How the digital age brings job seeking to your front door
The recovering economy means more and more employers are confident about recruiting but they haven’t forgotten the lessons learnt from several years of recession and with an ever-growing pool of talent competition is tough. Employers can no longer afford to take a first through the door approach so how can job seekers grab the attention of potential employers and secure their ideal job?
In today’s digital age, a perfectly crafted CV is still a valuable use of time.
The only difference is that job seekers no longer need to trail door to door to let employers know they are looking for work. Many businesses today reject printed CVs, especially recruiters who commonly adopt a digital-only policy.
Popular sites such as Monster, Indeed and Reed mean you don’t even have to send your CV out to potential employers because they can find you. Although the success rate of being head hunted is considerably lower than actively approaching your potential future employers.
You are your own brand.
Richard Branson recently said the best form of advertising is the free stuff. This is particularly relevant for anyone looking to develop a successful career because employers are increasingly checking up on candidates using social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. How often do you see friends complaining about their job and employer online? If you were an employer and saw negative comments such as those would you take another second to consider that person’s application?
On the other end of the scale, how often do you see friends and other people you’re connected with talking about subjects that are relevant to their careers? If you are looking for your next career step or actively aware of your career progression, it will add benefit to strategically tweet information and post discussions that relate to your industry. I.e. if you are a digital marketer you should already know that content is king and you should have a regularly updated blog about your career learnings, industry news and technological advances.
Think of the 7P’s of marketing – if employers are using social media then you should be using it too providing them with physical evidence that you are who you say you are.
It’s not all about attention in your particular category but attention per say.
Word of mouth is the strongest form of publicity and you are ten times more likely on average to succeed in an interview if you are recommended by someone the employer trusts. So why are you not running around phoning everybody you know to tell them you are looking for work? Because you don’t need to. Social media is word of mouth publicity and you can talk to any number of people at the same time using it. Don’t limit your reach by targeting a particular audience, aim to attract that audience and other people who might know somebody hiring that might point potential employers in your direction.
Consider these three rules and you could well be laughing all the way to the bank:
- Visual content is more appealing than just text across all social media channels
- People like subtle humour, they like ‘clever’ and they enjoy watching people try (take for example Ron Burgundy’s ads for the new Dodge Durango.)
- Use the Like Vs. Share rule and invite your friends and connections to grow your audience (Just remember to turn information and statements into a question answerable by liking or sharing.)
Images like this work well on Twitter where you can only use 140 characters and equally on other social media channels.
To find out more about Callum Davies or his digital marketing campaign to find employment visit www.employcallumtoday.co.uk or get in touch with him by emailing info@employcallumtoday.co.uk.
Check out Callum on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and YouTube
Social Media 
Pingback: Job seeking in a digital age | Guest blog by Em...