Today, it is not enough to apply for a job using Monster or CareerBuilder. Traditional means of looking for a job are losing their effectiveness. Recruiters and HR managers are getting overwhelmed with a flood of resumes that comes in for each job opening.
Networking has always been the way to go when a person was looking to fill a job or get a job. Social media is a unique combination of tools that allows people to network online. Since 1999, OPI has trained thousands professionals with cutting-edge job search strategies. We are the only local outplacement and career-transition company known for continually learning and sharing strategies that work as opposed to the cookie-cutter career advice found elsewhere.
This process generally takes three steps, and is very similar to how company will go about connecting with its target audience.
- Identify your personal brand. Every company knows that this is an essential marketing component – this is what the organization stands for. The same concept applies to job seekers, they need to establish their presence, demonstrate their accomplishments and show their unique value among the competition.
- Conduct the research, as well as people search. This is your way to find a point of contact. Simply sending your resume to an email provided is a poor approach. There are hundreds of other people who found this point of contact, you need to come up with another strategy to connect with the company you want to work for. Quite often the best way to look for a job is to look for people inside your target company. You might not be able to connect with the CEO, but connecting with a person who works for the department you are interested in joining can give you a unique advantage. The goal is to find some information that will help you demonstrate your unique abilities.
- Establishing a connection. Once you have a brand, and you have a clear understanding of what recruiters and hiring mangers want, you have to give it to them.
Social media can be used at each stage of the process outlined above. However, the strategy has to always come in first, and only then it is imperative to begin using various social media applications such as blogs, networks, wikis and sharing sites.
Here are some of the topics that we cover.
- Establishing personal brand online.
- Using social media tools such as LinkedIn, WordPress, Twitter, GooglePlus, Wiki and more in your job search.
- Creating online resume(s).
- Social networking strategies and leveraging popular online networks such as Facebook-BeKnown, and LinkedIn.
- Listening to opportunities – learn strategies to monitor the information available online and use it to your advantage.
- Online etiquette.