Is Personal Social Media Experience A Negative For Job Seekers?
(Note: This is a personal post.)
As you might know, I am looking for my next career opportunity.
What you may not know is that I have been looking for over 3.5 months with barely a nibble from potential employers. And I am not alone; there are a lot of exceptional marketing and PR professionals who have been unemployed for years.
Recently, a recruiter helped me to understand today’s job market with this advice:
“Remove all of your personal speaking, writing, blogging, and social media (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, SlideShare links, etc.) items from your resume. Companies don’t give a crap about that, they only care what you will do for them. Those items are red flags letting them know that you’ll request to be out of the office speaking or on Twitter all day and that you will not be helping to solve their day-to-day problems (i.e. tactical work).
There it is. A dose of reality.
While most of us may not agree with this advice, I have a feeling this recruiter knows exactly what is going on inside companies and agencies. Surely, we can agree that companies and agencies are years behind the level of conversations that we have had, right?
I am now wondering if I have blogged, spoken, written and tweeted myself out of any potential for being hired.
I will definitely be A/B testing this advice with my resume to see which one opens up more doors. It should prove to be interesting.
What’s Reality?
I am curious. If you are a job seeker, what has been your experience? If you are an HR professional or a hiring manager seeking marketing and PR professionals, what are you looking for?
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Tags: 35 Responses to “Is Personal Social Media Experience A Negative For Job Seekers?”
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Beth,
Not meaning to keep showing up, but I happened upon this post via follow-up to an earlier post of yours. I can see where the recruiter is coming from, but do not agree.
I can speak to this from both sides, stating plainly that if I did not have the personal experiences, participation and knowledge, I would not be in my current role (a senior Marketing role). Now, as a hiring manager in the area of Marketing, PR and Product Marketing, I need people who understand the Social Web. The only way to really understand it, is to have conversations and participate. If you (the general ‘you’) do not live it, then it is very hard to understand it.
There may be a correlation to company size, industry and other characteristics as well.
Mitch
Beth
I do not believe the “not caring” attitude is widespread, but it could depend on the type of company. The other question you might want to ask is, do you want to work for a company that does not care or want to know about your social media presence?
Rob Diana recently posted..What Social Media Marketing Metrics Should You Pay Attention To
Beth,
I’m actually surprised by this, but I imagine it would depend on the level of social media savvy of the hiring manager. As someone who hires for my own company, I embrace a potential employees presence online as it shows he or she has experience using the tools and understands how they can elevate a person or business. I look more at the content they are posting – hoping it’s constructive, positive and non-offensive. That said, I wouldn’t want to hire someone who always had to be the loudest voice in the online room, or someone who may spend (what I perceive) to be much time socializing online when they should be working. It really comes down to how my clients would perceive that person, and how much value their expertise brings to our current efforts. Interesting.
Rachel Kay
@rachelakay
Hi Beth,
Wow, that’s a scary perspective. And I think Rob is probably right in the long run that companies and agencies with this POV aren’t your ideal places to work. (Of course, the flip side is that they are jobs.)
I’ve been seeing the opposite lately: jobs openings that specify social media expertise — and colleagues who are looking but don’t have any of it.
It will be interesting to see whether whitewashing your considerable social media credentials opens new doors. I also wonder if this recruiter doesn’t understand the difference between personal use of these tools and professional use (because I’d argue that business blogging and speaking aren’t “personal” uses). Or whether he’s just threatened by this expertise.
Daria Steigman recently posted..The Difference Between Failing and Failure
Here’s the question though: do you want to work for a company that doesn’t allow/understand the importance of professional development opportunities such as speaking, etc.?
I find that somewhat surprising as well. For my job as a marketing manager, one of the biggest reasons why I was hired was because of my social media presence – I had proven I can manage personal reputation, present myself personally yet professionally and had a blogging background to be able to translate to a business application. In my opinion, the biggest drawback to having SUCH a presence is that the corporate perception is that your daily attention is split between your personal endeavors and the day-to-day corporate work. Is it crossing the line if I personally tweet during work hours from my phone periodically? What if it’s just to participate in a Twitter chat specifically related to the field of marketing but not my company, per say? I am fiercely loyal to the company I work for, yet I am also personally invested in maintaining my social identity as well. For companies who don’t “get it,” they can just see you as goofing off on company time, which IS NOT the case at all.
