Social Media Networking Tips to Propel Your Job Search Forward
Social media networking is important for teachers, school principals, educational leaders, higher education instructors or any educator. Use these helpful social networking tips as your guide, especially if you are conducting a job search. Even if you aren’t planning a career move, start building a network or tribe to learn and grow as an educator.
Social Media Networking Strategies to Find Job Leads and Enhance Your Career
Employers, recruiters, and school districts are actively using social networking sites to recruit teaching or administrator candidates for employment and they are also using social media to research applicants.
In fact, over 90% of employers are currently using social media sites to recruit employees. However, only 30% of job seekers have actually used this resource to help them find a job. You can review some information directly from Columbia University Center for Career Education on finding a job using social media.
Using Social Media Networking to Your Job Search can Lead to a Gold Mine of Career Opportunities
Not having a strong online, positive personal social identity will put you at a disadvantage in today’s job market. A searchable social profile and presence will help school districts, recruiters, and employers to find you and market you as an expert within education.
One huge advantage of using social networking is that it provides an opportunity for education applicants to connect directly with recruiters and hiring managers on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and Twitter. That personal connection can help get your profile and application noticed to increase the chance to land an interview, provided your information is found through SEO (search engine optimization) and it’s professional.
Additionally, through your social networks, you can easily find out what contacts you have within certain school districts and schools to help you gain job opportunities.
This is a fantastic advantage that social media allows you to benefit from. Getting a referral from a current teacher or another school faculty member at the school you are wishing to teach at will result in a 20x better chance of you gaining the position.
When you're conducting a job search, you need to make it easy for employers to find you online. Employers are often bombarded with academic resumes when they post jobs. Due to this, they will often seek passive candidates, which are qualified candidates who aren't necessarily looking for work, but who may be interested if the right job comes along.
Anyone who doesn't want to pass up what could be an excellent teaching opportunity should make their professional credentials readily accessible online. Learning how to writing a LinkedIn profile for a teaching or any education position will help to ensure it is searchable.
When participating on social media for your career and job search, it’s important that you keep a consistent profile throughout all the different platforms. This is called branding and is your voice and message. They should all reflect the image you want to put forward. It’s also important that you continually manage your different profiles; update your status, tweet out tips or news, share articles or blog posts, and build relationships with your friends and contacts.
The four top social media sites that should be incorporated into your job searching strategy are LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, and Facebook. In my opinion, if there is only one social networking site you join today, it needs to be LinkedIn — second would be Twitter. LinkedIn is specifically dedicated toward career growth, advancement, and professional networking/connections. Therefore, it is the most direct resource for helping you find a new job.
The other three sites make great support for your professional brand by allowing you to connect with people you may not know, sharing information and knowledge about your teaching specialty, and allows you to follow and communicate with some of the leaders in education.
Let’s examine the benefits of these four sites more closely.
LinkedIn for an Educator's Career Advancement or Job Search
The largest companies in the world all use LinkedIn to find and recruit top talent. So how can you not get on LinkedIn to help you find a job? Companies use LinkedIn to find passive job candidates and also because it helps them to leverage their employees’ networks. First thing to realize is you need to optimize your LinkedIn profile to ensure people can find you.
With almost all companies having representation on LinkedIn, job seekers can more easily follow and connect with their target companies and job opportunities. If companies or schools don’t directly seek you out over LinkedIn based on your profile, there are lots of opportunities to connect with old contacts, fellow teachers, and new contacts within the industry in order to leverage more opportunities for yourself.
There is also the more traditional route to job searching on LinkedIn. The job section of LinkedIn can be searched by keyword, company name, location, or job title. Ultimately, LinkedIn will work best for you if you truly take advantage of it by thoroughly completing your LinkedIn profile and growing your network.
Twitter a Social Networking Channel for a Job Hunt and Professional Development
Used in conjunction with LinkedIn and other social networking channels, Twitter can help you make job connections, find job listings, and build a personal brand that will help you build your career and shorten your job search. Dedicate your Twitter account to your job searching activities so that everything to do with your account remains professional. Getting a solid grasp on how to use Twitter for your teaching job search prior to using this social media channel will be extremely beneficial. You don’t want to make too many mistakes.
