Why did you join face book or twitter or linked in or even Skype and other social media? Was it a bang wagon feeling or you had a purpose? Was the purpose to catch up with old friends and family? Did you know that those platforms can be used to your benefit in many ways to advance your career?
People don’t know that they can use these social media sites to their advantage as platforms to advance their careers
Here are some of the ways I have searched from different online sites that can be useful for one to advance their career.
Marketing one’s self
Social media can be used to advertise one’s self and one’s works. This works especially for people who are gifted as writers, artists, phographers, people whose skills are visible because they just have to put their works out there on websites and blogs.
Millions of blogs exist today, websites that offer regular entries of commentary,
news, pictures, music, audio, and video. Blogs may be personal in nature, on particular
topics, aimed at particular audiences, or sponsored by companies or organizations.
Put all your works online
We are all gifted and because of this, many times our good works go unnoticed because people do not get to know what really do. We end up not getting appreciated and not marketed at all and yet we spend a lot of time online without doing much.
An example here is Edward Echwalu, a prominent photographer who has managed to achieve what he has now because of his blog. He didn’t have much to show as experience when looking for a job but he managed to show his blog with some of the best pictures he had taken when still a student. This earned him a job a s a photo editor at one of Uganda’s leading newspapers.
Networking
These social networks are great for one to meet people and get acquitted with them before officially getting to know them. Try following these people on twitter, get to befriend them on face book and get to know them about their likes and wall posts, how they argue other issues and also their backgrounds on linked in. You can even introduce yourself to them on skype. These sites can also be used to socialize with fellow professionals in a given field like writers, lawyers and may others.
Linked In helps you working professionals and allows you to make “connections” with people you’ve dealt with in business whether they’re colleagues, clients or employers. You can also search for people by name or keywords, and ask others to write you a recommendation. It’s a great platform to find out about new job opportunities or even be head-hunted by recruiters. Upload your work experience, ask for recommendations and start making connections.
Social networks are good for job searches
Use these top social and professional networking sites to enhance your career and boost your job search, and learn how to use social networking sites to job search.
When you’re seeking employment, Twitter can be an effective part of your job search strategy. Used in conjunction with LinkedIn, job search engines, and other job sites, Twitter can help you make connections, find job listings, and build a personal brand that will help boost your career and expedite your job search.
Updating others
Social networks like linked in and face book can be used to update others about what one has been up to in their career. Here, you can share your achievements in a particular project Warren suggests that it’s a good idea to update your status, to better inform your connections what you’ve been up to. It’s one cheap way of communicating to many people at the same time without incurring extra costs.
Nice piece and useful tips- but i know that the problem is not knowing about these different avenues of putting oneself out there, the problem is know just how much to put out there, and most importantly – what to put
Dear Anders,
The answer of what to put out there always comes back to what you want the world to percieve you as? If you want the world to know you as a proffestional writer, post links of your articles, or as an engineer, post proffestional opinions in engineering, always look at it as an opportunity to to market or show what you are good at.