If companies don’t care, then I don’t know why it matters to have the information out on the internet. You want to turn your personal brand into a strength: how does this translate to how you could create business success? Strong writing skills, effective communication, community building, “user” engagement, reputation management, etc.
I know I’m writing a massive comment here, but lastly wanted to reaffirm how talented you are. Many of us marketers see you as an authoritative resource, and any company who could afford your brainpower would be immensely lucky to have you.
Emily recently posted..Ready- Set- Act!
Hey Beth –
I’m not a recruiter, nor an expert in human resources with organizations but I’m calling BS on that quote. That to me wreaks of someone that’s caught in some time warp that doesn’t want the world to change. Listen, employees (current and potential) participate in online activities. It’s become part of the work day. If you are a company and don’t like it then craft a social media policy that prevents it. However, be prepared to not be able to attract or retain the top talent who chooses to participate online. Yeah, I tweet during the workday. Yeah, I help the firm I work for advance its social presence. Do I get my work done? Damn straight. The two aren’t related, much to the dismay of your recruiter friend here.
In the end, I hope you land something that allows you to do ALL OF THE THINGS you love…not just some of them.
@chuckhemann
Chuck Hemann recently posted..No The Hardest Word in the English Language to Say
Beth, this is an issue that weighs heavily on my mind, and I’m glad you are discussing it openly.
Not only do I have a large, obvious Social Media presence, but my music is what I’m most findable for on the web. I dread the concept of a job search in this era of SM – a recruiter staring at my mid-day blog posts, not knowing/caring that I lose sleep to write and schedule them days ahead of time ;(…
It’s a sad state of affairs when you, an expert in your field, has to worry about obfuscating that for the benefit of a potential employer. Is this just an HR viewpoint? I have to think a hiring manager looking for someone with your skill-set would view it all as a huge positive.
peter m. recently posted..Baby I Can Drive Your Car
As usual, I think there’s a middle ground here–depending on what companies (and you) are looking for. Any PR/Marketing firms out there that are not engaged in social are close to committing communications malpractice. An understanding of social should be included somewhere on the resume, right?
However, I can see the recruiter’s point–(even if he/she is bringing a personal bias to the analysis of your resume, which I strongly suspect). The bottom line is that many companies do still view social media as a time sink, so the potential is there for them to look at your proficiency in social as a negative.
I’ll be interested to see what the A/B testing results are. As always, I continue to hope for the best for you. Eye-opening for the rest of us, to be sure.
I agree with a lot of the comments on this post already. With one simple Google search, a potential employer/recruiter is going to see ALL of my social media accounts – whether they are listed on my resume or not. I think it’s more important to use those tools in a professional, respectable manner so that a prospective employer isn’t turned off by what they see.
Beth,
I’ve got to second Chuck’s call of Bullshit on this advice.
I’ve been working with staffing related companies for nearly 20 years and generated nearly all of the content on TheJobShopper.com from conversations with hiring managers and job seekers. I have never heard any hiring manager complain that they were able to discover too much professional insight about a job applicant from their blog postings, or opine that bloggers and active social media types wouldn’t fit with their organization.
However, I have spoken with hiring managers who examined a candidate’s writings and posts and been excited by their skillful level of communication, understanding of new technologies and were impressed by the level of insight and knowledge contained in their historical blog entries.
I have also worked closely with recruiters who have absolutely no idea what social media is and have no understanding of its impact or potential. Just because they’re a recruiter doesn’t mean that they’re a good recruiter or that the advice they dispense is valuable or applicable to you.
Your writings over the past few years have defined who you are and have created an indelible personal brand (despite Olivier’s assertions to the contrary). I would venture that your issue isn’t with your extensive history of online musings and advice, but with your job search strategy. I’ve helped others overcome the same issues and would volunteer to chat with you. I’ll reach out in a direct msg. If you’re interested, let me know.
