Keppie Careers

Social media speaker, social media consultant, job search coach

How social media can help you get a job

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http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photo-people-social-networking-computer-network-concepts-image41603635In light of research released from Jobvite regarding how employers are using social media tools to source and hire candidates, I thought it would be helpful to provide ideas and insight about how to use the data from the survey directly from a recruiter.

Jackie Hydock is Director, Global Recruiting at App Annie. The organization taps social media tools to recruit, and she made the following suggestions regarding how job seekers can use social media effectively:

Survey data say recruiters appreciate when candidates post content on their own social media sites, but what about what they should post on employer sites? Do candidates ever post on App Annie’s social media pages? If so, what are some things you appreciate seeing or take as a positive sign?

Jackie: Yes. We have created our own recruitment social media pages outside of our corporate social media sites. The corporate sites serve to share our mobile insights reports, corporate news and showcase how we are revolutionizing the mobile analytics space. Our recruitment social media sites focus on the App Annie culture to give followers an inside view of what it’s like to be a part of the team and offer tips on how to become an “App Annier.” We also use our recruitment social sites to highlight open job positions.

We love gaining new candidate followers and appreciate it when followers like, comment, retweet or favorite our #lifeatappannie and App Annie Instagram posts. A couple of candidates have tweeted that they sent in their application to App Annie and couldn’t wait to hear from us! It’s also exciting when followers retweet or favorite specific job openings. Engaging with us through our social media channels is a great way to stand out among the applicant pool. It shows us that candidates have taken the time to learn more about our company’s cultures, values and beliefs, which is an integral part of our recruiting process. If a candidate is already a user of our App Annie products and broadcasts that on social media — that’s another major plus in our eyes.

What kinds of social media engagement do you appreciate seeing? For example, do you appreciate if a candidate follows you, likes a post, makes a comment, etc.

Jackie: Any attention a candidate gives to our corporate or recruiting social sites makes us feel like they are eager to stay connected and that they want to engage with us. We appreciate the candidates who take time to follow us, whether they are interested in working with us today or just hoping to keep us in mind for the future. If a candidate goes the extra mile to share a job opening with their network, it is a great sign that they would be a positive addition to our growing team. It is our commitment to our followers to keep our feeds interesting and filled with fun and unique App Annie content.

What do you like to see on candidates’ social media profiles? When you look on a candidate’s LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook page, what are some things that impress you or make you think favorably of a candidate?

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Jackie: We like to see responsible photos and content from people who take their personal brand image and work seriously. Our recruiting team uses LinkedIn heavily and we believe that it is the best place to judge candidates on who they are and what they’ve done in a public forum. We understand that Facebook and Instagram profiles are typically more personal profiles and we are less likely to take those posts and pictures under consideration.

What we are looking for is good judgment. As we recruit, we keep in mind that every App Annie employee is also an App Annie brand ambassador, and we want to make sure our team is made up of those who will reflect our company in the most positive light everywhere – whether they’re on the conference show floor or in the gym. We don’t invest a lot of time in doing heavy social checks on the more personal social media channels, but rely on more formal background checks to assess a candidate’s ultimate eligibility.

Appeared on AOLJobs.com.

Are recruiters using Facebook?

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file1111243438731Do you know what recruiters like more than anything? Easy access to find quality candidates and few barriers to entry. Do you know one way you can provide this? Use Facebook as a professional platform.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know posting unprofessional information on Facebook can prevent you from landing a job. Employers don’t like profanity, comments about illegal drugs, posts of a sexual nature or excessive misspellings and bad grammar. What they do like, according to Jobvite’s research, is to be able to find you online and to learn about you. If you put time, effort and energy into creating some public information in Facebook, you could find yourself with a new job sooner than you thought.

Recruiters are looking for you.
Recruiters will source new hires where ever they can find them. With the exponential number of people using Facebook and the amount of time they spend there, it isn’t surprising to learn from Undercover Recruiter that 70 percent of recruiters say they connect better with potential jobseekers due to widespread use of Facebook and 85 percent of recruiters using Facebook recommend it as a tool to other recruiters. (Tweet this stat.)

Companies are spending a lot of time, effort and money to connect with you on Facebook. They want you to “like” their career pages, and they hope you’ll post smart messages there. Don’t disappoint them.