Make sure your bio highlights your education career and what you are seeking, as well as providing a link to your online resume. Use Twitter to follow industry experts like school districts, education experts, and fellow educators. Lastly, when it comes to deciding what to tweet, use the platform as an opportunity to establish yourself as an expert in your field — teaching.
Google+ Has Many Education Specific Groups to Join to Learn and Network
Google+ is Google’s social networking site which can also be used for both career networking and job searching. When creating a profile, you can include a professional photo, your work history, and your education information. It’s important that you fill out your profile as completely as possible. Make sure that you also provide links to your other social media accounts so schools can view your other professional networking accounts. Google+ is great for professional networking because it’s very easy to connect with professional contacts. You can find and add contacts within education which can help you to stay up-to-date with education news, events, and job opportunities, as well as network with others in education.
Facebook Does Work to Advance Careers
Facebook is often viewed as a social networking site used more for personal use than professional use. However, it has applications that can help you grow your professional brand and help you network with other professionals in your field, thereby opening you up to more potential job opportunities in education.
The main difference between Facebook, and say LinkedIn, is that LinkedIn is a much more traditionally professional platform, whereas Facebook can be used for many different purposes, some of these being much less professional in nature.
If you are going to start using Facebook for job searching, you need to be very careful about what information you share, including pictures, apps, comments, etc.
Create a simple profile, carefully choose your friends, post content relevant to your education career, and use Facebook email to develop relationships with your friends. The great thing about Facebook, though, is that it displays a much more complete picture of who you are as a person — your personal brand. Make sure you review and adjust your privacy settings if necessary to meet your needs.
It is undeniable that social media networking sites are changing the face of modern job searching and professional networking.
If you’d like help with leveraging the vast benefits of these social media sites, I’d be happy to help!
Most of us are on at least a few different social media sites, either for professional or personal reasons. However, trying to delve into the different social networking sites to help your job search and education career can be a very daunting and time consuming task.
That is where I can help.
My expertise will assist you by developing strong online profiles for each of the four major social networking sites: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+. Additionally, I offer coaching and consulting services on social media networking to help you leverage the benefits of these different platforms to enhance your teaching or administration career.
More specifically, I offer:
LinkedIn: Write a powerful, searchable LinkedIn profile, so your brand and unique attributes stand out. Develop and use keywords to optimize your LinkedIn profile to help you get noticed by employers, educational recruiters, and connect with other professionals. You will learn how to grow your network, connect with other professionals, and how to use LinkedIn day-to-day to network your way to new positions. There is a lot more about LinkedIn than this, but more on that later.
Google+: Help you create a top-notch online identity by utilizing Google’s platforms, including Hangouts and Circles. You will also learn how to use this platform to help build your brand and connect to others in education.
Twitter: Develop a professional Twitter bio that succinctly displays your brand and what you are seeking. You will learn who to follow, and what to tweet and retweet to help you gain a following and gain the attention of employers. Learn about the importance and relevance of hashtags and Twitter chats.
Facebook: Develop a professional looking profile that grows your professional brand and builds your online presence. Learn how to change your Facebook profile from purely personal to a network of professional allies. Understand which Facebook groups you can follow and participate in.
With job searches more and more being conducted through online social channels, you can’t afford to miss out on this important facet of your job search and professional branding. It can take a lot of time and effort to get started, however, and that’s why I provide you with the tools and know-how to succeed in online networking.
I will help you to attract attention and followers, improve your social media rankings, and increase your job offers.
For 16+ years, I’ve successfully built my own business by leveraging the different aspects of social media and search engine optimization SEO.
Reach out to us for professional help writing your LinkedIn profile or any other job search documents.
I know what works and what doesn’t and will share the ins and outs with you during a coaching session.
Learn more about Candace, an academic career coach and resume writer with 16+ years of expertise helping educators and others to move their career forward. Review our resume and curriculum vitae CV services and packages.