Social and Professional Networks
With an ever increasing digital footprint it is imperative that job seekers complete a thorough review of both their social and professional networks.
Prospective employers are increasingly using Social and Professional Networks to review potential candidates' behaviour to ascertain their "fit" within their business.
We have provided some tips within this section to help you prepare your social media presence ahead of your pending job search.
Social Networks
These include (but are not limited to) sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Tools such as Facebook and Twitter enable employers to get a glimpse of who candidates are outside of the confines of a CV.
It is thought that employers are looking at social networking profiles of candidates very early in the process, meaning it is imperative you complete a full review of your social media sites.
Review Your Accounts
When reviewing your social media accounts, you may wish to consider the following:
- Your sites are private
- Your sites do not include anything you wouldn't want a prospective employer to see, this includes provocative or inappropriate photos, videos or information.
- Ensure language used in posts or tweets is not discriminatory and that you have not bad-mouthed employers or colleagues.
- Ensure you review groups you are following, and your posts/tweets shared.
Use of Social Media as a tool to further screen candidates has increased over 500% in the last 10 years! The bottom line is, whether you are looking for a Job or building up your professional image, it is important to manage your online presence and image across your different social networks.
Professional Networks
LinkedIn and other (less well known) professional networking sites are increasingly being used by recruiters and employers to source candidates for vacancies.
With over 500 million users worldwide, LinkedIn is the world's biggest professional network, it is therefore easy to understand the recruitment industry's recent shift from more traditional job boards, towards the use of networking sites to source candidates and fill vacancies.
As a job seeker you should ensure your LinkedIn profile is kept current. You need a profile that will impress prospective employers.
Even if you are not considering an immediate move within the industry its good practice to periodically review your linkedIn profile and update it where necessary.
Tips for Improving your LinkedIn Profile:
Write a good LinkedIn summary - detail your ambitions and drivers, engage your readers on a personal level, talking in the first person. Think about the key points you would like to get across to a potential employer and do this in an engaging manner.
Ensure work and education sections on your profile are complete. These sections acts as your online CV. Keep content concise and ensure you use keywords to get found on LinkedIn.
Ask for LinkedIn recommendations and endorsements from colleagues
Use of Keywords
In order to maximise your chances of your profile being found on LinkedIn by potential employers within your industry, ensure you use keywords.
Keywords are terms or phrases that are commonly searched within LinkedIn to source candidates for roles. It is imperative that you include the appropriate industry keywords within your profile. This in turn will provide a better chance of your profile being found.
For example: a linkedIn user working within the Personal Care and Cosmetic industry, may consider saturating their profile with both terms but also look to including brand names, types of ingredients, role (formulation chemist, sales manager, development manager etc). If your role requires a certain qualification ensure this and other qualifications are documented within your profile. Perhaps you are multilingual - put this in! An increasing number of organisations are asking for this skill.
What to do if a Recruiter Asks to Connect
In our opinion the bigger your network the better, but make sure you are connecting with a reputable recruiter. Do your homework, look at their connections, see what industry they are connecting with. If they are connecting with individuals in numerous industries, then the likelihood is they do not specialise in Chemical Industry Recruitment.
At Laborare Group we only specialise in the Chemical Market. We will only ever in-mail you if we have a genuine role we think would interest you.
Even if you are not looking for a move right now, hear us out, you never know when that dream job might come knocking on your door!