HOW TO USE SOCIAL MEDIA
TO SEARCH FOR JOBS

Find your new job by benefiting from social media tools

Numerous people have already benefited greatly from social media. Not only do they serve as a place where people can network and exchange photos – they are also ideally suited for job searching and career advancement. Whether you're actively looking for a new challenge or just starting to think about a career change, here you can find career tips on how to integrate LinkedIn, XING, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube into your job search.

Employers are increasingly utilising social media to engage and target candidates with the skill sets they are looking for – it is emerging as a vital tool for employers recruiting talent. It is therefore essential that candidates looking for new roles learn to use social media effectively in order to get noticed by personnel consultants, recruiters and employers. What’s important is that you present yourself from your best side to the right people in the right places.

Tidy up your online presence

It may sound obvious, but first things first, take some time to tidy up your online presence on the major social networks. After all, your online reputation is now just as important as your offline one, so you need to put your best self out there. Use these tips to help you get on the right track.

1. LinkedIn

2. XING

3. Twitter

4. Facebook

5. YouTube

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  2. LinkedIn

    Employers, personnel consultants and recruiters use LinkedIn as a professional network to search for young talent. To get the most out of your job search, use all of the capabilities LinkedIn has to offer:

    Get found: Your LinkedIn profile should be as current as possible and should showcase your skills and experience in an engaging way.

    • Upload a professional profile picture. This significantly increases the probability that your profile will be viewed.
    • Add relevant keywords to your short profile to help you get found more quickly.
    • List your entire experience. This makes it more likely that a personnel manager will look at your profile.
    • Include additional references.

    Get searching: LinkedIn has a sophisticated job search functionality allowing you to easily search for opportunities, save them and apply directly either using your LinkedIn profile or on the company’s website.

    Become a follower: There are over three million company pages on LinkedIn. Follow companies of interest to stay up-to-date with live opportunities and to get a feel for their company culture. Hays is the number one most followed staffing and recruiting company on LinkedIn and the 22nd most followed company globally.

    Share contents: Share relevant articles with your connections and in relevant LinkedIn groups to help build your professional profile and get yourself noticed. By doing this, you will boost your chances of being contacted by a recruiter or employer.

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  4. XING

    XING, the German equivalent of LinkedIn, is very well-known in the German-speaking region. As with LinkedIn, employers, personnel consultants and recruiters use this professional network to find suitable candidates.

    Get found: You should keep your XING profile up to date and provide your profile visitors with an overview of your skills and experience. It is crucial that you create a meaningful profile, since the quality of the information stated on it is the decisive factor for whether or not recruiters will come across your profile when searching for candidates. Fully completed profiles are always displayed as preferred search results. Besides, you should adjust your settings so your profile is publicly visible. This way, your profile will not only be found by XING members, but will also appear in Google search results.

    • Edit your business card on your XING profile page so the most important information is visible at a glance. Regularly update information about your employer, job title, work location as well as your contact details here.
    • Upload an appropriate profile picture.
    • Describe in detail what you have to offer and what you are looking for. Don’t use empty phrases, but instead include terms a recruiter would use to search for you.
    • Describe your professional career, including all of your previous positions and fields of activity. Use the free text field in the professional experience section to point out your key activities and achievements.
    • Create a portfolio. This is an extra page within your profile where you can present yourself using both text and images. You can also include detailed additional information here.

    Get searching: XING has an integrated job board containing a large number of job offers and an easy-to-use search function. However, your search options are not limited to jobs: For example, you can also search for recruiters to expand your network. If you see that a recruiter has visited your profile, why not take the initiative and get in touch? This may be a good opportunity for you.

    Get involved in groups and share contents: Join expert groups and participate in discussions. On the one hand, this increases your chances to appear in search results. On the other hand, this gives you the opportunity to network with others and get noticed. The same applies if you share contents.

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  6. Twitter

    This microblogging service is used by both companies and job seekers. Use these pointers to help you master it as a job searching tool:

    Revise your bio: In order to ensure you are found on social media, you should consider using a recruiter-friendly and keyword-rich bio (you have 160 characters to play with).