Good luck.
John Heaney recently posted..Don’t Blow The Innovation Handoff
If this is true (and I hope it’s not), it could be a good thing for you. Would you actually want to work for a company that had that attitude?
Shel Holtz recently posted..The Hobson & Holtz Report – Podcast 595- April 18- 2011
Bullshit #3.
Don Lafferty recently posted..The message is what matters for young writers
I’m going to say BS as well on this.
If someone is going to hire you, surely they’re going to want you not only for the skills, experience and knowledge you bring but also for the profile you have within the industry? Isn’t your personal profile going to help them as a business?
Isn’t this why big brands hire celebrity endorsers for their products – to benefit by association from their public profile?
I can’t agree with the rec I’m afraid.
Mazher Abidi recently posted..Check out the check in
Mitch, you can show up any time! I agree that the only way to understand social media is to be social. But it’s not like I haven’t done social media for companies, I have. In fact, I have been implementing social media strategies since 2006. I think you’ve hit the nail on the head from a job hunting perspective. It is absolutely an industry, company and culture issue from what I have experienced.
Rob, agreed. There are companies who want someone with social media experience. That said, do they want someone who’s blogging, speaking, writing, etc. doesn’t necessarily benefit them? I am not so sure. That said, as a marketer who blogs, speaks, writes about marketing, PR, communications and social media, I personally can’t see how it wouldn’t help them…no matter their industry. As for working for a company like “that,” sometimes you don’t have a choice. That is reality.
Rachel, now that is a balanced viewpoint! But you are out in front of the PR pack from that perspective. I think people need to understand where I live as well. Philadelphia isn’t a marketing, PR or social media mecca.
Daria, as I said commented to Rob, unfortunately we don’t have a choice when positions are limited in our locale. I agree about the personal vs. professional use. But anyone who knows me socially knows that I rarely share anything personal. My “personal” use is industry-oriented. Go figure! What is interesting is that I don’t highlight my social media “credentials.” I did, however, highlight my level of expertise and thought leadership in traditional and digital marketing/PR in the overview area. A “no-no” apparently.
Kasey, sometimes we don’t have a choice. There will be many employers who will not support their employees having “speaking” schedules that don’t include speaking about the company who is employing them. We have to remember that not all companies are as “up to speed” like a Radian6, Zappos, Dell, etc.
Emily, I am glad that you have found a successful balance with your employer, that is great! Ironically, my personal tweets are about marketing. It’s interesting that you bring up personal branding…that’s another area I don’t think employers don’t understand and it’s one that gets employees into trouble if they aren’t careful. And thank you for the kind words, I appreciate them!
Chuck, you are fortunate to work for Ogilvy. Most companies are behind in their understanding of social media and today’s effective and efficient marketing & PR practices. That’s reality and that’s why Ogilvy is in business. Fortune 500 companies are still blocking their employees from social networks and mid-size companies look to them for direction. That is also reality. I know you don’t agree with the comment, but I think it’s an indication that more companies are not social than are. I hope I land something, too!
Peter, your personal passions shouldn’t stop you from getting a job. You’ll just need to work a bit harder to impress potential employers with your tenacity (up late nights to support your passion) and superior application skills (pre-programmed tweets).
The conversation I had didn’t include HR, only hiring managers. So the question that begs to be asked is what happens when the hiring manager is the one behind when it comes to the shift in marketing, PR, and social media?
Jen, there is always middle ground! Thanks for being a voice of reason. I’ll let you know about the A/B test.
Kristen, agreed. The question is this… Are employers really doing a Google search? And what if what they find is professional and respectable; but it’s something they do not understand as marketing management (but should)? How does that fair for the candidate?
John, there you go again…trying to create a personal brand for me.
Agreed, one recruiter’s opinion isn’t fact across the board. That said, they are a local recruiter who knows local companies and agencies very well. For me, that does give them credit. I’ll reach out via email, thanks John.
