We live in a world where social media often takes center stage in our daily lives, so it would only make sense that companies would make use of it when looking for new employees.
There are countless job opportunities popping up all over your social media feeds — you just have to know where to look for them. According to online jobs site Elance, millennials are getting very good at job searching via their social media outlets. More than 40 percent are currently utilizing those streams to seek out new employment and creating digital profiles to showcase their work, rather than the traditional resume.
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One reason for this shift towards social media job hunting is an increased number of millennials are choosing to go the freelance route rather than the traditional, salaried position. As such, they’re constantly networking and looking for new clients and short-term, contract jobs that allow them more flexibility and, often, the freedom to work from anywhere. A whopping 54 percent of this age demographic site telecommuting as one of the more important aspects of the career of their dreams.
But how are these millennials going about landing these coveted jobs via Facebook and Twitter, and the like? Is it as simple as searching the links in #job? Or updating your Facebook status to “I need a job, help me friends, PLEASE?!” Not quite, but it’s definitely easier than submitting endless job applications to companies who don’t know you from Adam. Here are a few success stories to give you an idea of how it works.
It’s all about being observant
Kyle, who works in marketing in Sacramento, got his job simply by keeping his finger on the pulse of his industry’s Facebook feed. He told SheKnows, “My current boss left our national PR firm to work for a Bay Area nonprofit. After she left I saw her post a stupid stock photo of a highway sign reading ‘Dream Job ?’ so I messaged her asking for details. About two weeks later I began working under her.” Sometimes, you just have to take the initiative, and ask when you see an opening.
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Utilizing the Twitter-sphere
Zoe, a content editor and PR manager from South Africa, got her job by tweeting to the right person. Since she’s a freelance writer, she often follows people who work for various publications to stay up to date on new stories and trends. One day, she saw the perfect job posting for her. “So a few years back, I saw a tweet from the guy who owned Lazygamer.net saying they were looking for a part-time writer. I tweeted back saying that I was keen and he replied with his email address, telling me to send a writing sample. I sent two samples and was brought on board, joining the virtual office (Skype group). It was only a couple months later that I actually started to meet everyone in person.”
Sometimes the public Facebook posting works
You may not be a huge fan of openly asking everyone you know for a job, but in certain instances, it can totally work. Case in point: Caroline from New Orleans, who got her personal assistant position by doing just that. “I posted that I was looking for a job, and a friend asked me to be her assistant! Seems that putting what you’re looking for on social media is a way of giving it to the universe and seeing what you get back. At least, that’s how I’ve seen it!”
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Of course, there are countless other ways to find a job using social media, but these are ones that actually produced results. LinkedIn is a great tool as well, especially if you utilize their networking groups, and post regularly on trending topics. If you’ve got a body of work, get that stuff out there by posting it daily on your various social media feeds. If your work is more visual, try to build up your presence by posting it on Instagram and Pinterest. And finally, as was apparent above, it’s all about reaching out to the right people, and keeping your finger on the pulse of your chosen field. If you keep pursuing it actively via any or all of these avenues, something is bound to come your way.
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