Internet users worldwide spend more hours on social media than on any other online activity. Eighty per cent of young EU internet users are active in social media while here in Malta, Facebook has become the second most visited website after Google with almost 169,340 Maltese on Facebook. That’s 41 per cent of our population.

Social media is just not social, it’s become the source for many to find contacts to jobs, direct lines to the recruitment arena and at Castille we have noticed more hits through our websites by companies either searching for employees or individuals seeking employment.

Everyone knows that job candidates are flooding the market. There are jobs out there: standing out in a sea of experienced, qualified applicants can be difficult, but not impossible. Social media offers a plethora of opportunities, it offers job candidates a direct line of communication to corporations and hiring managers and recruitment agencies.

The following are a few tips for would-be new hires – both to stand out in the crowd and to find job opportunities: Be easily found – If you don’t have an online presence, you need one. Social media is a great way to quickly create an online reputation for yourself and build your resume and profile. Most of the tools are free. Create a LinkedIn profile, a Facebook page; join Twitter and any relevant professional networks or communities in your field. You can create a You Tube video of yourself (but make sure it’s industry/job appropriate) or a full website résumé.

Clean up your online image – It’s a good idea to do an audit of your online presence before you begin to network online. Easy ways to do this is to ‘Google’ yourself and see what kind of an online presence you already have. Make sure all your online profiles are in sync and consistent in terms of the information shared, and that all the information is on brand, relevant information that portrays you in a good light.

Be an expert – In addition to looking for job opportunities, you should be looking for opportunities to put your skills into action. Consider starting a blog or at least, a guest blog to highlight your field of knowledge. Create an online portfolio of your work with a Flickr account. Join groups – Groups on LinkedIn, Facebook and other platforms offer more opportunities to connect with potential employers and colleagues. When you join a group on LinkedIn, you are often able to direct message members. This can be a direct line of communication to a hiring manager or executive at the firm of your desire. When appropriate, you can also post message to the entire group to help in your job search. In addition to groups, a single connection may be your gateway to the right job opportunity. Leverage individual connections to facilitate introductions to hiring managers.

Actively listen and be aware – Don’t just rely on the traditional job boards to find your next position. Set up RSS feeds and Google Alerts to notify you when new jobs have been posted in your field. Check out non-traditional job boards. For example, LinkedIn also has job boards inside group settings where only group members can post job opportunities. If you ‘fan’ a company on Facebook, you might be the first to find out about job openings.

Seek out and follow recruiters (professional recruiters and internal hiring managers) on Twitter. Many often post job opportunities on Twitter first before sending out mass communications to their network. In addition, responding via Twitter may separate you from the ‘death by inbox’ syndrome that plunges many resumes into the e-mail abyss.

Turn online connections into offline connections – When it comes to getting a job, candidates are usually only hired after they’ve met the hiring manager in person. And, influencers still tend to recommend candidates that they know and have met directly. So, take your online relationships offline. Participate in networking events, organise a meet up (http://www.meetup.com/), take a connection out to lunch and ask for informational interviews to get some face-time with potential employers or recruitment agency.

Remember one person you meet or connect too can change everything for you! Sometimes it may pay off to be bold. Whatever social media site you might be using, it might be useful to post a status update that will let your followers know that you are looking for a job.

Experts say that finding jobs by social media, whether it is done by LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook or other websites, will become the ‘norm’ in the next three to four years.

There are many people that have got their dream job via social media sites and this might also be the case for you.

www.castilleresources.com

The author is a guest copywriter with Castille Resources Ltd, a local ICT and finance recruitment specialist.

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