Are you working your social networking - Hire Imaging

Are you working your social networking - Hire Imaging If you’re in a job search, you know that old-fashioned networking is crucial. It’s the best way to get your foot in the door. Yet, if you’ve not included social networking in the mix, you’re missing the boat. Finding and being found If most of your job search time at the computer is spent filling out online applications and blasting your resume out to advertised openings, you are engaging in the least effective way to find employment. You are not pulling others to you. Worse, you don’t even exist for those who might want to hire you â€" or know those who might. Social networking allows you to find those who can help you and whom you can help. The best of both worlds. Real networking via technology. Now, it’s not the Field of Dreams movie scenario (“If you build it, they will come.”) when you just set up your LinkedIn profile and stop. The playing field Your job search today might include emailing your resume (with links to your social media presence) to employers, or tweaking your profiles on LinkedIn, Google+ or elsewhere. Why is social media important to engaging in the job search? Because those hiring and in the know say that’s where they’re looking. They’re more likely to spot relevant skills and competencies by sifting through a candidate’s publicly available social media presence â€" their blogs, comments on blogs, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter and other sites â€" than they are by only seeing a resume that’s been filtered through an applicant tracking system (ATS). According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), some social recruiting firms like jobpage.com, take the best of a user’s profile into the their ATS. If the firm can find the candidate’s Twitter account, they bring in a summary of the last handful of tweets to peruse whether the comments are work related. And according to Jobvite, 89% of U.S. companies are now using social networking to recruit. LinkedIn, with 135 million members worldwide, accounts for 73% of hires through social media.   According to LinkedIn’s communications manager, Richard George, more than 7,400 companies use LinkedIn Recruiter to find passive candidates. Skin in the game It’s work. But it’s a domino effect that can produce phenomenal outcomes. So where to start? If you were in a traditional networking situation â€" let’s say at a Chamber event, at a conference or even your kid’s soccer game â€" you would not be standing in a corner eyes down and mouth silent. Not if you were trying to network in a job search. This is not different. Some ideas: Find target companies you’re interested in. Connect with people who work for those companies. Invite them to connect on LinkedIn. Follow them on Twitter and retweet them. Comment on their blogs or shared links; talk to them. When you retweet or comment on something they post, they get a fuzzy. Twitter has many discussion groups called Twitter Chats. These groups get together and have moderated discussions about all kinds of topics. It’s a great way to increase your network. The more you engage and comment, the more others will follow you and share your content. Others will see it … and so on. Participate in relevant LinkedIn discussions through Q A (you can have your answers ranked) and through the LinkedIn groups that are a fit for you. Follow recruiters, companies and people on Facebook. “Like” their pages and comments; make your own comments in response. If you’re a confident writer, start your own blog. It doesn’t matter if you’re world-renowned in your field. You have a unique opinion that others may enjoy. It’s not always what you say, but how you say it. Work at becoming a voice in your area of expertise. If you’re not comfortable blogging, use your voice in your conversations. In other words, really meet people, listen to them and give back â€" all online. What you can do for them There’s an adage that’s true here. “It’s not what you know, and it’s not who you know; it’s who knows what you can do.” Yes, our platforms have changed. But we’re still talking the essence of career marketing. The people at the gym see you three days a week. The folks where you volunteer know your name and like having you around. But they may not have a clue in how you add value to a job or employer. Same online. Whenever you have the chance and it seems appropriate, show your value proposition. What do you do? Offer? What are the tangible benefits you bring to your next role? Are they clear on your LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook? Are there links to your resume and other content? Whenever possible, sprinkle your social-media presence heavily with work-related ROI. You create this bit by bit online. On second thought, it is a Field of Dreams in social-media land. It can be a “build it, they will come” where doors you never dreamed of open. Photo:   Rosaura Ochoa