Social Media Guide
Online social networking is one method for establishing a professional network. Online networking, on sites such as LinkedIn, builds communities with others who share common interests or activities.
Professional online networking:
- Provides access to a large number of experienced professionals as well as resources in your field
- Eases ability to research an organization including its financial “health” and track record
- Gives increased visibility
- Increases chances of finding people with similar educational and work backgrounds
- Can be done 24/7, immediately
LinkedIn:
How to Build a Professional Student LinkedIn Profile:
- Craft an informative profile headline
Your profile headline gives people a short, memorable way to understand who you are in a professional context. Think of the headline as the slogan for your professional brand, such as “Student, National University” or “Recent honors grad seeking marketing position”. Display an appropriate photo such as a professional, high-quality head shot of you alone. Avoid group photos. - Show off your education
Include information about all institutions you’ve attended. Include your major and minor, if you have one, as well as highlights of your activities. You should include study abroad programs and summer institutes. Don’t be shy; your LinkedIn profile is an appropriate place to show off your strong GPA and any honors or awards you’ve won. Also, fill your “Skills & Expertise” section with keywords from job listings that appeal to you from LinkedIn profiles. - Develop a professional summary statement
Your summary statement should resemble the first few paragraphs of your best-written cover letter — concise and confident about your goals and qualifications. Remember to include relevant internships, volunteer work, and extracurricular activities. Present your summary statement in short blocks of text for easy reading. - Update your status weekly
A great way to stay on other people’s radar screens and enhance your professional image is to update your status at least once a week. Tell people about events you’re attending, major projects you’ve completed, or any other news you have. Also join groups to show your desire to connect with those with matching interests. - Share your work
A final way to enhance your LinkedIn profile is to add examples of your writing, design work, or other accomplishments by displaying URLs or adding files to your experience or education. By including URLs, you can direct people to your website, blog, or Twitter feed. Through adding files, you can share a PowerPoint or showcase writing samples.
Source: LinkedIn.com
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Vic Massaglia
Darren Kaltved
School of Public Health
Why use Twitter for networking:
- Twitter allows you to make and maintain quality connections with professionals, as well as follow industry leaders
- Twitter is a good learning tool for your field of interest (e.g. “What are the experts saying?”, “What are the current trends in the field?”, “What relevant news feeds are coming out regarding my field of interest?”, etc.)
- Twitter allows you to share knowledge and interact with others, while also gaining advice. By sharing your knowledge with others, you demonstrate your level of expertise while also maintaining/marketing your personal brand.
- Twitter is an excellent resource to learn about occupations, employers, recruiters and job opportunities. There are thousands of recruiters and employers who continuously tweet job announcements daily, while also providing resources and tips on how to find opportunities related to your field.
- When it comes to Twitter, recruiters are reviewing or following potential candidates to see if the individual does one or more of the following:
- Tweets often (between 2-10 times per day is considered reasonable)
- Has developed a “healthy” list of followers balanced with a healthy set of individuals you are following
- Keeps a healthy balance between personal and professional tweets
- Doesn’t just update, but also responds to others’ tweets
For more information on job tweets or who to follow, please visit: tweetmyjob.com, twitjobsearch.com, tinyurl.com/twitterjobsfollow, mashable.com, or go to http://search.twitter.com and follow these trends (#jobsearch, #resume, #jobs, #jobtips, #jobhunting, #employment, #career, #findajob, or #hiring).
How to use Facebook for networking:
- Target. Follow companies to uncover job openings and stay current on company products, services, initiatives and acquisitions. In addition, follow leaders of career-related organizations (such as Mayo or the American Public Health Association) to have real-time access to employment trends and information.
- Connect. Use the Facebook search feature to connect with people in your field or to join groups with a common interest.
- Be professional. Avoid slamming your previous employer, boss, ex – or anyone for that matter. Also, keep your profile clean. It’s time to go back to pages that do not fit your brand and leave/“unlike” them.
- Protect your privacy. Adjust your privacy settings so you control what you are sharing. Limit your political or controversial viewpoints to your close friends or family. Turn timeline review on in your Facebook privacy settings so that your friends cannot tag you in a post or photo without your approval.
- Upload a professional photo. The first and most important step for your brand consistency in your job search is using your professional photo in your social network. We advise to get your professional headshot now and use it on all your profiles.
- Be thorough in your ‘About’ copy. Facebook Graph Search has revolutionized the job search on Facebook. Recruiters can now search for job seekers outside of the immediate network based on pages, music, books, etc., that you like and the keywords in your profile. So, you need to be thorough in your about section by filling in as much education and work experience as you can, loading descriptions with keywords.
- Like away. Now you have cleaned up your profile. You are in charge of what others can see. Go ahead and “like” companies and public figures related to your industry. Employers will see how involved you are in your industry, will optimize your profile and rank you higher in Graph Search.
- Promote yourself. Facebook is a tool to promote your personal brand. Only post content that builds that brand. Comment appropriately on your Facebook friends’ content. When in doubt: Don’t post!