Shel, it’s true, it happened…why would I make it up? Many companies out there have this same attitude. I am not sure why people are shocked by it. If all companies are up to speed on the shift that has taken place regarding marketing, PR, and social media a lot of consultants and agencies would find themselves out of work.
Don, thank you sir.
Mazher, yes, my skills are very important to a hiring company, of course! I think my “profile” would only help a company marketing to marketers. If it is a company in a different industry, I don’t think they would benefit from a social media presence that revolves around marketing, PR, and social media thought leadership.
I agree with this advice to an extent but to be honest, I dun see many ppl actually employing their social media experience in their resumes… I can see how it’s annoying tho
Henway recently posted..Nutrisystem Tips
Interesting advice and comments. I see the recruiters point but believe the actual ‘why’ is not described which I believe would change perspective of many comments.
1) the recruiter could very well mean the reader only cares about what the content on the resume does for them. In this case your blog site provides all connecting opportunity so leave only that with invite to connect.
2) the red flag might be the independent nature of speaking and SM could be killed by having a job and when the market picks up you are gone – to independent life.
Both can be summerized easily. Your first words on resume state results oriented but you don’t describe many results. My advice would be to rewrite each bullet with the result of the job description entry with marketing measures including to the social media and speaking benefit as realized by employers.
david sandusky recently posted..Blyk Extends Partnership With UK Operator Orange- Takes On Mobile Marketing Initiatives
David, I believe I did clearly state the why. “Companies don’t give a crap…” is a pretty clear why. The crap they don’t care is a future employees’ personal speaking, blogging, writing, social media engagement, etc. Companies want to hire people who will focus 100% on providing direct results for them, which is completely understandable and expected. My speaking, blogging, writing and social media engaging is completely focused on marketing, PR, social media, etc. and has been a personal endeavor (I am not a consultant or independent). That said, I am also a marketing, PR & communications professional with over 16 years of experience. One would assume that companies would see that thought leadership and experience as a plus…but apparently, they don’t necessarily make that leap. The results that I have created for companies are listed by position I have held.
Now i’m confused. Was the quote of advice from you or a recruiter?
david sandusky recently posted..Blyk Extends Partnership With UK Operator Orange- Takes On Mobile Marketing Initiatives
Sorry, email or call if you want to see what I mean about results on the resume. Will only take a minute, just want to help improve response rates these days
David, the advice was from a recruiter who works in the local market. I was saying that her advice makes sense (for the reasons I gave above). My original resume listed my achievements with speaking, blogging, writing, social media, etc. That is what I was told to remove and replace with a statement of “what’s in it for the company.” The point being no one gives a crap about what you’ve done, personally. Thanks for the offer of help, much appreciated!
Beth;
I am with David. I went to your LinkedIn profile to see what might be the actual issue. Right now it reads like you are an author, blogger and academic. In your work experience there are only two quantifiable results that I see listed. If you re-write the others with hard results you might get more traction. Also, put your speaking stuff at the bottom somewhere instead of the top – give it its own section so they can focus on your skills and qualifications as a Marketing Director but still see your market position.
Kami Huyse recently posted..BlogHer Study Shows the Continued Slide of Twitter Influence- Facebook Makes Gains
Kami, LinkedIn sorts by most recent job, I can’t control the order they appear in. The only way to control it is to give each an end date. As for quantifiable results, what you see is what you get. One can’t provide quantifiable results if there isn’t a way to measure them via a closed-loop CRM system (from marketing to sales to a revenue number — ROI) and that is an on-going challenge that corporate marketer, consultants and agencies have. My experience is both strategic and tactical.
I never actually thought about the recruiter’s POV until I read your post… and I suppose s/he has a point. However, like many folks who’ve commented here, I don’t think I’d want to work for an organization that would frown on those “extra-curricular” activities. And that’s not because I’d want to be out of office all day, or on Twitter all day, but because I learn so much from those channels. Not to mention that the organization gets its profile heightened as well.
