(SOCIAL) Radio Job Hunting? It's Time To Get Social

April 4, 2012

Sadly, another massive round of layoffs has swept over our industry, and many experienced, highly qualified professionals have found themselves in the maddening position of spending every day looking for work rather than doing work. Without a doubt, their eyes are trained on all the industry trade publications and sites, like this one, so they can keep up with what?s going on and maybe get a hint as to where that next job might be.

The proactive task at hand is to market and sell yourself to an employer. More than ever, employers are vetting potential employees using social media and many of the social media marketing strategies employed by major brands can be adopted to help make something good happen for you.

1. Get out there

If you don?t use social media, start. And start with LinkedIn, because 86 percent of employers use it for recruiting. Sixty percent use Facebook to find potential employees. And 14.4 million people used social media to find their last job ? so it must work, right?

2. Carefully craft your social media image

With six unemployed people for every job available, like any good brand, you?ve got to put forth your value proposition. What makes you such a catch compared to everybody else? WARNING: It is a fatal flaw to present yourself as the ?I can do anything? guy. Nobody knows what to do with that, so focus and present yourself as among the very best at one thing.

3. Don?t desperately sell yourself

Brands develop genuine, two-way relationships between products and consumers by consistently delivering desirable, relevant content. You have the advantage, because that?s what you did every day you worked in radio. Don?t make every social interaction an ?I need a job? message. Keep the sales pitch to a minimum and don?t tell people you?re awesome?show them you are with the content you put out.

4. Do some housekeeping

If you have existing social media accounts, edit them and clean them up for future employer consumption. Over-the-top photos or posts could get you turned down. One in three employers has rejected a candidate based on something they found online. Conversely, 24 percent of companies who hired someone judged their personality and potential fit with the company based on their social media pages.

5. Launch marketing ?campaigns?

You?re creative. You?ve dealt with radio promotions your entire career. So come up with something different, catchy, and attention-grabbing. Use themes. Just remember, these are campaigns for branding yourself as an entertainer, not hard-selling yourself as a job seeker.

6. Use each social network differently

LinkedIn for business networking, Facebook to showcase your interests and expertise en masse, Pinterest to use pictures and video to illustrate your achievements, and Twitter for following and engaging with industry heavyweights.

Why do you want to take the time and go to all that trouble to foster these kinds of social media relationships? Because if you think you?re going to score your next gig by answering an ad, you?re really playing the long odds. The cold, hard truth is you get jobs by knowing somebody. And employers have to know you. Social networking is a free and efficient way to make sure plenty of them do.

And a quick P.S. Those of you who are still employed should take advantage of your current security to build up these same kinds of relationships. The social media friends you make today could be your colleagues tomorrow.

Mike Stiles is a brand content specialist with the social marketing tech platform, Vitrue. Check out his monologue blog, The Stiles Files and follow him @mikestiles

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