One reason recruiters are turning to Facebook to build talent communities, share job leads and research candidates is its popularity- It has billions of users which makes Facebook great for job search!
It isn’t just the volume of users that makes Facebook an attractive source of hiring and research – it’s also the fact that 70% of Facebook users engage daily, versus only 13% of LinkedIn users, according to a Pew Research study.
While many job seekers consider LinkedIn to be the professional network and place to be, it isn’t the only social network recruiters will look at. According to Jobvite’s 2020 Recruiter Nation study, 60% of recruiters reported using Facebook to recruit.
If you are actively searching for a new job or plan to, you should know how to put your best foot forward and use Facebook to network and uncover job opportunities.
Complete Your Profile
If you are going to become more active on Facebook for your job search, one way to enhance your profile is to add past work history and professionals skills to your “About” section. You can learn more about each section by reading this: Prepare Your Facebook Profile For Job Search
Know About Status Update Settings
Next, look at your status updates. Do your posts have a globe next to the date? If so, your update is public, which means anyone and everyone can see your update and comments others have added. If you do not want certain status updates to be public, you can change your settings by clicking on the inverted triangle and changing the post to “Friends.” You can learn more by reading: Prepare Your Facebook Profile For Job Search
Check Your Privacy Settings
Facebook has a reputation for changing privacy setting criteria. If you haven’t looked at yours in awhile, it would be wise to do so. You can change privacy settings for “Who can see my stuff,” “Who can contact me” and “Who can look me up.” If you do not want people to be able to search for you by email or phone number, adjust those settings. You can also prevent your profile from showing up in search engine results by removing that criteria.
Often, job seekers think that their profiles on Facebook are private and that hiring managers can’t find them. This may not be true. Anything online is public.
This means you’ll need to familiarize yourself with the ever-changing privacy settings on Facebook. An even better strategy is to be careful about what you post.
Stay Professional At All Times
Everyone has a tendancy to relax on Facebook. But if you are in job search, take time to review older posts and photos.
Remove political rants or at least make them private so only you can see them now. If you’ve been venting about things on Facebook, delete those posts.
Keep this classic reminder in mind when reviewing your profile for “professionalism”
if you wouldn’t show it to your grandmother, you shouldn’t put it on social media.
And by all means, avoid using profanity, sharing provocative or inappropriate photos or speaking negatively about your current or past employer.
Search For Job Leads
Use Facebook’s Groups feature to find people posting jobs in your field and geographic area. Chris Russell, a recruiter, recommends searching Facebook by using your city and the word “jobs” to find groups that share job leads. You can also join groups related to your industry or occupation.
Here a two more secrets to help you use Facebook for job search.
Yes, Facebook does have a job board. And you can set alerts for the types of roles you are interested. It’s not yet very popular with employers.
Connect and Engage with Your Network
Have you stayed connected with your college classmates? What about other alumni? Be sure you’ve added your college and even high school information if you want others to know what schools you attended. Consider joining Facebook groups for alumni as well.
Participate in discussions in groups or communities by your occupation, and “like” a company’s page or join its career group to interact with employees managing those accounts. You can also search Facebook for people who work at your dream company. In the Facebook search bar, start typing “people who work at {insert name of company}.” You can see who works there and who your mutual friends are.
Don’t Just Lurk, Leverage Social Media to Stand Out
Don’t miss opportunities to build your professional profiles (even on Facebook). Other job seekers may already understand why Facebook is great for job search. You should too. Socially savvy job seekers will have an advantage over those who are not active.
Every day people are using social networking platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.
Here’s the bottom line: You have different sets of friends and connections on Facebook. It could be that the help of a friend of a friend opens the door to your next job. Don’t rule out the power of your personal network.
Remember: Companies prefer to hire referrals and people they know.
Originally appeared on USNews & World Report
Hannah Morgan speaks and writes about job search and career strategies. She founded CareerSherpa.net to educate professionals on how to maneuver through today’s job search process. Hannah was nominated as a LinkedIn Top Voice in Job Search and Careers and is a regular contributor to US News & World Report. She has been quoted by media outlets, including Forbes, USA Today, Money Magazine, Huffington Post, as well as many other publications. She is also author of The Infographic Resume and co-author of Social Networking for Business Success.