At your level, this shouldn’t be an issue. At your level, I’d imagine companies WANT strategic thinkers and folks who command respect from their peers. IMHO, it shouldn’t be an issue at any level, but I can see how it might work against someone if the position they are applying for doesn’t require this level of engagement & understanding of the field.
Re: the A/B testing, it will be interesting to see how that pans out. I just wonder, though (and I’m thinking out aloud here): whenever I’ve received resumes in the past, invariably I’d go online to learn more about the person, if they intrigued me. Your online profile is pretty strong, so wouldn’t they’d find out all that stuff about you anyway? I’m not knocking your idea, just imagining how I’d react.
Either way, I will continue to keep my fingers crossed for you.
Shonali Burke recently posted..In Memory of Hank
Shonali, what I am wondering is if MOST hiring companies see these “extra-curricular” activities as a negative. We have to keep in mind, this is advice given before my resume would EVEN be shared with local companies and agencies. One would assume that the recruiter knows the local market well. Has the social media fishbowl jumped the shark over and over and over in thinking that blogging, speaking, tweeting, etc. is the complete norm?? I think so and that is backed by the job descriptions I am seeing. As for the A/B testing, I don’t think anyone is going on-line to learn more about me at this stage. I can’t even get the phone to ring.
(BTW, I was also told that strategic is ‘academic’ and also not a good thing. Today companies are removing that layer and focusing on tactics. Read: Low-cost, 3-5 years of experience, managers and specialists. That is the reality we job seekers are living in!)
Hi Beth, I too find this incredibly interesting and thought-provoking. I’ve been considering how to position extra-curricular efforts which have undoubtedly brought me to the level of marketing and social media expertise I am at today. Without a personal investment in blogging, tweeting, etc. and reading every single day about the bleeding edge of the technology and platforms, the value I provide would be outdated before I turned in my first recommendation for my employer. Ultimately your goal is to get a job. An interesting job? A well-paying job? A high profile job? Only you can decide, but to some extent you have to market yourself appropriately to your target audience, right? I’ll be very interested in seeing how your testing efforts pan out…
I think the recruiter is right, but I also think the tide is increasingly shifting away from that perspective.
I’ve written a bit on this shift. I think any company that’s taking its reputation seriously is going to be hiring social media experts in personal *and* business reputation management because, really, what’s the difference?
See http://jeffreyholton.blogspot.com/2010/05/how-social-media-has-changed-world.html and also http://jeffreyholton.blogspot.com/2010/04/reasons-to-be-active-in-social-media.html
Jeff Holton recently posted..Responding to Rob Bells heresy
Cari, I am so glad that Shonali coined it “extra-curricular” because it makes it easier to distinguish the point.
You know I couldn’t agree more. These “activities” are essential to truly understanding how social media works. And thank YOU for being a voice of reason. Yes, at the end of the day, a job is required and the employer is the “customer” so to speak. An applicant MUST satisfy the wants/needs of the employer. It doesn’t matter if the applicant thinks they are out-of-touch or not.
Jeff, I do too! I think the tides are shifting…but it’s very slow. And yes, companies need to understand that their brand relies on not only their efforts as a corporation, but of their employees. I have had many a traditional PR experience where an employee has gone rogue. Was it easier to contain, yes. But it was still very public. Thanks for sharing your posts!
I don’t just think this advice applies to social media- it’s everything. My background is rich in “headline appeal” – I wrote for BusinessWeek for years, then went on to Intel where I pioneered a national education program and emerged as Intel’s leading consumer spokesman in late 90s, appearing in hundreds of radio and tv interviews, its first “human brand,” blah, blah. Of course I played this up, but later I found it didn’t really help, except perhaps to get me in the door. Some employers thought it was a little too flashy. Companies often just want someone who can “get the job done” and not rock the boat. I can see why now- when I want to hire a writer, I often just want someone who can do what I need, not the best writer on the planet or even the top 10%.
