Using Social Media Tools By: April Rosenblatt

Career Development Advisor II

Why do we need to use Social Media?

Using Social Media to Look for Jobs

Facebook – BranchOut• How to accelerate your career by using BranchOut

• In today's economy there are two competitive advantages that you must have. The first is a positive online presence, and the second is a “social” layer of your career. By social we mean real relationships, your family and friends on Facebook.

• BranchOut provides both in a way that is 100% professional.

http://www.facebook.com/Branchout

• Automatically imports all of your Facebook contacts and will send a request to connect via BranchOut to each of them for you in seconds

• You can upload your resume and it imports the information into your BranchOut Profile for you

• Allows you to see where you Facebook friends work so that you can use them to network and gain information about their companies

• Use the search bar to find the people, jobs and companies that can help you achieve your career goals.

Why Should You Use It ?

• Twitter is a social network where you post short bursts of thoughts and information

• It has become the single most talked about Web site since Facebook and grew 1,382% in the past year..

• Twitter revolutionized social media by making it simple for the world to communicate in real time.

• Think of it as a cross between text messaging, instant messaging and blogging

Twitter Nation

http://twitter.com/

1. Consider using a simple name close to your own.

2. Upload a professional photo.

3. Fill in your bio including your education, job title, industry etc.

How do I Create a Profile?

• Search by name on Twitter (look for Companies you want to work for)• Find existing users in your e-mail address book (connect with friends & co-workers)• Look for common interests on WeFollow.com• Just look at who your friends are following

Once you’re up and running, it should look like this: (assuming you’re Barrack Obama)

How do I Find People and Companies to Follow?

Twitter- Tweet Your Way to a Job?• About 300 to 500 jobs are posted on Twitter per minute,

the task of filtering information becomes difficult — that’s why we have hashtags.(#)

• Hashtags: Words beginning with a # to help you track specific conversations.

• They can help you focus on the tweets you want to see

• Hashtags such as #jobs, #jobadvice, #jobhunt and #jobsearch offer both job openings and general job search advice

Words to tweet by: You are what you tweet

• Keep in mind that everything you tweet lends to — or takes away from — your online persona.

• Make sure your Twitter stream represents you as a professional individual that has important and unique thoughts to contribute. Your goal should be to become an industry expert — or at least tweet like one.

• Getting involved with industry chats is a way to show your interest in a particular field and represent yourself as a knowledgeable person. Check out this Twitter chat schedule to get a head start.

• Also, if your search isn’t going so well, get involved in job-related chats, such as #jobhuntchat, #careerchat, #internchat and #hirefriday for friendly advice.

• Besides scouring job search hashtags, job seekers can also follow Twitter accounts dedicated to posting job openings and follow Twitter streams of companies they might want to work for.

• Example of a Twitter account that posts open jobs: Jobing.com - http://twitter.com/#!/jobingflorida

• Don’t be afraid to research the companies that you want to work for to find out who currently works there and who is involved with recruiting.

• While you’re searching for a job, recruiters are searching the web looking for job candidates.

• Take student Connie Zheng as an example — she’s already been hired for two jobs through Twitter. “I got my PR internship at Text 100 using Twitter, as well as my entry-level position at Burson-Marsteller using Twitter,” she explained. She advises job seekers, “Use Twitter as a research tool to identify who the appropriate HR person or recruiter is at the desired company.”

Businesses on Twitter

StarbucksSouthwestDellZapposLittle DebbieHertzFordGMHonda

ComcastH&R BlockHome DepotWhole FoodsDunkin DonutsKodakRed CrossRubbermaidNationwide

• Applications that make using Twitter easier, more productive, etc.

• TwitterFon• A great way to use Twitter from your

iPhone.

How Can I Keep My Online Persona Clean?

• Socioclean was founded to keep social reputation clean in this growing world of social networking.

• Social networks introduce privacy risks and personal information leakage, which is becoming a bigger problem everyday.

• Most users are not aware of the data in their social profiles and how it might affect them negatively.

• Allows you to scan your online profile for any inappropriate content that might hurt your online social reputation.

• Clean your online profile for various social networks for free.

http://www.socioclean.com/

Set up a Google Alert for yourself.. So you know as soon as information is posted about you on the internet.

http://www.google.com/alerts

You are invited to download my PowerPoint presentation. It has hyperlinks to all the resources I

have discussed!

A link to the presentation has been put on the Career Center Facebook Page.