Chapter 14

Using Social Media to Land a Great Job

Miranda: O wonder!

How many goodly creatures are there here!

How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world

That has such people in it!

Prospero: ’Tis new to thee.

—Shakespeare, The Tempest, act 5, scene 1

You have a polished portfolio, a beautiful résumé, and a brand new set of business cards. You’ve designed a creative Web site that showcases the best of what you have to offer as a creative. In short, you are ready for the world of work. You’ve scoured the newspapers and pored over online job boards, yet you can’t seem to find the design jobs you seek. Where are they? What’s going on? Social media—that’s what! Gone are the days when you simply located a job in the newspaper and submitted your résumé. The job market today requires a much different strategy for locating the job of your dreams. You’ve surely heard the expression, “you just have to get your foot in the door . . . ,” but how does that happen? How do you effectively find the best possibilities for employment and then get yourself noticed and invited in for an interview? The focus of this chapter is the strategic use of social media as a job-seeking tool. You’ll learn about how to leverage your LinkedIn and Facebook pages, as well as your Twitter account to find jobs in your area of expertise. Of course, once you locate that job, you’ll need some help to get noticed and social media usage can help you with that as well.

According to a recent study commissioned by Microsoft, ...

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