Dear Career Advisor,

I am in my final year at university and I have really been focusing on my studies and my part-time job and to be honest, I have been ignoring social media as I feel it is a waste of time. Now that I am on the last leg of my journey and am now beginning my job search, everyone’s telling me to use social media as it is very effective. Would you recommend that I get active on social media for my job search, and if so, do you have any suggestions?

Regards,

Nickay

Dear Nickay,

Permit us to first affirm you for your diligence and commitment to your academic pursuit and career advancement. Thank you as well for your question, which other job-seekers often have.

The irresponsible, unstructured and unmanaged use of social media can indeed be a distraction to productivity especially when you are studying. Notwithstanding, establishing and maintaining a professional online presence is very useful for job-seekers and as you are now embarking into this area it is good to be aware of the pitfalls and the advantages so that you can carefully craft your social media persona and presence. Social media can play a vital role in your job search, building networking linkages and helping you get noticed. So yes, we recommend that you use social media as a vital part of your job search strategy.

Among the more popular social media sites that can enhance your job-search are: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, and Google+. You don’t have to be on all; pick a few that best compliment the demonstration of your skills. At the expense of revealing our bias, we recommend that you begin with LinkedIn as it is a dedicated professional site.

We’ve found NACE writer, Lindsey Pollak’s The 10 Commandments of Social Media Job Seeking* very useful, so we will share a summary of those tips below.

1. Develop a professional presence. What will people learn about you when they search for you online? Create a professional persona which is devoid of anything that you would be embarrassed about if raised in an interview.

2. Fill your profile with key words. Include key words and phrases that a recruiter or hiring manager might type into a search engine to find someone like you.

3. Use LinkedIn to find your path. This platform offers a huge database of professionals. Browse it to see what career paths other professionals in your field of interest have taken, see which companies they work with, request introductions to build your network.

4. Get personal. Grow your networks; begin with friends, relatives, classmates, neighbours. The bigger and more authentically your network grows, the more access you will have to opportunities.

5. Be a joiner. Join online communities for which you have affiliations and interests. As a member you can comment on discussions, meet people who share common interests, and find exclusive job listings.

6. Tweet. Twitter is an amazing tool to research and for connecting with recruiters. You can choose to “listen” more than you tweet but you will get enormous value from the information being shared.

7. Blog. You can write a blog or create a video about your career accomplishments and interests, campus life, travel, sports activities etc. If you are not interested in creating your own blog you can comment on posts of industry bloggers you admire. You might just catch the eye of a reader who is hiring.

8. Share. A small helpful gesture such as forwarding a link is a great way to demonstrate that you are supportive.

9. Keep people up-to-date. Status updates are another smart form of networking. Keep your profiles up-to-date.

10. Use social media to ace interviews. Before a job interview, study the LinkedIn profiles of leaders in the organization that you are likely to meet. The more preparation you do, the more confident you will feel and the more likely you will make a great impression.

Don’t try to get on all your selected social media platforms at once; begin with one. Whatever you do though, continue to maintain a balance between the time you dedicate to your social media engagement and your other activities.

All the best.

Career Advisor

Reference: Pollak, Lindsey NACE Job Choices 2011

Carolyn Marie Smith is associate vice-president of student services at Northern Caribbean University in Mandeville, Manchester. Submit your questions to her at careeradvisor@ncu.edu.jm