Using Social Media To Enhance Employability

Social Media
With Employability

Lisa
Harris

Ellie
Stringer

Merel
van Dijke

Senior Lecturer
in Marketing

Philosophy BA
Digichamp

KISM MA
Digichamp

@LisaHarris

@MissEllieish

@MerelACE

Who we are

What does Google like?
★ Social media interaction with digital content is the *biggest
influence* on its search visibility:
1. Facebook shares
2. Facebook comments
3. Facebook likes
4. Tweets
http://www.socialmediastrategist.co.uk/blog/1-news/175-socialmedia-seo
★ Google “Hummingbird” for the latest update…a “new engine” for
Google

Content, content, content
★ People sharing/liking your content has an SEO benefit
★ Good content is a top reason why people follow brands on social
media
★ Build social capital by giving away good stuff – endorsements and
sales will follow
★ Content can educate, inform, entertain or inspire…resulting in
brand advocates
★ Facebook’s “Edgerank” score increases with engagement,
decreases with negativity. This influences how many people get to
view a brand’s post in their newsfeed

Did you know…?
★

Digital marketing principles can also be applied to ourselves to
attract potential employers
For example, creative videos produced by candidates now play
an important role in the job application process

★

As do blogging, tweeting and participating in relevant online
communities such as LinkedIn

★

30 million students and recent graduates are now on LinkedIn, its
fastest-growing demographic.

Why should you care?
A standard CV is no longer sufficient to stand out
from the crowd in a global and rapidly evolving job
market.
“We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist,
using technologies that haven’t been invented, in order to solve
problems we don’t even know are problems yet.”
- Karl Fisch, “Did You Know”

So what are employers doing?
★

According to a recent study by Jobvite
○

92% of recruiters use social media in the hiring process
80% had been positively influenced by a candidate’s professional social network

○

78% had been negatively influenced towards a candidate’s inappropriate use of

○

profile

social media

★ The best candidates might not be actively looking for a new job (up to 90% of the
workforce)
★ Social media can identify the best talent , encourage conversation and build
relationships with them
★ Enables recruiters to promote their company as “a great place to work”

So what should job seekers do?
★ Recognise that building an online personal brand is now a critical
aspect of career development
★ It boosts our reputation and gives us new skills in communication,
creativity and reflective thinking.
★ The information we display on social networks should actively
encourage rather than discourage potential employers
★

Don’t “opt out” - finding NOTHING about a person on a Google
search creates a negative impression too

Dangers of Digital Footprint
Would you want prospective employers to see your facebook
photos?
What first impressions would they get?

If you don't want something causing you embarrassment in the future, then it's a
very good idea to be careful about how you represent yourself on social media.

“Reaction to my
tweet was
immediate,
overwhelming and
provides a good
lesson on why 140
characters should
not be used to
comment on
controversial or
sensitive issues...”
Source: BBC News 8/7/10

“...investigated after
he "accidentally"
posted an image to
his personal
Facebook page which
had been intended
for his partner's
mobile phone.”

Source: BBC News 13/12/12

“My direct boss and the
human-resources
representative pulled me
into one of three relatively
tiny conference rooms and
informed me that the
company no longer had
any use for me. Essentially,
they explained, they didn’t
like what I had expressed
on my Web site.”
Source: The New York Times: 23/2/11

“His comment [to a
female tweeter]
(“Nice pic. Phwoaaarr!
MOL”) was rapidly retweeted, with
responses such as
“@Ryanair how is it
appropriate for an
airline CEO to be a
sexist pig?” ”
Source: The Independent 22/10/13

Not all publicity is bad, however...

BUT it’s
not all
bad
news!
Source: Reppler.com

Positive/Tips

★ Facebook: People I know!
★ LinkedIn: People I professionally know!
★ Twitter: People I don’t know!

Announce your job hunt to the world
Facebook: Tell and tag your friends/family!
LinkedIn: Tell (previous) colleagues:
★ Targeted personal messages
★ Place status updates
★ Change your headline
★ Announce in groups
Twitter: Tell your friends/family, but also people you WANT to know!
★ @Mention followers
★ # Mention the jobhunt/type of job you want

Find the job openings first
LinkedIn: Made for the professional market and very easy tools to find
the job you want.

Twitter Many companies put their job openings on Twitter. Following
companies that you’d want to work for therefore helps you to be the
first to respond to a job you’ll like!

Get to know the company
LinkedIn:
★ Company Profile
★ Find profiles of company’s employees
★ Find the names of recruiters

Twitter
★ What are the employees doing? (Zappos)
★ What does the company care about?

Make yourself discoverable
Twitter: Recruiters are looking for you.
★ Tweet interesting stuff!
★ Tweet thoughtfully.
★ #keywords are key!
LinkedIn:
★ Use keywords (specialties) in your profile

Demonstrate your interest/expertise
Twitter:
★ Tweet interesting stuff
★ Actually USE Twitter.

LinkedIn:
★ Join and post in groups that are interesting and relevant to you,

Network before you need it
LinkedIn:
★ Build up a network to fall back to if you lose your job.
★ Join groups - Be engaged - Be proactive
Twitter:
★ Engage!
★ Relevant tweets can lead to @reply or a DM (direct message)
from hiring managers.

Justin Bieber was
discovered on Youtube
by a talent manager at
age 14.

Nicolette
Weinbaum
took out a
$200
linkedin ad
to market
herself.

Chris Putnam
created a
Facebook virus
as a prank which
made Facebook
pages look like
Myspace pages.

Bilal Jaffrey
using #socialCV
hashtag pointed
the recruiter at
an article he
wrote on social
strategy.

Stacy Lambe
turned a picture of
Hillary Clinton into
a viral meme on
tumblr.

So what are your next steps?

MANAGE YOUR
PRIVACY
SETTINGS!

Reppler
★ Go to http://reppler.com and check your own social media profiles.
The tool highlights any inappropriate content, and shows you what
aspects of your information are publicly available. Then you can
connect directly to Facebook to edit your privacy settings and
adjust the visibility of your content as necessary.

Figure out who to follow
1. Join forums, sites and groups where you can show your
knowledge in your area of expertise

2. Don’t be afraid of a bit of stalking:
tools like http://www.twellow.com allow you to search for twitter
accounts associated with a company, area of expertise

Engage with them
3. Get stuck into asking questions…
spark off interactions between a whole network of engaged
people that you can then branch out and connect with.

4. Cultivate your relationships with those who reach out/ who you
admire, and be personable:

people hire/recommend people, not robots

Keep up-to-date
5. Follow recruitment accounts who post job opportunities often:
@GuardianJobs
6. Facebook apps for employability:
Social Jobs Partnership

Go from online to offline
4. Look for meet-ups and events related to your area:
http://www.uk.meetup.com
http://www.eventbrite.com

5. Follow/get peoples’ social handles straight away (after meeting or
emailing) so they are more likely to remember you.

Find out more:

blog.soton.ac.uk/digichamps

Questions?

Using Social Media To Enhance Employability

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