As a sophomore in college I know what I want to do and where I want to go after graduation; so, I've started looking into what I should be doing now to get where I want to go.
For me, the dream is to be an editor at Harper Collins in England. I have been following several Twitter accounts to try and figure out what type of jobs are available. I wanted to see what I could be a good fit for, and what I should do to make myself the perfect candidate.
In doing some research and in talking to the head of hiring at Harper Collins, there was one thing I noticed that kept coming up: having a social media presence is important.
Of course there are the dos and don'ts that we have all been told since we first got our MySpace accounts back in middle school, and those still apply. Don't post drunk photos. Don't post nude photos. Don't be tagged in pictures that make you look like a no-good partyer.
Those are standard.
But, what is often surprising to a lot of people is actually the necessity of having a presence and a platform on social media. I have been told by several literary agents and publishers, and now by hiring manager at Harper Collins that having some sort of Internet basis for my opinion on books/a following on social media will help me get a job.
If I create a book blog, or show that I know what is going on in the publishing industry, it will increase my chances of getting a job. This isn't new information to me, but it took a long time for me to take it seriously. I knew that working for a place like Buzzfeed would require a largely developed following even before an internship, but I didn't think about it for a traditional job like working in book publishing.
I did some research, and this is what I found.
Posted above are the key findings of a survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management in 2011 and 2013. Even though that already seems like so long ago, it's clear the impact that social media has on a job hunt.
Not only do employers look if you actually have any incriminating photos, but they look to see if you have a presence at all, sometimes questioning why you don't have one.
Advertisement is a big part of every single company. They need to have a way to make money, to get the word out, and in the 21st century it is becoming increasingly clear that the word is getting out into the world through things like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
What the video above shows some of the things a lot of us know already, but it also shows the possibility of getting a job straight out of college. Is social media the reason that some people get jobs straight out of college? Is it the reason that a lot of people don't?
Not only is it important to be on social media for the workforce in the 21st century, but it's important to see just what is out there.
Several companies that everyone knows have already been active in discovering the new resources of social media.
Home Depot has a Facebook page for recruitments.
Google is using Twitter to showcase what working at their company is like.
Starbucks is using Instagram to get the word out about job openings.
It would be an exaggeration to say that everything is changing, because in reality, everything has already changed. The job market isn't what it used to be, and with many college graduates facing unemployment after spending more than $10 thousand and four years to get a worthless degree, it's become nearly impossible to make any kind of impression on a future employer.
Maybe social media is our way to do that. Maybe getting followers for being an expert in the field you want to be a professional in is the key.
Start a blog, get a following, get a job.
Apparently, that's the 21st century.