With social media, as others have said, it depends on the company and the applicant. If the company is forward thinking, and believes in social media, it’s almost expected that you’ll be blogging, tweeting, etc (this is how I got a social media related job at HP 18 months ago–they found me through my blog and twitter..since departed). Also it helps if the subject matter you’re blogging/tweeting about is relevant to the job itself–if not, it might be considered irrelevant. Since you write on marketing, I have a hard time imagining it works against you-but then again, I often misread the way the corporate world works…even after all these years. Good luck in your journey!
Mark, I agree with “Companies often just want someone who can ‘get the job done’ and not rock the boat.” (We call those people robots.) I, too, have misread the corporate world over and over. The key is to understand that there is no playbook and every culture is different. Writing about marketing works against me, trust me on that. Especially when I have seemed to have developed a “tell it like it is” reputation. What can I say… I hate wasting budget and the time of customers (internal and external).
And thank you for the well wishes, they are much appreciated!
I know that when I was hired most recently for a sales/marketing position that my employer never looked at my LinkedIn profile (even though the link was on my resume) because he was surprised when I later asked him (after I was hired) if we could add a blog to the website redesign and showed that I knew the terminology that they were trying to switch from PPC to SEO (he was trying to explain in non-technical terms). And at the time I was interviewing I was also freelancing so this information was prominent on my profile.
I was also told by a few recruiters to remove the skills I had picked up from freelancing from my resume. That my prospective employers wouldn’t care, even though I had thought it was good evidence (along with my MBA) that I was ready to move from the lab to a customer-facing position. However, I didn’t have the depth of expertise/proof that Beth Harte does plus I was looking for jobs in the industrial sector. So that might have had something to do with it.
Interesting.
I feel the recruiter who shared that advice with you may be looking through a narrow lens, or the companies he/she represents still has some growing to do.
The company I now work for found me through a recruiter who took the time to dive into my social networks before he reached out to talk to me personally. My resume was almost obsolete. Both firm and recruiter wanted to see if I walked the walk, and talked the talked. Seeing that I did, I was then approached for an interview. True the job they were looking to fill was social communications, so this may be a skewed example.
I am very lucky to have the opportunity to travel occasionally to conferences, and participate in speaking opportunities. The firm recognizes the value in this is expanded brand awareness, and I in turn recognize that the ultimate objective is to grow business for the firm. Firms don’t want rock stars (not saying that you consider yourself a rock star). They want people who solve their problems, and increase their bottom line. I believe both can happen, but there needs to be balance.
It really comes down to what you want to do, Beth. Do you want to travel the country speaking social media and business ethics, or is your interest in helping a firm build something of value that both they and their clients can come back to? Both are admirable. Both can be obtained. But we live in a world of 140 characters. So the question may be, does your online presence speak to a prospective company’s goals and desires, or yours?
DaveMurr recently posted..Do You Really Communicate- or Do You Just Tweet
[...] the RSS feed for updates on this topic.Powered by WP Greet Box WordPress PluginAs you might know, Beth Harte has been looking for a job for the past few months. Recently, she shared this feedback she had gotten from a recruiter: [...]
Hi Beth–
A Twitter friend pointed me in this direction. I thought I’d weigh in. I’m a 10 year veteran of the recruiting machine. I’ve worked in small agencies all the way up to a Big 4 corporation that advised on HR issues for brands you’ve heard of. I’m also someone who is looking for new opportunities. So, I’ve been on both sides.
As a recruiter, the only time I ever Googled someone was to approach them so I could build a solid pipeline of candidates for my hiring manager. If I Googled, I wasn’t doing it by name (unless the HM told me they specifically wanted to interview a certain person…REALLY rare). I was usually using keywords–sometimes school names or company names. If I came across social media stuff, the only thing I was looking for was skill sets and keywords. I rarely paid attention to the content of their stuff beyond that. Why? Because, as a recruiter, I’m not supposed to take things like religion, sexual orientation, race, gender, etc. into account. Personal social media stuff sometimes gets into those categories. I wanted to be fair, and best practices required that of me. Personal blogging and social networking rarely gave me the information I needed to know about a candidate–namely skill sets–so I mostly wouldn’t click on such things unless the skill set was directly jumping out of the search results.
