to Win Your Dream Job Part 2 by Maribeth Kuzmeski
In part one of this two-part article, Maribeth Kuzmeski shared four strategies to get hired in 2011. They included: 1. Mine your social networking connections 2. Put your best Face(book) forward 3. Monitor your online reputation and 4. Use proactive posting to stand out online.
Here is part two of that article with five more best practices for using social media to get hired:
Build your online résumé using LinkedIn. If you aren’t already on business-focused social media sites like LinkedIn, take the time to set up a profile. In fact, LinkedIn is especially important because it is the most commonly viewed source for job seekers and employers. Setting up a profile is simple: Just go to www.LinkedIn.com, add your picture and a summary of your past job responsibilities, and state what you’re looking for. As a LinkedIn member, you can also join groups, review books, and proactively connect with potential employers.
“Think of it as creating your own living résumé and as a great way for people to connect with you!” says Kuzmeski.
Check out your interviewer. Social media isn’t all about what you do online. It’s also important that you know what your potential future employer is doing online. If you know who you will be sending a résumé to or who will be interviewing you, conducting a little research in advance of your communication can provide you with a big advantage.
“During an interview I conducted with a candidate for my company, the candidate began talking about how much he liked one of the books I had written,” recalls Kuzmeski. “He quoted from the book and offered a story of how he used the information in his career. He had me! I had spent a year writing that book, and the fact that he liked it and gave me information that proved he really read it made me remember him. And somehow he seemed smarter! After ten interviews in one day, people can start to blur. He never did.
“We didn’t end up hiring him because he had little experience in the type of service marketing we needed, but I gave him a high recommendation to one of our firm’s clients, and he was hired within a week,” she adds.
Make an impact by using video. If you really want to capture the attention of a potential employer, record a quick video. Use it to get an interview or as a follow-up after an interview. Here’s how it works: Instead of just emailing a résumé or a post-interview thank-you note, include a link to a video of you. Carefully script your response and record the quick message using a Flip video camera or even a Webcam. Post it on YouTube or some other service and send a link for the video to your potential employer.
Here are some helpful scripting tips for getting the interview:
1. The video should be no longer than one or two minutes.
2. Introduce yourself.
3. Identify the job you would like to be interviewed for.
4. Tell them three things about your background that may make them interested in interviewing you.
5. Thank them for watching the video and ask them for the interview.
Don’t be overly friendly. It’s important to think of your social media connections as just that—connections, not friends. Just because a potential employer responds to you using informal language in a Facebook post or via Twitter, does not give you the go-ahead to do the same. It is never okay to use texting shorthand such as LOL or TTYL in any communication with potential employers, no matter how informal your contact at the company is with you.
“Remember, just because your immediate contact has no problem sending informal emails to potential employees, doesn’t mean that his boss won’t mind it,” Kuzmeski points out. “Other people at the company might be reading those emails. And for that reason, you should stay professional at all times.”
Remember, you have to give to get. Social media requires that, regardless of what an individual has attained or achieved to this point in the real world, everyone starts off at the beginning in the social space. Each step up the social media ladder is earned by giving to the other members—whether that is in the form of a fresh, interesting piece of content of your own or by promoting someone else’s content. But the underlying rule is that you must give to get.
“By adding value to the community, you are making more connections and, as a result, earning more friends, more followers, and more trust,” says Kuzmeski. “So don’t hesitate to post job opportunities or other information that your network will find useful. Connect those in your network who might be able to benefit from one another. Just having a network isn’t good enough; you have to play an active role in it if you want to get anything back from those you’re connecting with via social media.”
“No matter what means of communication you prefer, relationships are the real secret to success,” says Kuzmeski. “If you can use social media to build strong relationships and connect with employers, you will get your piece of the proverbial pie. If you can’t, you’ll be scrambling for crumbs!”
Maribeth Kuzmeski, MBA, is the author of five books, including …And the Clients Went Wild! How Savvy Professionals Win All the Business They Want – www.AndTheClientsWentWild.com and The Connectors: How the World’s Most Successful Businesspeople Build Relationships and Win Clients for Life – www.TheConnectorsBook.com . She is the founder of Red Zone Marketing, LLC, which consults with businesses from entrepreneurial firms to Fortune 500 corporations on strategic marketing planning and business growth. Maribeth has personally consulted with some of the world’s most successful CEOs, entrepreneurs, and professionals. An internationally recognized speaker, she shares the tactics that businesspeople use today to create more sustainable business relationships, sales, and marketing successes.
