Using Social Media In Your Job Search

How to use social media in job search Laurie Dillon-Schalk, owner & chief social strategist, Social Wisdom Social Wisdom is a Toronto based digital marketing agency helping firms use social media and the web wisely creating better relationships and business results. October 2009

Agenda

Introductions

The Rise of Social Media

Definition

Impact on business, relationships and networking.

How recruiting has changed in 2009

How social are you?

Personal branding – pros & cons of social networking

Overview of the top social networking sites & recommended actions

Questions & Answers – thru-out & at end of session

What is social media?

Wikipedia:

“ social media is a shift in how people discover, read and share news, information and content …. transforming monologues (one to many) into dialogues (many to many)”

Simplified – there are many types of social medias:

Modified from BigBig design’s classification, Cynthia Closkey’s Six Types of Social Media Sites Wikipedia Ideajams Wikis & Communities Twitter Wordpress Typepad Itunes podcasts Delicious Digg StumbleUpon Youtube Flickr Picasa Facebook Linkedin Myspace Micro-blogging Blogs & Podcasts Social Bookmarking Media Sites Social Networking Sites

At the moment, most people think of social networking when they think of social media Canada is the third highest nation for internet penetration (84.5%) (ref) Facebook – 7/10 Canadians have a profile! Twitter usage is estimated to be 14% but is growing exponentially. Overall, U.S. visits to social networking Web sites rose 62 percent from September 2008 to September 2009 (ref) E-marketer.com – sourced from comScore Media Metrix, June 2009

Social Networking refers to the sites that allow easy connection between people. Other people around the world Other co-workers around the world Other co-workers in your country Co-Workers Friends Aaron Kim, formerly IBM, Social Tagging and Folksonomy Summit June 14-15, 2006 Southbury, CT You Jim Mary Your manager Jim’s manager Susan John Helen Roberto Akira Chris Peter Frequent e-mails Infrequent e-mails Social Media

How do humans manage relationships? 150 Dr. Dunbar’s number 130 Average no. of facebook friends 7- 10 Direct, one way relationship 5 Reciprocal, 1:1 relationship Dr. Dunbar is British Anthropologist who studied group sizes. He states that the maximum size of a stable network of relationships for humans is 150 people. But most people have small personal networks. Social networking allows people to get closer to Dunbar’s number by making it easier to manage more casual relationships than ever before.

So.. How did we get here? Laurie’s history lesson…

Its 2005 : Blogs emerge, the internet is used everyday and for major decisions

Over 79% of US adults using the internet with 44% of adults using the internet everyday

45% claim the internet helped them make major decisions

Training for a career

Help with a major illness or medical condition

Choose a school or college for yourself or child

Find a new place to live

Change jobs

Why is the internet used? Because users can connect with other people for advise or sharing valuable experience .

Horrigan, John and Lee Raine. The Internet’s Growing Role in Life’s Major Moments. Pew Internet & American Life Project, April 19, 2006, http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2006/The-Internets-Growing-Role-in-Lifes-Major-Moments.aspx , accessed on June 23, 2009.

Its 2005 : Blogs begin impacting businesses and industries “ [Blogs are].. simply the most explosive outbreak in the information world since the Internet itself. And they're going to shake up just about every business -- including yours.” - Stephen Baker and Heather Green, “Blogs will change your business”, Business week, http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_18/b3931001_mz001.htm , published on May 2, 2005

Within 1 hr of the London bombings, there were more than 1300 blog posts on the event – prompting the BBC to admit

“ We don’t own the news any more”

- Richard Sambrook, Director, BBC World Service and Global News Division. October 2005.

Now its 2006 - 8 -- So what’s happening in the market that is contributing to social media rising in its importance?

E-mail Overload -- “E-mail has become the bane of some people’s professional lives” – Michael Arrington, Founder of TechCrunch, Quoted in NY Times April 20 , 2008

Social Networking Sites (SNS) offer protected email. The lack of spam and fewer messages mean that messages are more likely to be read.

Old media trust issues : Levels of trust are highest for consumer recommendations and opinions and for online medias (websites and email) and lower for newspapers, magazines, tv, radio, etc.

Now its 2009 , social media is REVOLUTIONIZING the world of recruiting

Better recruits: Employers are more satisfied with the quality of candidates from employee referrals and social networks than those from job boards.

Cheaper: Social Networks are cheaper than large placement firms.

Faster: Social Networks streamline the process – making it faster to placement.

Consider - some say that the future of hiring will be that companies only hire someone who can be referred.

Indeed in 2009 the majority of recruiters or human resource professionals turn to social networking for candidate selection. (US based data)

Human resource professionals are using a variety of online sites to research candidates:

76% LinkedIn

67% Search engines

44% Facebook

21% Twitter

Please note: 24% of candidates disclose their social networking presence when applying for a job.

Surveyed recruiters respond: Please note – all of the above social networking tools are free to join and use.

And yet, not all those looking for a job are using social media to get one. http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/Generations-Online-in-2009/Generational-Differences-in-Online-Activities.aspx?r=1 We’ve got a big problem Batman

Are you socially savvy? Modified from: http://afinanceguy.com/2009/06/18/social-media-tutorial-facebook-twitter-linkedin-blog-readers-personal-branding/

Tweet & re-tweet min. once every two days

Do you have a twitter account? (and use it) Social Networks Does it include Are you on Facebook?

Photo up, privacy settings set to friends only

25+ contacts

Are you on Linkedin?

Profile is 100% complete

Min 50+ contacts

Min 4 referrals (from at least two recent jobs)

Belong to 3+ groups

Answer questions

Privacy settings – open

Are you googleable? (I can find you)

Top page results (put your name in “”)

All positive information

Do you read blogs?

Yes – do you have an RSS feed? Do you read up on employees from companies you like?

