Paul Ross, founder and MD of Barker Ross, one of the UK’s leading recruitment companies, gives some valuable advice about how you can use the internet to find a new job.
These days, recruitment happens as much online as anywhere else, so to get noticed, you have to make sure that your online profile is a strong as it needs to be and most importantly says the right thing.
As recruiters, we now spend much less time on the phone and more time online looking for candidates. So it’s time to see what are you saying about yourself online? Do a Google search and see? Hopefully nothing negative, but possibly it’s not saying much. So here are some tips on how to build a positive online profile and get noticed.
Firstly, as most of us use Facebook to connect with friends and family, you would be wise to make sure that access other people was restricted. Use the ‘friends only’ privacy setting, unless you want recruiters to see you in a possibly less that flattering light!
So Facebook aside, how do you get noticed professionally. The starting point for many recruiters is LinkedIn.
It’s important to start using LinkedIn before you need it. So get to grips with creating a LinkedIn profile, building a network of connections and join all the relevant Groups. Spend some time on this, as increasing your visibility and connections will mean that employers and recruiters can find you more easily.
Try and update your status on a regular basis, so you are always visible to your LinkedIn connections. Recommendations are also a good way to build your profile and get status updates, so don’t forget to ask your contacts to recommend you on LinkedIn
Don’t be shy about saying you are unemployed in the LinkedIn Profile section. State you’re are looking for a job or seeking new opportunities. This will alert your connections and recruiters and you may find something more easily that you think.
The LinkedIn About.com Careers and Job Search Group is a good source of advice from career experts and information on how to look for new opportunities. Also, look for recruiters that operate in your industry sector and join their Groups, so you can get updates on jobs as soon as they are available.
It is also a good idea to start using Twitter to connect informally with those in your industry sector. Make sure you give yourself a relevant Twitter profile which demonstrates that you know about your sector, other people will pick this up and start to ‘follow’. Then you can start to send out tweets.
Use Twitter to share your thoughts about industry news, update people about your achievements and most importantly, engage people in ‘conversations’ about relevant news. After a while, you will find you develop a community and anyone looking on line at your profile, will see you are an active and informed industry expert.
You may of course, choose to use Twitter in a totally personal way, to engage with people who have similar interests. There’s no problem with this, but if you are concerned that it may reflect on your professional profile, it may be wise to use a separate username.
This all may look at bit daunting to the ‘social media’ novice, but just start slowly and build up your presence and you will start to get noticed.
