How To Use Social Media To Find A Job
Still queuing up at the job centre? Dropping your CV around to multiple agencies? Well, it’s the 21st century and there are other more savvy ways to find work.
Using social media to find work has become more standardised, especially after the pandemic. And if you’re somewhere where the jobs are *ahem* a bit shit, then using online methods is even more important.
Knowing how to use social media to find a job isn’t that hard. After all you probably already spend a lot of time on social media anyways, right?
We’ll look at each of the social media platforms and then explore how you can use them to get work.
The best social media sites to find work
If you’re looking for work and you’re not on Linkedin then you are seriously missing out. Linkedin is *the* professional social media network, and people actively use this site to find employees. Whatever your sector there are ways to use the platform to your advantage – but we’ll cover these in depth very shortly.
Finding work on Facebook? Absolutely. There are agencies, startups, entrepreneurs and more who use the site and are often looking for talent. The trick is to join groups, especially in your area, or keep an eye out for job openings by searching hashtags and search terms. I’ll be honest, Facebook isn’t the best platform in general – and actually Linkedin and our next site are better.
Did you know that most companies post their vacancies on Twitter? It’s often just an automated posting linking to their Linkedin or their ‘careers’ page, but searching on Twitter for a job is actually quite productive. You can specify areas, search terms and more. More on this in a moment.
Users post in subreddits on a huge variety of subjects, and one of those is jobs. This is especially useful for remote working jobs on subs like r/forhire. Adding Reddit to your list of social networks for job hunting can be a good way to spot some very nifty openings.
How to find jobs on social media
Whichever social media platform you want to use to search for work, there are methods that apply to all of them. These are the general rules that can give you the best chance of getting a job via your favourite social media app.
Step one: Optimise your profile
Whichever platform you’re using, it’s a good idea to tidy up your profile. Add a quality headshot, optimise your bio for your ideal job and avoid anything too risqué for a bit.
Linkedin and Twitter are best for this. You can easily create a professional bio, with a heading that sums up your skills.
It can also be a good idea to create a link to your CV or professional portfolio and make it available on your social media platforms. Google Drive, Dropbox or Amazon can all store your CV and give easy access to potential employers and agencies.
Step two: Follow companies and people you want to work with/for
If you’re on Linkedin, Twitter or Facebook make a point of following companies, people or even recruitment agencies that you want to work with.
Often companies will auto post their new vacancies, or sometimes there are opporunities that are displayed on social media that you’ll never see on their own job pages. These might be requests for urgent interns, upcoming events or calls for reviews, design ideas and more.
Linkedin is the best for this. But equally Twitter offers a lot of opportunity as does Facebook. Check out this in-depth post about finding work on Linkedin, and this one about jobs on Twitter.
Step three: Engage with your target company and community
Increasingly a lot of recruiters and HR departments use social media to find potential candidates. This means that they’re often searching for hashtags, keyword and profiles that fit their requirments.
So, how can you get found?
Engaging with the platform on a regular basis will help your visibility. Create industry specific posts for your profile, and use hashtags that are related to your target job.
We already mentioned optimising your profile which is a key way to get found, especially on Linkedin.
You should also be a useful and active member of any social media community and, also…
Step four: Join groups
On almost all of the social networks there are groups you can join.
Linkedin, Facebook and Reddit in particular have communities where you can join and ask questions, offer advice and more. Make being active in these groups part of your strategy to find work online.
Twitter relies more on hashtags, regular posts and engagement with your target company or industry.
Joining these communities can be a great way to get an insight into the ways that other people find jobs. They can also help you to focus on jobs and find ways to improve yourself and make you a more attractive candidate to hiring managers.
Step five: Don’t forget to use recruitment sites
Yes, social media is a good way to find work online. But it’s a method that is best use as part of an overall strategy, rather than on it’s own.
This means you should never really rely on one single way of finding work.
Job sites like Indeed, TotalJobs and Monster are all important tools in the job hunters arsenal. And interestingly the strategy to find a job online with these job sites is quite similar.
Keep a well optimised profile, login and apply for jobs regularly, optimise your CV for search (include industry specific keywords) and have a good cover letter ready to go. You can also use a CV builder if you need help with your CV.
How often should I use social media to find work?
Depending on your target industry, using social media to find employment can be very effective. But, don’t spend too long or you can end up wasting time just like you can with any social network.
Here’s how I used to optimise my job search time on social media.
Linkedin: 20-30 minutes each day. Like and comment on posts for around five to ten minutes. Search hashtags related to my industry and apply for jobs if any are visible. Create a post that is designed to encourage engagement and log ogg. Return later in the day to check for post engagement and reply to any comments.
Twitter: 20 minutes each day searching for hashtags related to industry and liking, commenting or retweeting as necessary. Create one or two posts that are related to my job search.
Reddit: Join subreddits such as r/forhire or specific industry subs. Create a post every few days advertising my services. Search in subreddits for hiring manager and engage if necessary.
What jobs can you find on social media?
Although digital jobs are very easy to find on social media sites, almost every industry advertises their open positions online these days. This means you can find any job from a computer programmer or digital marketing specialist to catering, nursing or cleaning work.
We think finding a job in Plymouth and Devon means taking the initiative sometimes. Check out these ideas to make your own business.
