social media & your job search

SOCIAL MEDIA & YOUR JOB SEARCH

Rules of the internet

Rule #1: The Internet is forever

Rule #2: You are easy to find

Rule #2a: But you don’t stick out

You are a product – market yourself!

1: Stick to your message! (e.g. “I am a creative and hardworking legal expert in Antitrust Law with a background in Mergers and Acquisitions”)

2: Use different media to attract different people Pictures, videos, micro-blogging, quick-

blogging, blogging, audio, etc.

Are the rules different for lawyers? Legal profession is a conservative

one that is resistant to change. Most hiring partners are older and

less like to be hyper-plugged in. Many non-profit groups are likely to

be leveraging the internet to stretch limited resources.

You need to be appealing to both sets of people

Your Toolbox

Email

AOL is ancient history, Hotmail is outdated, Gmail is today. Studies show that people judge your by

your email domain Have a professional email address

madhatter057@hotmail.com = bad Billy.Joyner@gmail.com = good

RSS Feed

You will need information and a great deal of it

You will need to have it easy to access and organize

RSS feeds make this task easy Google Reader FeedReader FeedDemon Newsfire

Who are you?

Facebook and LinkedIn

In This corner. . . . . . . And in this corner

Facebook

Generally more social and less professional

1 in 13 people on earth have a Facebook page

In the United States, over 70% of internet users have a facebook page.

Your Facebook Profile

1: Make sure you have a professional picture

This is ok, but probably should be more formal

2: Give lots of detailed information about your work and education history

If you wouldn’t want your grandmother to see it then you probably don’t want a potential employer to see it

3: Get rid of your college party pictures

4: Use your privacy settings

“Everyone” = your boss

5: PROOFREAD!!!!

Your LinkedIn Profile

Use LinkedIn to your advantage Where facebook emphasizes

friendships (photos, comments, wall-posting, etc), LinkedIn is all about professionals and what makes them professional.

Fill out every detail of your work history. Discuss projects you have completed, awards and accolades you achieved at each job, etc.

Complete the LinkedIn profile

Linked in tells you how “complete” your profile is…

…and how to complete it

Get Recommended!!!

Click on the “Get Recommended” button

It is so easy employers may think less of you if you do not get recommended

Click on “asked to be endorsed”

Or, click on “manage” to see and follow up with previous requests

Recommendations are asked through a simple messaging interface

Creating your network

Like it!

- Don’t be afraid to “like” pages or join groups. Your social media profile necessarily tells an employer who you are.

- Use your likes, groups, etc to create a network of your interests