mailed or faxed my resume to a company. But there were multiple tweets, an online CV, LinkedIn, emails and more that added up to a strategy I had employed to find not just any job, but a job I loved. I did my research, found the companies and industries I liked, and developed a rhythm.
I used social media to help land my current job -- and here's my advice for how other jobseekers can you use social media to their advantage.
One thing that really helped me narrow down where I wanted to end up was The Conversation Prism. Brian Solis & Jess3 created the Conversation Prism to graphically represent all that social media has to offer. Each “petal” defines tools to be used for a specific goal. I used the petals to identify the branches of social media that best fit my overall goal – finding a job. Below are the petals I focused on in my social media job hunt:
• Blog Platforms
• Social Networks
• Micromedia
• Twitter Ecosystems
Obviously, not all petals/websites are created equal – certain areas carry more weight with employers or industries than others. Most websites specialize in one aspect of social media – blogs can be an informative way to stay in touch with job trends, Twitter can provide real time employment opportunities, and still others allow you to network with peers.
I also used LinkedIn, VisualCV.com, and Twitter (I followed NMS for example!) to support my search efforts – I was looking for a job, and these sites helped me promote myself and my work to the world. By creating profiles on each of these sites, I knew exactly who I was connected to, and, more importantly, who they were connected with.
Also worth noting is that while I obviously went by my real name in my job search, I’ve branded myself elsewhere online as “sassing me” rather than using my full name and personal information everywhere online. Having a husband in the security business does make one think twice about safety, hence I created my brand around “sassing me” – a little play on words since I can sometimes (always?) be sassy, as well as a quote from a favorite movie of mine, The American President. So think of yourself as a “brand” and keep all of your profiles, usernames, and handles consistent. If you are not comfortable using your real name , it is fine to create an identity specific to you and use it as your brand.
Once you’ve established your online presence, get into the habit of engaging in your social media tactics every day. It was so much easier for me to set goals in my search because I knew what was happening with every tactic I used. Many of the sites I mentioned above have an RSS feed tool that allows you to aggregate materials in one spot – much easier than searching 25 separate websites each day. This was my secret weapon for keeping all the research I was doing in one place -- looking for a job can be like hunting for a needle in a haystack, and every little trick helps!
Finally, because social media is so versatile, it can easily be construed as informal. Your job search, however, is anything but informal. Even in social media, many of the same rules of engagement apply: make smart decisions about when to follow up. Joshua Wachs at internet strategy firm Echo Ditto believes this is five business days. Any sooner and I may have seemed desperate and any later I might have seemed lazy or uninterested – a very big no no. Follow up with a phone call and chase it with an email or vice versa. Be formal, polite, and above all make sure the employer knows you are serious about the position.
Good luck, and happy hunting!