Do you comment on blogs? Do you have a blog?

Post min once a week

Personal Branding – taking care in how you present yourself

What is a brand?

A brand is who you are and the sum of all the interactions and experiences that you give as perceived by others .

Marketing = what you say and do Branding: As perceived by me. Hmm.. Excellent painter but what’s with the ear?

Top 3 things that make hiring managers dismiss a candidate based on what they find on google or facebook:”

41% of candidates posted information about them drinking or using drugs

40% of candidates posted provocative or inappropriate photographs or information

29% of candidates had poor communication skills

Survey by Careerbuilder.com, surveying 3,169 hiring mgrs – June 2008

http://sev.prnewswire.com/workforce-management/20080910/AQW02510092008-1.html

Four things for you to do:

Google yourself.

Put your name in “quotations”, search for your images, remove tags on unwanted photos in facebook.

Create a one line bio

Not your title, a mini biography line about yourself

Four things for you to do:

Get your digital photo UP – create your AVATAR!

Use a personal photo, crop it close and turn it into black & white to make it more professional looking.

Personalize any and all communication to your network

Remind people how you know them, ask about them or give a reason to connect

This is the standard message! Change it!

Watch-outs

Do not provide your full birthday nor social insurance number online.

E.g. either leave the birthday blank on facebook and linkedin or do not add your year of birth.

Fraud jobs might ask for a job application including social insurance numbers prior to interviews.

Do not agree to any elaborate payment schemes e.g. cashing cheques on behalf of companies. (this is mostly from craigslist… when in doubt, google the text from your email.)

Linkedin - your online rolodex and more

Imagine a rolodex that updates itself automatically and the rolodex contains way more information than an address and phone no.

business autobiography

photo or avatar

references / referrals

See the network! See connections of connections

Groups (like minded)

Q&A by topic

Jobs, jobs, jobs

The Linkedin dashboard [home page] main page real estate is reserved for updating you on the activities of your connections Legend  Jobs – some exclusive  Discussions by topic  Privacy settings are here  Tailor your profile here  List of your contacts  Linkedin Inbox  Applications – my blog  Updates on you and your connections  Linkedin suggested connections  Who’s viewing you  Events your contacts are attending           

Linkedin Dashboard Legend  Groups & Associations  My online bio (not the same as ‘title’)  Answers to topics that I follow  Featured jobs that I might be interested in  Linkedin Applications (there are many. I’ve added my blog to my profile)     

Suggested strategies for linkedin Objective Do’s Don’ts Grow your network

Connect to facebook friends & import e-mail contacts

Check out linkedin connection suggestions and review connections of connections

Join groups of like minded, ask for intros

Meet someone? Link in immediately.

Find a jewel? Find a reason to connect in person.

Not a popularity contest – go for quality not quantity.

Don’t link to strangers (people do not like that)

Don’t outright ask for a job

Make it easy for your network to find you

Make your profile 100% complete (photo & 4 referrals)

Allow public access to a number of items (privacy)

Don’t chicken out on the photo – do it

Establish your personal brand

Consistent avatar

Detailed online bio

Personalize your messages

Answer discussions

Add linkedin address to resume

Professional photo

No pictures of kids (this is not facebook)

Don’t rain on people’s parade

Be top of mind

Do network updates (various forms) Update your status (meaningful)

Answer discussions

Not too much – 1 a week

Be careful – its public record

Build relationships & go after what you want

Comment on people’s updates

Get a job feed based on what you like

Ask for introductions, personalize messages

Short but sweet

The Facebook “home page” or dashboard focuses on your friends new news wall Status update Company pages FB suggests friends Go here for privacy settings

Make the choice – will you keep personal and business separate? I recommend keeping facebook private and develop more intimate online relationships. Objective Do’s Don’ts Grow your friends list

Do connect with people you’ve lost touch with.

Do export your e-mail contact list to find friend matches

Clean up your profile (see don’ts)

Don’t try to ‘friend’ business people you don’t know.

Don’t make it easy for professionals to find you here

Adjust your privacy settings so you are not found

Join groups but be professional and kind

Join company fan pages for sponsors

Don’t put anything incriminating on your personal pages anyways.

Mouth off on a facebook fan or company page – its public even if your profile is private.

Facebook is an area of greater, more intimate connection. Often with people you used to know.

Photos of kids, trips, etc

Let people know what you are interested in.

No drunk, naked, criminal photos

Twitter is a free social messaging utility for staying connected in real time .

Messaging - “micro-blogging” -- all posts/updates [called 'tweets'] are 140 characters or less.

Connected - in twitter, its pretty simple. You follow people [following] and people follow you [followers].

Real time - *huge* Twitter offers as close to real time as it gets – giving out a constant stream of small information updates.

Use twitter to follow people in organizations you like and to keep in touch with your subject matter expertise/passion Objective Do’s Grow your network (grow followers)

Find your twitter voice & do it often – once a day

Retweet smart tweets

Comment and thank people

Check out MrRetweet – to auto add your linkedin network to your twitter list.

Recommend people you like

Make it easy for professionals to find you

Find out if your network has a twitter address. Most people follow someone who follows them.

Your @twitter address is your new email

Find companies or subject matter experts you like

Follow companies you are interested in

Follow relevant hashtags

Use the same photo (avatar) as linkedin

Choose a memorable username (your name) so that people can identify you easily. (same as linked, same as facebook)

Your twitter address is your new email

** Add your one line bio and chose your words wisely. One big way people decide whether or not to follow you is by reading your short blurb that pops up when hovering over your photo. I like to see topics people tweet about and their roles (e.g. consultant, father of two, banker, etc).

How it can work: I’m not special!!! This is happening to people who know how to use Social Networking Sites 235 followers 124 friends 218 connections