When it comes to social media in the job hunt, much advice focuses on being “squeaky clean” so as not to offend potential employers. However, this also implies that hiring managers are only researching you when they come across your resume. What if employers were using social media constantly to spot potential employees?
Over on Harvard Business Review, author Jeanne C. Meister highlights three recruitment trends. What’s noticeable is that employers aren’t just using social media to check out applicants; instead they are using analytics and apps to help them find potential hires. Here’s one that stood out to us:
"Companies have been watching the rapid growth of MOOCs (massive open online courses) — two of the leading MOOC providers, Coursera and EdX, have tallied more than 7 million unique users since they launched in April 2012 and May 2012 respectively — and are now finding ways to offer their own free courses. Aquent, a global staffing firm that finds jobs for marketing, creative, and digital professionals is creating a MOOC to teach job candidates HTML5. So far, about 10,000 people have participated in the HTML5 MOOCand 300 of them then enlisted Aquent to help in their job search. Companies wanting to capitalize on the gamification movement are recruiting graduates of MakeGamesWith.us, an online MOOC that teaches aspiring game developers how to build an iPhone game. It will be only a matter of time before more companies get in on this and start launching MOOCs to recruit new hires and train them in skills needed for success at their company."
Read the rest of the article here.
This shift in recruiting requires a shift in how we use social media in the job search. Instead of a one-time profile clean up, we need to focus on being an attractive candidate online so our dream jobs can find us.
Wondering what it takes to cultivate an online presence? Here are a few resources to help you get started:
- Personal branding 101
- Webinar: Tips for marketing yourself during the job hunt
- Reaching out without creeping out: Your 101 guide to networking online
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by Allison Jones