Though at the beginning, the job search was not a large portion included with social media, it has become a major source for initial search and filtering and tracing prospective hires.
What Is Social Media?
Social media is brought out for human interaction which is also part of job hiring process. As human being likes interaction social media websites which offer the opportunity for greater intercommunication. We leave information and share comments on social sites, which makes it more interesting.
For Human resource personnel, social media has become a swift and cheap means of background verification that is done before asking a candidate for an interview. Through social media, businesses search and verify the facts on of applicants knowledge and attitudes that are expressed publicly and evaluate their communications skills.
Employers also use social media to find qualified applicants, often a faster and cheaper method of identifying good job candidates than posting a job. LinkedIn, described below, is the number one social network for job search. If you have time for only one social network for your job search, LinkedIn is the one you should use.
In mid-2013, Jobvite.com, an online recruitment platform surveyed over 800 employers if they were using or planning to use social media for job search and application, and true to the popular remark, the result was - 94% of employers said yes.
Social media is used in a number of ways:
It helps recruiters have a more clear idea of who you are and what you have done before they even talk with you. They also pick up clues about your personality and how you might fit into their corporate culture.
In your use of social media, employers and recruiters can see or have an indication of:
- How well you communicate (your aspects of ability in English communication spelling, grammar and your ability to clearly communicate ideas).
- Your work history and education.
- Your industry knowledge.
- How you spend your non-work time.
Social media can be used as an effective and initial tool for you to promote your skills. You can as well create connections in Twitter and LinkedIn by creating a profile or handle. You can show case your talent for example, by posting a blog link in Twitter and there by attract attention.
If your more visually aligned, you can use social media platforms like Pinterest, Instagram to showcase your designing capabilities. If you are web designer then you can promote your page or services on these platforms including Facebook. Though initially you may not get work, but it will definitely show your dedication towards your work and authenticity of what your abilities are.
Don't underestimate this self-promotion because it will highlight how well you are capable of doing things though you are not being paid. This would fetch and catch the interviewers attention in the initial days of job search.
In general, the major social media sites used widely for job search are:
LinkedIn.com
The professional's social network, LinkedIn is the most preferred network of employers. LinkedIn is a large professional network where members connect with each other, participating in groups, connecting and interact with each other. LinkedIn had 467 million members, up from 450 million members in the last quarter of 2016. It is largely viewed as the most professional of the social networks preferred by employers and candidates alike.
It is THE place the employers and hiring managers visit to source the candidates. As part of the Internet’s large business network, it is also the single most important place for professionals to network and find unpublished job openings.
Yet another compelling reason why LinkedIn has got so prominence in recruitment and for your job search is that if you have a strong profile, you’re likely to be placed higher on Google’s results page when your name or profile is searched for. This fact makes a powerful LinkedIn profile the first step to building a strong online reputation.
Facebook.com
The largest social network, Facebook is a social networking website that is operated and privately owned by Mark Zuckerberg. Users will have can in adding friends and send them messages, and in updating their personal profiles, immediate notifications to friends would be updated. But for recruiters, the area of interest would is users who update their city, workplace, and school or college and experience as well. Facebook had 1.86 billion monthly active users, as of the fourth quarter of 2016 and is a biggest social media platform for personal and professional engagements. Though Facebook is the largest social network, it has a long history of issues with member privacy or lack of it.
Twitter.com
Twitter is also a free social networking but a microblogging service that empowers its users to send and read messages in the form of tweets instead of posts. Tweets are short text-based posts of up to 140 characters or more (which are allowed now) displayed on the profile page of the user and delivered to the author's subscribers or group who are known as followers. As of the third quarter of 2016, the Twitter has approximately 317 million monthly active users.
Google+
Google+ also known as Google Plus was launched by Google after the success of social media platforms in the start of 2011 and had over 540 million members by the middle of 2013 with its popularity decreasing to 300 million active Google+ users currently. Google+, however, has the advantage and the impact of the original Google Profiles and includes "Circles" (groups of contacts aka friends in FB and connections in LinkedIn). It also includes video chat popular platform called 'Hangouts', 'Communities which are social groups of user, and other social functions.
Blogs
As per the definition of Wikipedia, blogs "are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Regular entries or posts are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. That means the latest would show up on top. Many blogs provide commentary and updates on a definite subject while others function as more personal portfolios present online.
A typical blog combines text, images, Web pages, links to other blogs, and media related to its specific topic. The important part of many blogs is the ability of readers to leave comments in an interactive format on the blog post while that is the case with most social media sites.
Many other smaller sites comprise social media, but the ones quoted and explained above are the most popular and trending now. But with the rapid pace with which the internet and technology are changing, we may never know what the future will bring. For more leveraging social media and the social networks, topics keep checking our website-blog for latest updates.
