If you were with me last week, I am writing about how candidates can use social media to help them get a job. There are lots (and lots) of articles online about how recruiters can use social media, but, other than the usual warnings about not using your public Facebook page to post photos of drunken antics, there is far less advice from the candidate’s perspective.
Last time, I wrote about Linkedin (essential), Facebook (useful) and Twitter (pretty much essential). As promised, this week I’m going to consider some of the less obvious ones. It should be stressed that the reason they are less obvious is because they have never made a real breakthrough in the way Linkedin and Twitter have in the jobs market.
Pinterest had a wee spurt of interest from recruiters a few years ago, but it seems to have dissipated recently. There are, however, still some recruiters who use it as a channel for candidates. It’s easy to find out if there is anything suitable. Simply go to Pinterest (create an account, it’s not difficult) and then search using the same strings you’d use in Google. For example, I searched “Tesco Careers” and a lot of interesting information came up (see: https://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=Tesco%20careers). Or try “Careers in Engineering” or similar. You’ll almost certainly find some useful information, although be warned, much of it is American-orientated.
YouTube can be used in much the same way as Pinterest. Go on the site and then search for whatever you want. Use the company name + recruitment. A few firms do have pages within YouTube that are part of their overall employer branding campaign and are very impressive, although again these tend to be USA-based. Have a look at Loreal for example: https://www.youtube.com/user/lorealusacareers
Google+, which was, I think, Google’s attempt to find a halfway house between Facebook and Linkedin, has not really taken off the way Google hoped. There are, in theory, lots more people registered on Google+ than on Linkedin and although some recruiters use it to find candidates it has never really worked in reverse. The same applies in many ways to Instagram. It has millions of users, but not much relevance for candidates, although some companies do try to engage with potential candidates on it.
The reality is that even though they have millions of people using them, social media such as YouTube and Pinterest are really of limited importance for jobseekers, at least as finding relevant jobs is concerned. However, there is one way that they are useful and it’s often neglected by those who are actively job-hunting. It’s this: if you are going for an interview you’ll almost certainly look at the company’s website, and probably also its Linkedin and Facebook pages. However, it’s as well to check out all these less obvious social media platforms – Google+, Pinterest, Instagram etc. The chances are you’ll find out one or two little nuggets of information and you can then use to impress your interrogators with the amount you know about them and their company.
And finally, make sure you find out (if you can) who will be interviewing you and look them up on Linkedin (but probably best not to ask them to connect just yet!). People, as we know, buy people, and we all like those who take an interest in us. If you use social media intelligently as part of your information gathering prior to an interview it can significantly improve your chances of success!
Kate Murphy - Talent Acquisition Specialist