How to improve your career chances with social media
Posted by: admin / Category: recruitment
One of the biggest financial recruitment tips for 2009 is to watch your online behaviour. With the rise in popularity of social network sites like Facebook, Bebo and MySpace, candidates are now putting out a lot more information about themselves for anyone to see. Statistics show that around 44% of all adults have created and posted a profile of themselves in some form on the internet. The worrying thing for potential candidates these days is that recruiters and employers may look up this information and use it to help them form an opinion of you. So how can you help sort this out, well for starters you hopefully won’t have anything to incriminating on your profiles in the first place. But if there is anything you think may hamper your chances, simply remove it. But why not take this a step further, why not add a few more CV style bits of information that will help sell you if they are reading these profiles. But if employers do happen to read these profiles they should really take them with a pinch of salt as most people use social media sites to project an alter ego version of themselves. People will often exaggerate things or make boasts to make their lives seem whacky and zany.
If you would like to participate in social networking sites but help boost your recruitment chances then why not consider creating a more professional profile on a site like LinkedIn. Sites like these specialise in the career aspects of social media and your profile will allow you to communicate with peers in your field and even let people know if you are looking for work and what your credentials are. They are basically and online CV but with more interactive social aspects. You could find other people that have banking jobs or have jobs in finance and want to communicate and network.
There also maybe social networks that relate to your field of work that you may not of heard of. Some industry sites will have directories, profiles and forums where you can partake in more healthy social activities that will help boost your job chances. You may not directly find a job through them or your employer may not ever read them, but you may find that you will read some handy tips and advice.
So to conclude, make social media an advantage to your career prospects, remove anything you wouldn’t want an employer to see, promote yourself and look into new places to network with people within your field.
