Social media is impacting every aspect of business, and in a good way. Marketers are relying on different social platforms to appeal to prospective customers, customers are getting better customer care services through social media, and social influencers are earning their living by promoting products on social media. Everyone is happy. What many people haven’t thought about though is the impact that social media has had with respect to job hunting and career planning. Can social media help you to identify and grab job opportunities? Is social media networking applicable in finding the right employer for you? The answer to both questions is yes. We will tell you why.

How Relevant Is Social Media To Your Employment?

Career Builder conducted a survey in 2018 and found out that in that year, 70% of employers had developed a tendency of checking out candidates’ profiles on social media before deciding whether or not to hire them. Of the remaining percentage, about 25% were considering adopting this approach as well. The survey further found out that social research had been fruitful 57% of the time, helping employers dig out vital information that helped them identify unemployable candidates.

There was more. The survey indicated that about 47% of potential employers will be skeptical about hiring you if they cannot find your social media footprints. You must be on at least one social platform for employers to trust you enough to even invite you for interviews. Clearly, social media plays a vital role in your job search success.

4 Positive Impacts of Social Media on Employment

1.      Social profiles are resumes- to some extent

By reading the social media posts of a potential candidate, employers are able to learn of the candidate’s communication skills. Someone can easily get an accurate feel of your skills from how you relate with your social media followers, how you use language, and how you comment on sensitive matters. The pictures and their captions you post on Instagram, on the other hand, will go a long way in showing your level of professionalism. The way you connect with your followers, and how you get new followers shows your creativity, which is a big deal in many offices.

2.      Growth of talent communities

Talent communities are gradually growing on social media, with people who share the same career interests coming together to share ideas. Candidates with the same skills, for example, form WhatsApp or Facebook groups where potential employers go to fetch talents.  Possible job openings are occasionally posted in such groups and that makes it easy for employers and job seekers to find each other.

Talent communities are particularly useful in developed economies such as China. There are many multinational companies targeting to expand their services to China due to the country’s consistent market growth. Companies are even hiring professional translation services to help them reach the right social media target. By so doing, they are able to interact with young Chinese professionals and at the end of the day get the right talents to push their business agenda.

3.      Makes it easy for employers to advertise open vacancies

Besides advertising job openings in talent communities, employers are able to attract talented social media users by branding their companies in a likable way. Note that not everyone is desperate to work for your company; some highly talented professionals will skip your job offer if they feel like your brand doesn’t represent their interests sufficiently. When doing business in China, for example, young Chinese professionals will want to know if your multinational company policy allows paid vacations, reasonable compensation, and other key remuneration packages for employees. That is the only time they will agree to work for you. And because there are many recruitment agencies that help young professionals to find their dream jobs, you need to position your company in the right place to leverage the services of these agencies as well.

4.      Fruitful job referrals

Companies and employees alike benefit marvelously from job referrals. On the one hand, companies depend on their existing employees to find job candidates who have the ability and will to help the company grow. After all, the existing employees already understand how demanding the job is, so they know who amongst their classmates/friends is tough enough for the job. On the other hand, job seekers rely on their close associates to get job recommendations. And because their friends understand the organization structure and company culture of their workplace, their recommendations always yield positive results. Referrals and recommendations become easier and more fruitful when done via social networks, and are a must in today’s competition, and it is a great plus when it comes to international hiring.

In conclusion

Social media is a great place to showcase your talents and find employment. However, in order to appear professional online, you need to be very careful of what you post or comment online. A simple mistake can easily make you unemployable.

George Foster