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MAKING SOCIAL MEDIA WORK FOR YOU
Increasingly, recruiters and employers are using social media such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter as an essential way to source candidates. Being visible to these groups requires some effort, whether you are part of the 18% of the workforce that is actively pursuing employment or part of the 82% of the 'passive' candidate pool awaiting that elusive 'tap on the shoulder'.
To help you get noticed, we've posted LinkedIn's Top 10 Tips for building a strong profile.
- Don't cut and paste your resume
- Borrow from the best marketers
- Write a personal tagline
- Put your elevator pitch to work
- Point out your skills
- Explain your experience
- Distinguish yourself from the crowd
- Ask and answer questions
- Improve your Google PageRank
- Build your connections
LinkedIn hooks you into a network, not just a human resources department. You wouldn't hand out your resume before introducing yourself, so don't do it here. Instead, describe your experience and abilities as you would to someone you just met. And write for the screen, in short blocks of copy with visual or textual signposts. Add a photo so that people can recognise you.
Light up your profile with your voice. Use specific adjectives, colourful verbs, active construction ("managed project team", not "responsible for project team management"). Act naturally: don't write in the third person unless that formality suits your brand. Picture yourself at a conference or client meeting. How do you introduce yourself? That's your authentic voice, so use it.
That line of text under your name? It's the first thing people see in your profile. It follows your name in search hit lists. It's your brand. (Note: your e-mail address is not a brand!) Your company's brand might be so strong that it (and your title) are sufficient. Or you might need to distil your professional personality into a more eye-catching phrase, something that at a glance describes who you are.
Go back to your conference introduction. That 30-second description, the essence of who you are and what you do, is a personal elevator pitch. Use it in the Summary section to engage readers. You've got 5-10 seconds to capture their attention. The more meaningful your summary is, the more time you'll get from readers.
Think of the Specialties field as your personal search engine optimizer, a way to refine the ways people find and remember you. This searchable section is where that list of industry buzzwords from your resume belongs. Also: particular abilities and interests, the personal values you bring to your professional performance, even a note of humour or passion.
Help the reader grasp the key points: briefly say what the company does and what you did or do for them. Picture yourself at that conference, again. After you've introduced yourself, how do you describe what you do, what your company does? Use those clear, succinct phrases here-and break them into visually digestible chunks.
Use the Additional Information section to round out your profile with a few key interests. Add websites that showcase your abilities or passions. Then edit the default "My Website" label to encourage click-throughs (you get Google page rankings for those, raising your visibility). Maybe you belong to a trade association or an interest group; help other members find you by naming those groups. If you're an award winner, recognised by peers, customers, or employers, add prestige without bragging by listing them here.
Thoughtful questions and useful answers build your credibility. The best ones give people a reason to look at your profile. Make a point of answering questions in your field, to establish your expertise, raise your visibility, and most importantly, build social capital with people in your network-you may need answers to a question of your own down the road.
Pat your own back and others. Get recommendations from colleagues, clients, and employers who can speak credibly about your abilities or performance. (Think quality, not quantity.) Ask them to focus on a specific skill or personality trait that drives their opinion of you. Make meaningful comments when you recommend others. And mix it up - variety makes your recommendations feel authentic.
Connections are one of the most important aspects of your brand: the company you keep reflects the quality of your brand. What happens when you scan a profile and see that you know someone in common? That profile's stock with you soars. The value of that commonality works both ways. So identify connections that will add to your credibility and pursue those.
*Data provided by LinkedIn 2010