Chances are, during a job search, you will be searched. Hiring influencers look online to get a feel for who you are and to see your personal branding to learn more about you. Yes, you DO have a personal brand, even if you don’t put energy into managing it.
So how should you prepare your social media for a job search? Immediately, focus on the short-term urgent tasks: Make sure your information matches, use keywords across platforms, develop your profile fully, go public so you’re easily searchable, and link your accounts. In the long term: Update regularly, interact with your contacts, and join groups that feed into your brand.
Immediate tasks
Make sure they match. Your resume and social media profiles should match perfectly. Discrepancies may be accidental, but they cause hiring influencers to question your accuracy (if not your honesty).
Professional branding. Use the same astute business acumen in your own career management that you use for your company’s benefit. Sell yourself consistently across platforms. Use the same keywords and language from resume to social media and even in your applications. Make it easy to understand the message you are sending about your skills, experience, and value.
Fill out your profile. I see so many clients who have only partially filled out their LinkedIn profiles. This and other social media are places where hiring influencers are actively searching for candidates! Why would you make it harder for them to find you and learn about you?
Go public. Make sure your information is available to be searched. As with your profile, you WANT to be noticed and found by hiring influencers holding the key to your dream job. While your search is active, make your contact information available, too.
Link up. Link your social media accounts so that executive recruiters and other hiring influencers can find you easily.
Maintenance tasks
Update schedule. Set an update schedule so that you can work on the social media side of your personal brand regularly. This way, all of your professional achievements are available to hiring influencers and potential employers.
Interact. Share links and ideas that are relevant to your industry to establish a pattern of expertise and in-depth knowledge. Like and share posts from other industry experts and from your network contacts to strengthen your connections.
Join. Join groups relating to your career, your industry, and your interests so that you are even more visible online.
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