Creating A Social Media Savvy Resume
Social media profiles as the new career currency
In challenging economic times, how do you stand out in a crowd of candidates, all vying for the same position? Beyond stacking your resume with relevant experience, measurable results and references, there are additional opportunities to increase your chances of securing that job. In the near future, your social media presence will have an increasing influence on your attractiveness to current and future employers.
To make sure we’re all on the same page, I recommend reading the following social media marketing articles before proceeding to build your career credentials with a social-savvy resume:
- Idiotproof Social Media Marketing Optimization Strategies for Businesses
- Social Media Monitoring and Analysis: Brand Building or Corporate Crusher?
- Three Critical Elements of a Successful Social Media Marketing Campaign
- LinkedIn and Twitter Profile Optimization for Dimwits
- Ten Tips For Optimizing Your Online Persona
- How Social Media Networks Facilitate Identity Theft and Fraud
- Integrating Search and Social Media into your Marketing Mix
Social Media Profile Optimization
Assuming you have active LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook profiles, there are a few key steps in leveraging your social presence to help secure that dream job. The first step is to optimize your profiles so they gain visibility within the network and on Google when searching for your name. This means ensuring your name appears prominently and regularly throughout your profiles (and blog), along with other keywords that describe your previous experience, expertise and desired position.
Profile Syndication
Once your profiles are keyword-optimized, ensure they are properly integrated and syndicated. For example, you can add an automated Twitter feed to Facebook and your blog (and vice versa). You can also automate the communications process with tools like HootSuite, TweetDeck andPing.FM. The objective is to minimize the time you spend managing your profiles, while still maintaining an active presence.
Social Resume Development
Only the savviest of employers research a potential employees’ social media presence. Depending on your level of experience, activity and philosophy, this can be a blessing or curse. For example, which would be less desirable to a company looking for a savvy salesperson: a candidate with no social media presence, or one with an active presence, yet with some inappropriate content? Perhaps neither, depending on the company and job requirements.
Based on my experience over the years as a manager, marketer and host of a monthly career networking event, I believe the resume of the future will integrate your social media credentials. Below are a few examples of critical social media elements to incorporate into your social-savvy resume:
- Profile handles/URLs (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, blog, etc.)
- Statistics on each profile (connections, content quality & quantity, overall engagement within the community)
Metrics That Matter
When incorporating your social media profiles into your resume, don’t forget that the major platforms provide free analytics. Key metrics that may matter to employers (particularly those looking for sales, business development or marketing types) include original content, connections and votes.
Ideally, the profiles will have a high ranking in searches for your name and will be easy for employers to find. While not all metrics listed above are possible for an employer to validate, they are relatively easy to compile and update on your resume. Below are a few specific insights for the top platforms:
LinkedIn
While a greater number of connections shows breadth, it’s also important to show depth, which can be measured by the number of recommendations or endorsements by those in your network. Additionally, a higher number of Best Answers in Q&A shows engagement and thought leadership.
Twitter
Similar to LinkedIn connections, followers show breadth, but not depth. To get a better feel for influence, analyze the volume of tweets, retweets and references. One tool, Twitalyzer, provides an algorithmic approach to analyzing these holistic factors when giving each profile a rank out of 100.
Facebook
Due to the nature of the platform, Facebook is not conventionally known as a business networking community. That said, you can learn a good deal about a potential employee based on their friends, wall posts, likes and photos. As a potential employee, you need to be aware of the possibility your profile is being viewed and ensure all questionable content is removed or privacy settings are properly set.
Blogs
There are a few core metrics you can use to evaluate the credibility of a blog. First and foremost, look at how long the blog has been around (archives should be accessible), the volume and consistency of posts, the volume of comments, Diggs, retweets and trackbacks. Additionally, you can evaluate overall influence by looking at the Technorati ranking for any given blog, as well as its overall visibility in search results.
If you are looking to secure your current position or looking for a new job, building, optimizing, syndicating and managing your social media presence will be increasingly important to employers looking for more strategic hires. So update your resume today and start managing your profiles carefully and thoughtfully with your dream job in mind.