How Social Media can be Used to Help your Next Career Move

by Berfu Sahin – Marketing Executive with RattleBerry

In our effort to find our dream job or the perfect fit for a job position, both candidates and recruiters actively use various social media platforms. First you build your profile, then you create your network and then you start hunting for the best possible outcome. There are lots of good articles about basic social profile optimisation for recruitment such as Tweet your way to a job: using social media to develop your career published by The Guardian or Social Media for Networking posted by the Career Services at Princeton University. But outside of the above, quite common techniques, what else could one do to use social media to help you progress in your career? So, we thought delving a little deeper into the origins of social media platforms and how they can be used in a broader sense to help your career, would be a useful addition to the typical articles.

Social media platforms – history and a wider definition
A new communication landscape has been evident ever since the first decade of the new millennium as a plethora of social media services has given rise to the social web. But, it should be mentioned that the origins of social media platforms can be traced back to the last decade of the twentieth century. The predecessors of modern social networking sites, SixDegrees.com and Open Diary were introduced in 1997 and 1998, respectively. Blogger, the blog-publishing website and service was launched in 1999. So, we have been refining and working with this new communications platform for a lot longer than one might consider to be the case.

What qualifies as a social network?
When we hear the term social media platforms what’s the first thing that comes into our mind? Probably social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram. It should be stated, however, that social media services are not only the social networking sites. Kaplan and Haenlein provide the following definition for this term: “Social Media is a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and allow the creation and exchange of user generated content” (61). Social media platforms are not just what they appear to be. There are more of them in plain site. As Aichner and Jacob mention in their research Measuring the degree of corporate social media use, “social media are therefore not limited to social networks like Facebook but include blogs, business networks, collaborative projects, enterprise social networks, forums, microblogs, photo sharing, product/services reviews, social bookmarking, social gaming, video sharing and virtual worlds”(258). Social media channels therefore are many and diverse, but social networking sites could be considered the par excellence of social media. They are ubiquitous and embedded in the users’ life. And since they are man-made products they are constantly evolving. Panta rhei, “everything flows” after all! New ones are developed or classified as social media services, as well. Statista, one of the world’s most popular statistics databases includes WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Viber and Skype in a list of the most widespread social media platforms, worldwide. So we need to apply this filter when we consider how, as a job seeker, we can use this broad range of social media services to advance in your current discipline or change industry.

Social media and work
It was made evident that social media platforms are many and diverse, that have been around for almost 20 years now and they are keep evolving. How, however, have they changed our everyday lives and why do we use them?

Social media services have changed the way that users, i.e. individuals, communities, companies and organisations, interact and communicate, ultimately resulting in the creation of virtual communities and digital culture. This kind of interaction happens for various reasons. One of those reasons is the possible company and career development. The power and usefulness of social media services and work is not limited to job hunting. Social media platforms are used not only for communication with external parties but there are also implemented within enterprises for internal communication and social interaction as argued by Leonardi, Huysman and Steinfield in their study. They conclude that these technologies can have significant implications for issues such as “interaction with new hires, knowledge sharing and management, and employees’ abilities to form relationships and build social capital” (25). Social network giant Facebook recently launched ,Workplace, which aims as mentioned in the site of this new product to “connect everyone in your company and turn ideas into action. Through group discussion, a personalised News Feed, and voice and video calling, work together and get more done”.

The ubiquity of LinkedIn for job seekers
Social media, nevertheless, can be used by those seeking employment or development of their professional career. They are value adding tools to the recruiting domain as well, since the recruiting process has moved almost entirely into the online space. The world’s largest professional network and tool to find connections to recommended job candidates is LinkedIn. According to alexa.com, the web metrics website, LinkedIn.com is the 13th most visited website globally. The mission of this social networking site is clearly highlighted: “To connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful. When you join LinkedIn, you get access to people, jobs, news, updates, and insights that help you be great at what you do.”
So, taking what we have read above and understanding that LinkedIn is the anchor network for job seekers what are the best strategies for you to use to help you gain an advantage over others?

1 / Curate/ carefully build your own network
Job hunting is hard! We know. Almost every candidate thinks: “How do I stand out from the crowd?” An easy and a straightforward answer does not exist. Something you can do, however, is to proactively use social media services. Building your online professional network could be considered essential in our modern culture. It is beneficial to create a network of people who are interested in the same topics. Follow people that can have a positive influence on your career. Join relevant groups that address topics of concern to your chosen field / profession. If for example you are interested in User Experience you can join the relevant LinkedIn group. Moreover, as mentioned in a blog post about the use of social networking for career advancement “not every social network is a good fit for everyone, finding the platforms that resonate with you and where you find the most people in your area of interest is just good sense. It’s a lot easier to pick one or two you are comfortable with and stay focused that spread yourself too thin and use everything”. Moreover, in this blog post it is mentioned that “the size of your network should not be a primary focus. (…) Find people who can teach you something or help you find relevant news and information should be the goal on any network. Look at social media networks for the movers and shakers and learn from them. Ask for advice and share information to become a resource. Use social media to educate yourself on where you want to be, not just where you are. Find out who is influential in a topic you want to get into, who do they follow and talk to? Emulate the people working in the areas you want to be in, both so you fit into the culture and so it is easier to get to know the influencers there and learn from them.” Beneficial advice for sure.

2 / Contribute and get known in your targeted professional area
As discussed in the research of Kaplan and Haenlein , in virtual networking, people wish to control and influence the impressions that the others create of them. Self-presentation partially can aim in the creation of a well-disposed mood or to a formation of a persona, an image, which correlates with one’s identity. Through disclosure of personal info, self-presentation can be achieved. Self-disclosure contributes in the creation of close relationships among acquaintances or complete strangers. Thus, communication and engagement should be aimed. This can be achieved through social media platforms, which moreover can be explored as world – of – mouth communications. There are powerful tools to influence your network and to spread your opinion and work due to their viral nature. Partially, this is were the power of social media services lies. After establishing you professional network you should aim to present the best possible aspect of yourself. Thought leader may be a bit of a stretch but self publishing to platforms like medium.com and LinkedIn pulse with targeted content is a good way to passively open up job opportunities. You have to be proactive and not just reactive and with focus and effort the dream job might be achievable.

Perhaps this is the new status quo of recruitment. What do you think?

About the author
Berfu Sahin is a Marketing Executive at RattleBerry providing modern marketing recruitment solutions. If you are looking for employment or need to hire the best digital, brand, product, experience design and communications professionals RattleBerry can help. Call or email to discuss what new skills you need on your team and how RattleBerry can provide them in a flexible manner.