It’s well known that today employers look for qualified candidates on social media. They browse social media profiles of potential employees, go through their LinkedIn employment history, and even take a quick look at their social life on Instagram.
However, this works both ways. Job seekers can use social media for their benefit when looking for the best employers.
According to the stats by Everyone Social:
- 79% of job applicants search for work opportunities on social media
- Job seekers rank social media platforms as the most useful source for job search
- Millennials are the most active group of job seekers on social media, with 73% of millennials having found their jobs through social media
Social media presents so much value in terms of recruitment and employment because it is an endless supply of social data.
A Brief Intro to Social Data
Coming in huge volumes as it is constantly updated, social data includes but is not limited to:
- Demographic data and location
- Language and biographical data
- Shared feedback (likes, shares, comments) and links
Although social data has some limitations (it is not guaranteed that all social media users will share all the information mentioned above), it presents a lot of value and is often used for marketing purposes as one of the sources of the most accurate information.
Social Data for Job Seekers
Even though it is mostly associated with marketing, social data can bring a lot of benefits for average social media users.
For job seekers, in particular, publicly shared feedback can potentially be the decisive factor when looking for a profitable job.
So, without further ado, let’s take a look at how you can use social data to find the best employers.
1. Job Search Tabs on LinkedIn and Facebook
Companies share a lot of social data. On some social networks, they often use recruitment tools provided for them, which you can take advantage of.
Let’s take a look at Facebook first. Facebook business pages allow adding a Jobs tab for the employers to actively look for candidates on social media:
Image credit: Workable
These tabs, however, are not the source of social data that you need. For that, you need to go to an employer’s main Facebook page, scroll through their feed, and find notification posts about a particular job position. These posts will contain likes and shares, which will indicate the popularity of the employer.
However, the ultimate place to find the best employer (which also generates a lot of social data) is LinkedIn.
Besides a traditional Jobs tab, LinkedIn also allows users to connect with employers of a particular company that often share important information about the company:
Image credit: LinkedIn/Tricentis
If you switch to the Life tab, you’ll be able to see how each employee contributes to the company’s social media brand. There, you’ll come across social data in the forms of likes and comments, which helps see how much employees are engaged in the company’s life.
2. Employer Review Platforms
Good old employer review platforms are also the infinite sources of social data. Their initial intent is to engage people in sharing their feedback about an employer to help others find a better job.
If you’re looking for the best employer for you, websites like Glassdoor should be your go-to platforms, here’s why:
- You can check the company’s status, CEO, awards, etc.
Image credit: Glassdoor
- Social data in the form of reviews, coming from a company’s employees
Image credit: Glassdoor
- Employee interview experiences
Image credit: Glassdoor
On Glassdoor, you can also find the up-to-date ranking of employees worldwide to help you search for the best employer. You can also search employers by industry to find the best option for you.
3. Hashtag Research
The fastest route that connects you and the best employers on social media is a hashtag. It is also a source of social data, as it is shared by thousands of users to spread the message on a certain social network.
“Companies use different hashtags to create an employer brand. However, what’s created for social media, can bring benefits to all social media users, not just a particular employer brand”, says Patrick Stephenson, an HR manager at Flatfy. Patrick hints at the idea that job seekers can benefit from branded hashtags, as they allow them to keep up with:
- Recruitment news
- Company’s activity
- Connections that are the source of social data (employees, partners, etc.)
#Microsoft results on Twitter
Hashtags allow you to receive the details that can become decisive factors when choosing the best employer for you.
In Conclusion
As you can see, social data is not just for marketers. Job seekers can also benefit a lot from information shared on social media. The best part is that it’s already generated for you, no data mining required!
Hopefully, these tips will guide you to help you find the employer and the job you’ve been looking for!
