Design & Promote recently attended the annual KidsMatter Job Fair on Wednesday March 23rd, 2011 held at the Merner Field House on North Central College’s Campus. Endorsed by the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce, the Fair provided job opportunities, resume building, mock interviews, and internship information for students who are looking for employment opportunities. Design & Promote offered students help on how to manage their social media networks and how to use them to their advantage when it comes to job hunting. Below is the information that was passed out to students.
How Social Media Can Help You Land A Job…Or Not!
9 Tips for Student Job Seekers
You may not know that many employers in today’s job market are using social media like Facebook and LinkedIn to screen candidates. Forty-five percent of employers reported in a recent CareerBuilder survey that they use social networking sites to research job candidates, a big jump from 22 percent last year. Another 11 percent plan to start using social networking sites for screening. If an employer decided to look you up, what would they see?
Why Employers Hired Candidates After Screening Online
Eighteen percent of employers reported they have found content on social networking sites that caused them to hire the candidate. The top examples include:
- Profile provided a good feel for the candidate’s personality and fit – 50%
- Profile supported candidate’s professional qualifications – 39%
- Candidate was creative – 38%
- Candidate showed solid communication skills – 35%
- Candidate was well-rounded – 33%
- Other people posted good references about the candidate – 19%
If you are looking for a job, now might be a good time to review your social media profiles and add positive background and content such as education, awards, activities, and work experience.
Why Employers Disregarded Candidates After Screening Online
Thirty-five percent of employers reported they have found content on social networking sites that caused them not to hire the candidate. The top examples cited include:
- Candidate posted provocative or inappropriate photographs or information – 53%
- Candidate posted content about them drinking or using drugs – 44%
- Candidate bad-mouthed their previous employer, co-workers or clients – 35%
- Candidate showed poor communication skills – 29%
- Candidate made discriminatory comments – 26%
- Candidate lied about qualifications – 24%
Job seekers are cautioned to be mindful of the information they post online and how they communicate directly with employers . To improve your chances of getting hired, we have listed our top ten tips every student should follow when it comes to managing their social media profiles, especially when actively seeking employment.
#1: Get private
Make sure your privacy settings are set to ‘Friends Only. You don’t want your friends sharing personal pictures with the rest of the world.
#2: Carefully Manage the Content on Your Facebook Page
Although some questionable pictures and funny status updates may be entertaining to your friends, employers may seem them as inappropriate. A good rule to follow: delete comments and un-tag pictures that you wouldn’t let your parents see. It’s still okay to use Facebook to socially interact with your friends, just keep it clean!
#3: Using a Professional Email Address
Set up a free gmail account with a professional address to use in your resume. Example: [email protected]. Employers usually respond using email so you don’t want them to remember you as [email protected]. Do not use your professional email address to log into your Facebook page. This will make it harder for an employer to find your Facebook when searching.
4#: Are you on LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is one of the easiest places that employers can find you and learn more about your background, job experience, and interests so it is important to have a professional presence here. Completing your LinkedIn profile is fairly easy and can be done in a short period of time. If your LinkedIn profile is not complete and/or out of date, what message are you sending to your prospective new employer?
#5: What does your professional headline say about you?
Does your headline say what it is you are interested in doing? You have 120 characters, so be creative. Try something like “High school student seeking part-time retail employment”.
#6: Be professional on every level
Whether it’s your photo or profile content, make sure everything you post on your LinkedIn profile looks and sounds professional. To ensure there are no grammatical errors, have a teacher or parent read over your content before you post it to your page.
#7: Add your Resume on LinkedIN
LinkedIn now has a feature for you to import your resume and link it to your profile. What better way then to get your resume in front of perspective employers.
#8: List yourself in a group job section
Anyone can advertise their job vacancies in any of the groups they belong to, but why not do it the other way around? Why not post an ad in the jobs section of the groups you’re a member of, stating what position you’re looking for?
#9: Follow a Company on Twitter
Many local businesses have created Twitter accounts. Be sure to follow a business you may be interested in working for and receive all the latest updates. They may even include employment opportunities. Remember, just like Facebook, keep your Twitter domain name and site clean.
Other Good Places to Search for A Job
www.usajobs.gov
www.students.net
To download a printable version, click here KidsMatter-Job-Fair-SM-Tips
For more information contact us at Design & Promote
