SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE
JOB SEARCH
CAREER SERVICES
SOCIAL MEDIA
• Social media is:
Websites and applications that allow users to create and share
content or participate in social networking
SEVEN SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS
Here are seven Social Media tips to keep
in mind no matter what platform you use:
1. Don’t post something just to post it
2. If you are using social media to
network stay professional
3. Use the tools to their full potential
4. Don’t spam or post too frequently
5. Don’t just post the same thing across
different platforms
6. Keep the content fresh
7. Follow up with connections
A REMINDER ABOUT PROFESSIONALISM
• Anything that you post online could be communicated to a potential employer
• Be mindful of the types of comments you post and the pictures that you may
be tagged in
• Enhance your privacy settings– BUT keep in mind that these settings are
sometimes breached
• Use a professional site like LinkedIn to control what comes up when you are
Googled
WHAT IS LINKEDIN?
• Online professional social network
• There are currently 300 million+ members in 200 countries
• LinkedIn currently operates the world’s largest professional
network on the Internet
• Professionals are signing up to join LinkedIn at a rate of more
than two new members per second
• There are over 39 million students and recent graduates on
LinkedIn– they are the fastest growing demographic
LINKEDIN FOR STUDENT
S: YOUR CAREER STARTS
HERE
HOW IS SOCIAL MEDIA BEING USED BY
EMPLOYERS? PART ONE
HOW IS SOCIAL MEDIA USED BY
EMPLOYERS? PART TWO
HOW IS SOCIAL MEDIA USED BY
EMPLOYERS? PART THREE
THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND
1. Volunteer experience is important
2. Write a good headline
3. Remember to make the profile about you– NOT your career
goals
4. Update your information
5. Make sure it represents YOU
CREATING YOUR
LINKEDIN LOGIN
• Use your real name
• Use the university postal code if
you prefer (B3M 2J6)
• Use a gmail-type of email
account if you want to use the
contact-import feature (you can
enter “skip this step” if you wish)
POPULATING YOUR
PROFILE
• Follow the prompts as they
appear to fill in your profile,
any steps that you skip now
you can go back and fill it in
later
• But if you skip something
make sure you do go back
and update the information
• Adding keywords will help
optimize your profile in
A WORD ON KEYWORDS
• Being repetitive while populating your profile with key words
is a great way to show up in specific searches
• Be aspirational, use repetition with the keywords that relate
to what you want to do in the future
• Don’t use repetition with keywords related to a field that you
are no longer interested in or you will also show up in those
searches
NEXT STEPS: HEADSHOT, TITLE,
SUMMARY
Headshot
• How you would look in an interview
• Simple not a group pic, make sure it is not too dark
Title
• Go beyond simply “student”
• Be creative but honest
• Think about where you want to go
Summary
• “Elevator pitch” about you
• Don’t just paste in your resume: introduce yourself to LinkedIn contact in a
more conversational manner
• Consider the highlights of your resume
• Use positive phrasing
CLAIMING YOUR URL
• Your unique URL or badge can be added to your email
signature, on business cards, on other social media sites–
anywhere you want your bio, skills, and background to be
• Customize what is available on Google
PRIVACY AND
UPDATING YOUR
PROFILE
• When making updates to your
profile, pay attention to your
privacy settings
• You want potential employers to see
updates to your experience and
accomplishments, but they don’t
need to know every small change to
your profile
• This can be changed on the left
hand side bar or in broadcast
ENDORSEMENTS AND GROUPS
ENDORSEMENTS JOINING SOME GROUPS
• If you endorse others they • Share knowledge
are more likely to endorse • Large companies often have
you subgroups that focus exclusively on
their recruitment process
• INTERACT! “Like” a comment, offer
congratulations on updates, etc.
• See what groups your dream
companies follow
Be opportunistic: join
groups that will let you
connect with people who
are in your target audience
but are not contacts
BUILDING A GREAT STUDENT PROFILE
USING LINKEDIN DURING YOUR JOB
SEARCH
• Advanced job search functions within LinkedIn– you can
apply for many jobs directly within the site!
• Customized URL can be added to your email
signature/business card
• Projects can be posted to your profile
• Paper resumes can be uploaded
• Search your skills on LinkedIn to see what skills industries
focus on how they are presented in other profiles
USING LINKEDIN TO FIND A JOB OR
INTERNSHIP
SECRETS TO A GREAT LINKEDIN PROFILE
