Resumes are no longer about a two page piece of paper updated only when you’re looking for a job. Today’s resumes, particularly in creative and digital fields, are dynamic portfolios that might encompass several different social media platforms. Related: The Google Job Search: Is It Time To Dump The Traditional Resume? Even if you work in a more traditional area, you can still leverage digital channels to give yourself an advantage. Whether you’re a new college graduate looking for an internship or entry-level job, looking to switch sectors or hoping to get that promotion, these expert tips can help you get ahead. “Social channels are some of the best ways to show potential employers the results and evidence which back up what you say during your application,” says Lauren Gambler, from the HR department at Jellyfish, a digital marketing agency. “It’s what we want to see.”
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You need to be choosy when deciding who to approach. Sometimes a company feed can be good to monitor for corporate news and jobs, but you might be better off building connections with individual people in the organization.
“It's fine if a company just wants to publish links on Twitter, but it will take a relationship with a person at that company to reach your goals,” says Erin Brenner, an experienced copyeditor who uses social media to find jobs and for third-party recruiting.
Once you’ve started to make contact within your target sector, it’s time to impress with your knowledge. Use your Twitter stream to show potential employers that you’re bang up to date with what’s going on in your industry.
Don’t just retweet and post your own observations: take part in discussions. Employers want people who can collaborate and add value to their workplace. Twitter is an ideal platform to demonstrate this.
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A designer might have a work focused account with boards for projects in different media while a marketer looking to job hop might have a secret board featuring screen shots from successful social media campaigns, links to case studies or photos from events organized. You can also create boards targeted to specific job applications.
Just make sure that you provide context and make it easy for people to contact you.
“For example, a book cover designer might create a Pinterest board of recent covers she's created. The audience looks, but what's next? If they're looking to hire a designer, they don't want to buy the books or go to the authors' websites. They want to know more about what it's like to work with the designer, where she gets her ideas from, whether she does different styles of covers not displayed here, and so on,” says Brenner.