Make your information available.
You don’t have to post your vacation photos for everyone to see, but if you want to be found, it’s a good idea to allow certain sections of your Facebook profile to be public, including: Work and Education, Professional Skills and Contact information. Not only will this make it possible for people looking for someone with your skills to find you, it also provides professional information that will help people in your network connect with you when they are in job search mode.

Another benefit of making this data public, it allows you to engage with Glassdoor.com’s“Inside Connections” tool, which provides job seekers access to their Facebook networks to identify people who work at companies with interesting jobs. When people in your network provide public professional data on Facebook, you’ll also be able to access information from friends of friends for networking purposes via this tool. Clearly, making these items public on Facebook helps you be found as well as enhances networking opportunities. Since four in ten job seekers found their favorite or best job through personal connections, don’t ignore this opportunity to tap your online network.

Give them a little something.
Since many recruiters want to know a little something about you beyond what’s on your resume, why not give them a little professional information? Create public updates in your private Facebook page and you have the opportunity to post and share certain items that will be easy for people you do not know to find. This is easy to do.

Follow the link on the top of your Facebook page to check your privacy settings.

Once there, click on the icon that says “Followers” on the left side of the screen. Then, under Who Can Follow Me, select the drop down that says “Everybody.”

This will give you an option to create public updates and for people to “follow” your public updates. Public updates can include links to news about your industry. If you’re in customer service, you can occasionally post a public update about the latest customer service trends. If you are a bank teller, you can post links about your company’s financials.

Answer the key question.
There’s no more important question to answer for job seekers than, “How can I help employers find me?” Facebook could be one way to answer it.

Originally appeared on AOLJobs.com.

 

Is it important to have privacy on LinkedIn?

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DSCN8580Privacy. Clearly, it’s fleeting in our “tell all,” “share everything on social media” society. As the fine line between the personal and the professional (is there even a line at all?) becomes less and less significant, it’s even more important to be vigilant so you know what you are sharing, with whom and potential consequences. Make no mistake about it: it’s up to you to manage your online identify and privacy.

One of the main benefits of using social media is it allows you to be found. In fact, it’s a main tenet of social media; your goal online should be to be discovered, and to magnetically attract people you want to hire you for jobs or consulting opportunities. Traditional media outlets would have you believe the worst thing you can do for your career is post information on social media. They feature big mistakes people make online leading to loss of income and jobs as representative reasons to stay offline.

However, for job seekers and business owners, it’s dangerous to don the online equivalent of Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak. Professional goals are difficult to accomplish if privacy settings are locked down to the point they effectively render the profiles useless. However, reducing privacy puts the onus on the user to understand ramifications of not sharing information they make private.

LinkedIn is clearly a key player in your professional online identity. Your goal on LinkedIn is to connect and engage with people; it’s expected that you will have a LinkedIn profile. Generally speaking, the best advice is to peruse privacy settings and choose the most open (least private) choice. Doing so positions you to be found more easily, and potentially to be invited to apply for opportunities. However, each individual user will have specific goals and reasons to share or want to hide certain information online. Overly tight privacy settings on LinkedIn can lead you to miss opportunities. These tips will help. (Tweet this thought.)

Review and scrutinize your choices on these settings in particular:

Turn on/off your activity broadcasts.
If you’re running an illicit job search, and planning to conduct a major overhaul of your LinkedIn profile, turn this off before making changes if you are worried it will alert your current boss. Consider turning it back on after your profile overhaul is complete.

Because LinkedIn will send out a message announcing that you have a new job if you update your job titles or add a project to your “experience” section, others who sometimes get dinged by this setting are people who own businesses and decide to change their official titles or people in jobs who update their job titles to be more descriptive or interesting. The last thing this group wants is for people to think they’ve taken new positions.

Communications.
Be alert and aware of how LinkedIn works by keeping an eye on messages you receive from the network. Check the “Communications” tab under settings to ensure you do receive the type of messages that will help you decide what you want to share with others.

Select what others see when you’ve viewed their profile. If you’re doing some “undercover” research on colleagues or competitors, feel free to set this to “anonymous.” However, leaving the setting locked down prevents you from seeing who is viewing your profile, and that represents lost opportunities. In general, it can be a good idea to let people know you’ve viewed their profile, especially before an interview. It makes you appear to be thorough and diligent about your research.

Select who can see your connections.
Some people worry they’ll compromise their privacy by allowing people to know who is connected to them. If you are in such a cut-throat field that your livelihood is in jeopardy if your connections are revealed, by all means, make this private. However, keep in mind, if everyone locked down this setting, networking on LinkedIn would be severely thwarted.

