With Social Media making its way into our daily lives, we are relying on it more and more for our communication, information, and, in some cases, even our jobs. As a Recruiter in the Application and Services Group at Microsoft, Social Media is an avenue that my colleagues and I are on daily to search for and reach out to job seekers. If you are someone who is looking for a new role and interested in hearing about what other companies are doing in your area of work, Social Media should be your best friend. Here are 4 reason why job seekers should consider being more active on social media when looking for a new role:
1) Social Media is a Great Platform for Highlighting your Skills
Whether it be LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+ or even Twitter, Social Networking sites allow you to tell others more about yourself outside of a resume. LinkedIn and Google+ are great tools for adding publications and projects that you’ve worked on and joining communities that are interested in the same domain. Facebook allows you to get more personal on who you are outside of work, what interests you, and what you do in your free time. Twitter is great for sharing articles about your area of work and being an active contributor in knowledge and/or opinion sharing. The use of hashtags makes it easy for you to not only keep up on trending topics of interest to you, but others can find you based on the hashtags that you use. For instance, if you are a Data Scientist who works in Machine Learning, anytime you tweet #machinelearning, you can be found in someone’s news feed that is searching for other #machinelearning enthusiasts.
It’s important to add that if you are looking for a job and putting yourself out there on Social Media sites, it’s important to have a profile that attracts employers. Remember to remain professional and don’t share anything that you wouldn’t want your boss or a potential employer to see.
2) Applying Directly vs. Being Discovered
With the increased use of Social Media is our daily lives, it’s becoming second nature for us to check each site that we are members of on a daily basis just as email has. You can assume that other avenues that you’ve used to find jobs in the past have been replaced with those avenues that we have incorporated into our daily routines. Never before has it been easier to find people with like interests to us and people who are part of our larger professional and social networks than it is today. Companies are relying on these networks more and more for recruiting and relying less on their application systems where thousands of resumes are submitted daily. The application to hire ratio is becoming more favorable for job seekers who are active on social media and easily found vs. those who apply directly and wait with their fingers crossed. It’s similar to back in the day when “pounding the pavement” was a way to show you were determined to get noticed by a potential employer. You should think of Social Media as your pavement and being present and active on it as your way of showing your determination and what you’re made of.
3) It’s All About Who You Know
Being active on Social Media is a great way to expand your network. In LinkedIn you can join groups of people who have the same interests as you and start/participate in discussions. Not only are recruiters searching these forums but hiring managers are often members as well. LinkedIn is a great way to expand your network and get in touch with the right people. Google+ is another great way to expand your network with their “Circles” feature. You can search for others based on the company they work for, their interests, or even their job title. Once you are part of a circle, you’re part of a community where you can meet and have discussions with others. Sometimes it’s just a matter of meeting and knowing the right people that leads to your next career opportunity. Social Media is a great way to do just that.
4) It’s Good to be “Searchable”
When looking for a job, do you ever say to yourself, “If only I could get my resume in front of the right people”? Most recruiters are on Social Media sites daily in order to seek out great talent. Recruiters are experts in sourcing talent to fill their hiring needs by performing keyword searches and searching their extended networks. Whether it be utilizing Bing’s search capabilities, Facebook graph search, LinkedIn company searches, or Twitter hashtag searches, if you are active and present on any of these sites, you have a greater chance of coming up in a search result and getting contacted for a job.
If you are interested in getting in touch with a Recruiter or learning more about job openings at Microsoft, you can follow us here: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. Looking forward to seeing you there!
Written by: Andrea LaCoy, Staffing Consultant