We established a long time ago that social media is not a fad. Being proficient in using social media tools is a desired skill – both in your business life as well as your personal life.
Case in point, when looking for a job, social media can be extremely valuable in your job search. It’s like networking. Don’t wait until you need something to start using it. But also like networking, there’s a right way and a wrong way to use it. Our friends at iCIMS created this infographic to highlight the facts:
There shouldn’t be any surprises here. And that’s the important takeaway – grammatical errors, profanity, political rants are are still big no-no’s. The answer isn’t to quit social media. It’s to learn how to manage your online presence. Social media isn’t going anywhere. Use it responsibly!
LaSalle Network says
Recruiting and hiring managers are absolutely turning to Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter to vet candidates before and after interviews. Beyond fact-checking, they’re also using these social networks to find high-quality passive candidates, so it’s more important than ever for job seekers to polish their profiles.
Garrett O'Brien says
“Don’t wait until you need something to start using it”… I believe this presents a discernment that need and want are two different things as well, yes?…
Managing our online presence ‘during a job’ hunt is actually the end result of other actions that we hope will be seeds for even better end results.
Everything we do, everything we say is a ‘seed’ to something to arrive later — only now our ‘everything’ is more readily available to many than it has ever been before… And people will still judge based upon first impressions, even if they are guilty of the same crime…
Our social media is now viewed not as a fad but as an extension of ourselves — leave ugly, vulgar and demeaning words and images online and watch what you attract… leave uplifting, promising and empowering words and images online and watch what you attract…
This attraction happens at ALL levels in social media not just personal — whether the audience of our social media is personal, business, familiar, or totally unfamiliar. If you want to be crass and ugly, then get a private account and go for it — and keep your expectation to this: you won’t attract quality to your private account for very long if you do… garbage begets garbage, order never arises from chaos, faith and doubt can’t occupy the same room, whatever phrase works for you along these lines…
The gist of all this is simple: character still counts in cyberspace as well as when physically present with others — period. No ifs, ands, or buts…
Technology may be changing at a rapid pace, the need to adapt to this change is needed to stay with this pace, losing ourselves in all this will only suck us down the drain with all the other garbage…
By remaining vigilant as well as presenting ourselves for where we want to be and not where we have come from, we’ll find the job hunt that much more enjoyable and most likely will land that next job faster…
Sharlyn Lauby says
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!