Job hunting can be a full-time job in itself. From writing several slightly different CVs to endless 'doctors appointments' (aka interviews with recruiters), it can be a real time and energy drain. So wouldn't it be great if there was a way to hack the whole system? Well there is, because nowadays bosses and recruiters – who are as keen as you are to save time and money – are increasingly turning to social media when they have a role to fill.
According to a 2013 survey by recruiting software platform Jobvite, 94% of companies in the US used or planned to start using social media as a tool for recruiting. What’s more, the survey also showed that you were nearly 50 per cent more likely to get hired through social recruiting than through a jobs board. Winner. And yes, we know this sounds like an urban job myth, but read on and it might change the way you job hunt forever…
Chloe Pierre, 26, has landed not one but three jobs through social media (yes, she has this game locked down), including her current position as Office Manager at business development firm Upfront BD. As well as finding two full-time positions by following up on Twitter leads, Chloe also told us how her freelance work has been given a boost by other social sites: 'I’m often contacted for consultancy or freelance purposes by people who have seen my previous work on my blog, Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook. It really helps to have a strong online presence.'
And while traditional recruitment can often take weeks or even months, Chloe explained that the social media approach is a lot faster at every stage: ‘With my current job I saw the role on Twitter, followed through to the Gumtree link and applied immediately. I was invited to interview and was offered the role the next day.’
This super-fast process was something Mim Pippard experienced too. 23-year-old Mim is a consultant at Kaizo pr & digital communications – a job she also found through twitter. She explained: ‘they tweeted, two hours later I replied, one hour later I received a phone interview. This was on a Thursday, and I started the following Monday.’
While the recruitment process itself was fast, Mim was keen to point out that she still had to put in some time and effort to find the right opportunity: 'I checked twice a day for about three weeks with not much luck. Search results were either showing internships in America, or unpaid ones in London (which as I lived in Bristol was not feasible).' It may have taken a few weeks of concerted effort, but Mim is still convinced the social media route beats traditional avenues: 'Lots of my friends are still trawling job websites, so I’m glad I managed to cut that bit out.'
And it’s not just run-of-the-mill 9-5s you could stumble upon. Alice Little, 28, has one of the most, er, exciting job titles we’ve come across in a long time. She’s ‘Sex Toys Category Manager’ (fo' real) at sex toy e-tailer Lovehoney. Alice first joined the company in 2010, something she not only credits to social media, but to fate too: ‘I was at a pub quiz and there was a power cut. I tweeted about it and Neal, the co-owner of Lovehoney, replied. This lead me to click on his profile, which made me realise that a company I really liked was based right round the corner from me. I followed him and when he tweeted that Lovehoney was hiring for an editorial role nearly two months later I emailed him with a tip: me!’
Alice may feel that finding her job was 'serendipitous', but she still had some very practical advice for those wanting to land their own lucky break: 'Use Twitter's 'List' tool to follow prospective employers, so you won't miss THAT tweet about hiring in amongst all your Very British Problems and cat photos.'
As the man behind her big break, we were keen to speak to Alice’s boss Neal Slateford to find out a little more about how he uses social media as a tool for recruiting. He explained how he uses different platforms depending on the role: ‘I will post or retweet our vacancies on Twitter. This is usually great for roles in our logistics, customer service and content teams. For roles that are more specialist, I might look at who's tweeting interesting content in that area and follow them for a while to get a feel for their expertise before approaching them directly through LinkedIn.’
And it’s not just employers turning to social networks; recruitment agents are utilising them too. Boutique recruitment consultancy Career Moves Group are active on both LinkedIn and Twitter. Eleanor Karadimitriadis, Head of PR Moves (one of the company’s six divisions) told us about the unique perks of social media from their point of view: ‘Social platforms not only allow us to engage with potential job seekers, but are also a great way to keeps our profile visible to passive talent.’ She was also keen to remind us that people should be aware of the image they are portraying through their online activities: ‘Employers definitely judge people based on their social media accounts. They use them to get a sense of what a person is like, and if they’re likely to say or do anything damaging based on their online footprint.’
So there you have it; it seems that the days of social media simply being a tool for, well, socialising, are long gone. In fact, with a bit of dedication, a touch of luck and little chutzpah, social media can be the fastest way to move up the career ladder. Might be time to rethink that cheeky avatar picture, eh?
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.