Change your photo profile and visibility.
This is a non-negotiable: your photo should be viewable for “everyone.” Otherwise, people who may want to learn more about you may be discouraged from reaching out because they see the default “shadow face” LinkedIn inserts in lieu of a picture.

Don’t forget to keep an eye on privacy settings; don’t set them and forget them. Be vigilant and make sure your settings match your goals, and you’ll be more likely to win new opportunities.

Originally appeared on AOLJobs.com.

Use social media to get a job

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Screen Shot 2014-07-03 at 10.08.10 PMAre you discounting social media as a way to land a job? Or are you relying 100 percent on LinkedIn to help you create your digital footprint? If so, you’re making a mistake. Research shows employers benefit from using social media to attract candidates. The Society for Human Resource Management’s 2013 survey, Social Networking Websites and Recruiting/Selection, found 77 percent of organizations use social networking sites to recruit potential job candidates. They also found 69 percent of organizations use social networking tools to target and recruit candidates with specific skill sets, 67 percent use social networking to increase employer brand and recognition and 57 percent use it to allow potential candidates to easily contact their organization about employment.

The study further indicated that while a majority (92 percent) of employer respondents used LinkedIn, 58 percent also tapped Facebook, 31 percent use Twitter and 25 percent use Google+. Less than 10 percent of employers used sites such as YouTube, Pinterest, Myspace and Foursquare.

Candidates can take advantage of employers’ interest in reaching out to them via social media to find their next jobs. Stéphane Le Viet, founder and CEO of Work4, has worked with companies of all sizes, industries and locations to implement hiring strategies on social media. He offers the following tips to job seekers on best practices to leverage social media tools during job search.

Use every network that makes sense for you. Don’t limit yourself to “professional” social networks. As SHRM research notes, employers are not only looking at LinkedIn. “At a minimum, most companies today use Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to reach job seekers,” Le Viet notes. “At the very least, job seekers can follow companies and brands through these channels to stay updated on new employment opportunities directly within the social networks where they already spend a lot of time.”

Does this mean every job seeker should actively post on all of these networks? Not necessarily. While you can use the various networks to follow information and insights from different companies, if you’re not capable of sending out short messages, you probably shouldn’t tweet.

Find the networks that take advantage of your best skills and become active there. If you like to create short updates, use Twitter. If you are a talented writer, blog on LinkedIn’s platform or start your own blog. Are you in a visual field? Did you know you can create photo collages on Twitter to post via tweets when you use the mobile application? Or upload your photos on Facebook and be sure to make those posts public and searchable. If you’re capable of posting great content on all of the major social media networks, by all means, do so. However, only participate where you’re showing off your best professional content.

Identify your target audience, “like” and engage with them. “Social networks are no longer just about connecting with friends,” Le Viet says. “Both Facebook and Twitter have evolved into an ecosystem of individuals, brands and employers. Companies are investing in their social media presence, giving job seekers plenty of options for interesting content to like and follow.”

Don’t underestimate how interested hiring managers are in finding you online. Many of them believe they can connect with the best candidates using social media. If you want to be considered in that group, you need to be sure to spend your time in networks where you’ll be able to connect with them.

Even if you don’t spend a lot of time posting content to various networks, be sure you visit, “like” or “follow” the companies that interest you – especially if you’re not in a confidential job search. “Hiring managers are always looking for good cultural fit, so the fact that a candidate is already a fan is a good start. You can take it a step further and show a prospective employer you’re really engaged and interested in working for them, simply by commenting on and sharing company posts,” Le Viet says.

Be searchable. Make sure to optimize your online profiles by identifying keywords that employers will use to search for someone like you. Don’t forget to add professional skills to your Facebook profile and make those sections public. “With the introduction of Graph Search, recruiters are turning to Facebook to search for individuals whose profile details match open jobs,” Le Viet says. “Additionally, companies are using Facebook ads to target people by location, interests and other criteria.” You can keep friends, photos and other aspects of your timeline private while making other profile details like job history, skills and location visible to the public and to your next potential employer.

Originally appeared on U.S. News & World Report

Get a recruiter’s attention on Twitter

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social media expert, how to find a job on TwitterWhen you’re looking for a job, you want to be sure to take advantage of all of the tools at your disposal to help you land the best possible opportunity. Social media should be on your to-do list, because it provides a way to connect with networking contacts and decision makers. [Read more…] about Get a recruiter’s attention on Twitter