You have worked hard and paid the piper. You’ve put in the blood, sweat and tears….toiling into the night, skipping lunch all to prove your commitment, keep up your productivity and ensure your job security! Has anyone noticed? Just in case you are not being acknowledged or appreciated for your hard work, don’t worry.
You may be thinking about what you can do to get the news of your abilities or potential known within your career space. Or, you might be brainstorming future steps to expand your personal brand and make your job search more successful…..In either case, two immensely valuable outlets for you could be a combination of popular social media outlets such as Linked-In an Twitter.
Now, you may be tempted to dismiss this out of hand…after all, you may think this new-fangled social media gadgets are too difficult and very professional. But there are many ways to be promoting your talents and abilities while contributing and/or learning from the plentiful groups that exist in this social media outlet. Anyway you look at it, separately or in combination, social media can be incalculably valuable in terms of its contribution to your personal branding and job seeking efforts.
We’re talking about:
• Joining FREE social media outlets that GIVE you exposure in PROFESSIONAL forums where you can both LEARN and PROVIDE content to the greater community at large which in the end lends great credibility to your position as an expert in your field.
Furthermore, when you start building a following or begin dialogue with individuals who actually like the content you are producing, it’s really about building up YOU and it’s an acceptable venue….it’s a veritable coup! The power of these venues lies in the reciprocal dialogue you have when you pipe in on a topic or start a discussion on your own that is related to a professional topic you have expertise in. It lends credibility which is absolutely priceless!
And, let’s face it—being seen as an expert sets you apart from other JOB SEEKERS and distinguishes you as a leader in your industry. Not only does it boost your status above that of your peers in the eyes of the public, it also makes them aware of what YOU are specifically interested in and helps them form a positive opinion about you.
If you decide to seek future employment, you are searchable for your contributions in these forums and guess what? Potential employers will read your carefully crafted responses and based upon the findings, may deem you worth seeking out to interview over the droves of other applicants who have yet to delve into this avenue of Personal Brand Management.
The bottom line is that getting yourself into the habit of logging into Linked-In and Twitter can have a very positive impact on the success of your job search. A note of warning, be aware that you are judged – however unfairly, on your careful selection of words (or lack thereof) so select your words carefully, but do engage! You can invest much or little of your personal time to these social media options—it’s your choice. But there are great benefits if used wisely whichever you choose to embrace.
Happy Job Hunting,
The Résumé Lady