Best Practices forUsing Social Media TOADVANCE YOUR CAREER

Social media can put your career in the fast lane by connecting you with helpful people and giving you opportunities to build your brand.

Use best practices for the right platform to grow your network and take your career to the next level.

The Benefits of Using Social media

How to build your social network• Begin by building your network with people you know

• Dig into your past: school, previous employers, community connections

• In your contact request, provide details to remind them how you know each other

• Let your friends and professional contacts know you’re looking through status updates and messages

• Share professional news and successes

• Like pages and interact with people and companies in your field

• Get relevant information from personal and professional contacts

USE FACEBOOK TO:

Best practices for Facebook:• Make sure personal information is not visible outside your network

• Log out of Facebook and search for yourself to see what hiring managers may see

• Use Facebook lists to keep professional contacts from seeing inappropriate information

• Research target companies and find contacts through people in your network

• Stay in touch with people who can recommend you

• Build your brand by sharing professional interests & accomplishments

• Connect with hiring managers from companies who you’d like to work for

USE LINKEDIN TO:

Best practices for LinkedIn:• Make sure your profile is complete

• Join groups and participate in discussions

• Share presentations, publications, awards and accolades

• Link to your profile on your resume

• Include a short mission statement, summarizing your experience and achievements

• Connect with people in your areas of interest

• Keep up with industry news and events

• Connect with thought leaders

• Grow your network beyond people

you know personally

USE TWITTER TO:

Best practices for TWITTER:• Who to follow: - People you would like to work with - Company recruitment managers - Companies you aspire to work for - Thought leaders in your field

• Use Twitter lists to organize contacts into categories and post targeted content

• Refrain from using profanities or tweeting offensive content — recruiters will be able to see this!