It's no secret that that social media plays a huge role in the modern job market - for firms and job seekers alike. Research has shown that around 85% of recruiters check the social profiles of all potential candidates, while 70% of recruiters have, at some point, disqualified a candidate based on something they found on their social profiles.
Whether you're looking for a new job or seeking a promotion, these little-known hacks and secrets will help you crush the competition.
1. Reverse Engineer Your LinkedIn Profile
If you're looking for a job or a promotion, LinkedIn will be the most important place to start.
Your philosophy needs to be 100% honest at all times when constructing your profile, while at the same time, you need to give yourself every advantage you can.
Start by finding several job postings on LinkedIn (or elsewhere) that are ideal jobs that suit what you're after. This will help you understand what's needed to succeed in these roles, as well as tell you how to reverse engineer it for success. Find which keywords and skills are required in these roles and highlight them in your 'Summary', 'Job Experience' and build them into your 'Featured Skills & Endorsements' sections.
2. Facebook Pages and Ads
Firstly, if you're serious about a new job, consider creating a Facebook Page (not a Profile but a Page) for your search effort. This may prove to be your biggest weapon to get in front of the right people.
Call your Page 'Hire [Insert Your Name Here]' and use it as a hub for your modern job search campaigns. Once you have a Page, you can run ads to help get your name in front of the right people.
Start by finding 50-100 companies you want to work for, then use Facebook's ad options to run an ad specifically targeting employees of those companies that match certain titles and/or departments (ie. CEO, Founder, Vice President, Recruiter, Manager, Marketing, etc). Boosting a cool video ad on why they should hire you or an amazing visual image pushing them to your LinkedIn profile will secure you several calls or interviews very quickly. If you use this strategy in addition with applying for open jobs at these companies, this can increase your success rate astronomically.
3. Research Them, Too
By using the above techniques, you're going to come across the names of the people involved in hiring/recruiting/posting ads for the job you're applying for, or those that will be involved once they decide to reach out to you to set up a screening call. Use this insight to your advantage.
Search their online profiles and see if you have any contacts in common, share any hobbies, worked at similar companies, lived in the same cities, or anything that you can use to give yourself an edge - using these nuggets in your communications or your interviews - in a natural, non-creepy way - can help create a closer bond between you and the people hiring and give you a boost over the competition.
Happy Hunting.