    Post tweets: Once your Twitter bio is updated and keyword-rich, start tweeting about your area of expertise and trending topics using appropriate hashtags to ensure you get noticed by recruiters and potential employers.

    Get searching: Use the Twitter search functionality to look for terms which are relevant to the type of role you are looking for, for example ‘Social media job Frankfurt. Recruiters also often use hashtags in their tweets to increase their reach, so try using these in your searches, for instance #jobfrankfurt.

    Become a follower: Many Twitter accounts are set up to promote jobs and tweet career advice, either by recruiters or job boards. Go to the search bar and type in “jobs,” then click “People” on the left-hand side. You’ll soon see all the Twitter accounts with “jobs” in the username and can hit ‘Follow’. This will ensure you have more visibility of the roles available.

    Organise your account: If you follow a high number of Twitter accounts and have a clogged-up Twitter feed, use Twitter’s ‘lists’ function. This allows you to organise companies and people into specific categories, e.g. ‘ideal employers’. You can share lists or keep them private.

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  8. Facebook

    Facebook is likely to be your largest and most engaged network, so make sure you use it wisely in your job search:

    Give interesting employers and recruiters a “Like”: Many companies and recruiting consultancies will have their own Facebook fan pages. By “liking” them, you will receive daily updates on your newsfeed.

    Does your Facebook profile convey the right image? In order to put you in the best possible light, ensure your work and education information is current. You can also add your professional skills to your profile (you can find this under your profile’s ‘About’ section, under the ‘Work and Education’ section). Tagging a profile with a list of professional skills instantly makes your profile easier to discover for employers looking for candidates with particular skills.

    Adjust your privacy settings: Take the time to update your privacy settings so that employers and recruiters do not find content you don’t want to share.

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  10. YouTube

    Video is a more personal job searching tool.

    Market yourself via video: Many industry-leading professionals regularly post advice-based videos as a way of showcasing their talents to a wider audience. If you decide to go down this route, do your research – ensure your videos are sufficiently tagged for SEO and that you are always creating valuable content. Otherwise, there is a risk you could do more harm to your career than good. However, not everyone is born to inform or entertain, so be objective about whether or not video is the best format on which to showcase your talents!

    Search for employers: Many companies and recruiters now have their own dedicated YouTube career channels, where they often provide information about vacancies and insights into their company culture. Use the YouTube search functionality to find what you are looking for.

Stay consistent

It’s important to stay consistent with all your job searching efforts. In exaggerated terms: You should not state on your XING profile that you are business fluent in English, while your English posts on LinkedIn suggest the opposite. So make sure that all information given on one profile is confirmed by your other profile’s contents.

Job search with social media: Advantages and disadvantages

The basic idea behind social networks is to connect people. Today, this works not only privately, but also in many professional fields.  Networks like LinkedIn and XING show that online networking can be crowned with success, as long as you use it well. 

On the one hand, social media helps recruiters to find the right employee, and on the other hand, it helps applicants to present themselves particularly well. If used correctly, you can present yourself individually on the various portals, as long as the messages convey the same message. While Facebook, Instagram or Twitter are still primarily used privately, LinkedIn and Xing allow you to discuss professional topics.

However, not everything about the online world is advantageous. One disadvantage that the internet brings is that it does not forget. So you should always think carefully about what you post or comment on. Likewise, you should always make sure that your profiles are up-to-date and well-maintained. Often old, unused profiles can still be found on the internet. 

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What is a video interview, and what are the special types of video interview?

A video interview is a type of job interview in which the applicant talks to a recruiter via video chat. The conversation can take place either in real time or after a time delay. The synonyms for a video interview include online job interview, online interview, digital job interview, online job talk, digital interview and virtual job interview.
In a time-delayed video interview, the applicants are provided with a list of questions beforehand and have a certain amount of time to record and transmit their answers.
Another alternative is the so-called video pitch. This is a short presentation which the applicant records and sends to the company. It is a question of presenting yourself concisely and convincingly within a short time, and highlighting your own skills and experience. The video pitch is frequently used as a supplement to the CV and cover letter method, and can help applicants to be shortlisted more quickly.