I think people operate under the false idea that recruiters are Googling them at every opportunity–whenever they apply for a job–to see what skeletons they have online. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Recruiters are far too busy to do that, and even if they did, it’s rarely actionable. It is all about the resume, so if it’s on that piece of paper, expect that to be fair game. But anything on a resume that’s irrelevant to the job (or not clearly shown to be worth considering) will be overlooked. Some recruiters will not value your social media experience if it’s on your resume. Your job is to make them see how it should be valued for the specific job.
In the case of someone using social media inappropriately, as a recruiter, if I have the perfect candidate, with every skill set known to man on their resume, it’s irresponsible not to present that resume to the HM and let them decide. If you feel like the person is questionable–say they said some really inappropriate things online–you might say you weren’t sure they were a cultural fit for the organization–but most HMs in that case would bring them in for an interview to see for themselves.
People are very different in person than online. My experience is that people show me who they are whether it’s online or in person. I don’t need to dig around so much online to see those things–and it’s irrelevant unless the person is handling social media for the company. We have background checks. We have reference checks. You can tell when something’s not right, and recruiters have developed intuition that is sometimes crazily accurate. HMs might be different. They are often not HR people so much as managers, so perhaps they have a different take on it. But HR people really do have to have proof that their recommendations are based in reality and not just gut feelings. You can advise a HM that the candidate doesn’t seem like a fit, but that will rarely take them out of the running. If a recruiter advises against someone based on blogging or whatever, it could result in a bias lawsuit. No company wants that.
Job seeker focus must stay on the essentials that have always mattered. Be impeccable. Have a stellar resume that you customize for every job you apply to. Write an interesting cover letter. Have wonderful references. Understand that little things like thank you notes matter. Make everyone aware of your search. Network like it’s your job. Engage things you really are passionate about–that make sense for your life. Interview like a pro.
One of the biggest mistakes people make as job hunters–and something that’s easy to do because job hunting can be so demoralizing–is that they stop seeing themselves as valuable. A job needs to serve your needs. Ask yourself what you really want from an employer. It’s a partnership, and the employer needs to woo you as much as you’re wooing them. Social networks are a great way to stay connected, to sharpen your skills, and to stay inspired. Use your skills the way you want to use them–whether it’s volunteering for a cause, using those skills–or blogging about important topics in your industry. These things do lead to opportunities that matter. Recruiters and managers are information sponges. Good ones want to know everything about the things they recruit, so if you’re saying something relevant and exciting about that, you will get noticed–in a good way–because you’re part of the conversation. This is valuable to companies. Don’t be afraid to join in.
So much of recruiting is a numbers game. Striving to stand out is a good thing and sometimes leads to results. But nothing replaces putting yourself out there and being impeccable. If you are talented and have the skill sets, people will see it if you keep throwing yourself in front of them. I know it can be so discouraging.
In my life, I do limit who knows about my social media presence. I write highly personal things on my blogs and Twitter. I don’t have my last name anywhere, unless I want it linked to my professional self–because, to me, it’s not relevant. You can still find my blogs, if you’re looking–but I am not ashamed of who I am as a person. And any employer who would reject me based on that isn’t someone I’d want to work for. I am in the process of building my professional “brand” because I do have things to say about my profession, and that will have my name on it.
The best employers want people who truly understand new technology, but also have the skills to get the job done–and do the hard work. They want to know you, and if it’s a good fit, who you are won’t hinder your ability to work for them. Don’t be afraid to be yourself–everywhere. The right people will value that.
Recruiting is a numbers game, yes. Marketing (working the numbers) is finding all potential opportunities, narrowing your leads and eventually, “closing the deal”. Social Media provides a means to be proactive with identifying potential candidates for your companies or clients short and long term goals (a crucial element in building companies).
As far as the EEOC stuff goes I will tell you we all profile and “beating around this bush” and over compensating for our human issues that will eventually be bread out of us or devine intervention . and Social Media helps us filter candidate to the right environment.