Gone are the days when social media&rsquo;s sole purpose was to develop and maintain personal connections. In fact,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/more-than-half-of-employers-have-found-content-on-social-media-that-caused-them-not-to-hire-a-candidate-according-to-recent-careerbuilder-survey-300694437.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">recent research</a>&nbsp;from Career Builder proves that 70 percent of employers use social media to screen candidates during the hiring process.
As social media platforms&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/28/18116323/instagram-ai-visual-impairment-description?utm_campaign=theverge&amp;utm_content=chorus&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter" rel="noopener" target="_blank">improve their accessibility</a>, job seekers with disabilities have greater access to employment opportunities through these networks. While LinkedIn remains the primary social media platform for job seekers to look for jobs, each social network can help make you a desirable candidate for a recruiter or hiring manager. Actively developing your social media presence and showcasing your experience is a great way to build name recognition and compensate for employment gaps or lack of employment experience.
As you set goals and map out your plans for this new year, consider implementing the following practices to maximize your social media presence for a successful job search in 2024:
<ol>
<li>Complete/update your profiles&nbsp;&ndash; Quite often recruiters use social media platforms to find applicants before a job has been posted. If your profile is incomplete or doesn&rsquo;t match up to what they see in a resume, they may quickly move on. Completing and updating each section of your profile &ndash; including employment history, education, and skills &ndash; demonstrates that you&rsquo;re serious about your job search. </li>
<li>Join relevant conversations/groups&nbsp;&ndash; Across social media platforms, conversations are happening that connect to your career interest area(s). Joining and participating in relevant groups on LinkedIn and Facebook or participating in industry-specific Twitter chats will allow you to expand your networks and follow interesting discussions. This demonstrates your passion and dedication to a specific profession or field of study. There are also numerous disability-specific groups across social media platforms that often post job opportunities (i.e.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/livingwithmd/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Living with M.D.</a>&nbsp;and the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/259008737631118/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Blind and Visually Impaired Support Group</a>). </li>
<li>Refine your privacy settings&nbsp;&ndash; Many people dedicate time at the start of the year to &ldquo;de-clutter&rdquo; their social media, including pairing down their connections and getting rid of questionable content. It&rsquo;s also a great time to make sure that your personal social network pages are set to &ldquo;private.&rdquo; Keep in mind that this doesn&rsquo;t mean your posts can never be seen by potential employers, especially when you share mutual connections. Certain aspects of your profile may still be viewable, such as contact and basic info, work experience, and education. Use caution when posting content by asking yourself, &ldquo;Would there be concern if my employer saw this?&rdquo; </li>
<li>Inform connections of your search&nbsp;&ndash; In addition to participating in groups and industry conversations on social media, directly informing your connections that you&rsquo;re searching for a job is a great way to learn about opportunities. Ensure that your resume is uploaded online so you can share it. Platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook will allow you to house your resume within your profile. Otherwise, you may choose to send a link to your personal website where you should have a digital copy. </li>
<li>Stay current&nbsp;&ndash; Staying up-to-date on current events that support diversity and disability inclusion, including relevant awareness campaigns and commemorative months/days, can lead you to the right employer.&nbsp;Also, consider following relevant hashtags on Twitter and Facebook, as these will often lead to potential connections that you can reach out to. </li>
<li>Follow and engage with relevant employers&nbsp;&ndash; Use your social media presence to engage with potential employers, including commenting and sharing their blog posts and other activities. Additionally, lookout for media messaging that focuses on inclusive employer initiatives. By following these employer profiles, you have background and context for industry-wide priorities and can share insights and perspectives on your platforms. </li>
<li>Maintain consistency&nbsp;&ndash; When it comes to the job search, be sure not to neglect or overlook one social media platform over another. Use consistent information across your social media profiles and on your resume. This includes your employment history, skills, education, and contact information. This eliminates confusion for potential employers. </li>
<li>Add your profiles to your resume/website&nbsp;&ndash; An employer should be able to access your online profiles easily. Just as it is important to include email addresses on your job search materials (resume, website, etc.), it is equally as important to list your professional social media handles. Once again, this demonstrates your active engagement in your industry of interest and proves you have nothing to hide. </li>
<li>Perfect your profile photo&nbsp;&ndash; Pictures continue to speak volumes, and an appropriate headshot can go a long way in demonstrating your professionalism and seriousness about your job search. While it isn&rsquo;t always necessary for your profile photo to be business formal, it is important to ensure that it is high-quality (not grainy) and we recommend at least business casual. </li>
<li>Don&rsquo;t erase your profiles&nbsp;&ndash; Sometimes fears of a potential employer finding something negative or embarrassing can cause job seekers to completely erase their social media profiles. Research demonstrates that having a lack of social media presence often serves as a red flag for employers. In fact, a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/more-than-half-of-employers-have-found-content-on-social-media-that-caused-them-not-to-hire-a-candidate-according-to-recent-careerbuilder-survey-300694437.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">2018 CareerBuilder survey</a>&nbsp;shared that 47 percent of employers wouldn&rsquo;t call a person for an interview if they couldn&rsquo;t find them online. To many, it lacks professionalism and insinuates that there&rsquo;s something to hide.</li>
</ol>
For more information about social media tips in finding a job, feel free to&nbsp;contact the CareerCircle team&nbsp;for more information at team@careercircle.com.
Contributions to this blog were made by Andra&eacute;a LaVant of Solutions Marketing Group.

Maximize your job search in 2024 by leveraging social media to build your professional presence and network.

10 Social Media Tips for Finding a New Job in the New Year

Here at CareerCircle, our goal is to change the technology industry for the better by making it more diverse and inclusive. We get there by impacting individual lives like the ones below.
Here&rsquo;s what our members have been saying recently.
<h2 style="text-align: center;">What Our Members Are Saying</h2>
One of the services that we offer to members is the chance to have a 1-on-1 call with an experienced career coach to guide you through your job search. 

<img src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/voqPGV5mSDg5pNSkRuQQ" alt="undefined" width="145" height="145" class="butter-float-left">
<blockquote>

</blockquote>
 &ldquo;Lena [one of CareerCircle&rsquo;s career coaches] was very knowledgeable and professional, and fit many helpful tips into our call. Her upbeat tone and friendly manner opened our rapport immediately. I was grateful and excited to work on the action items from our call and appreciate having her as a resource for questions from now on.&rdquo; - Kathryn Deeks

 
<img src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/2gUgS9z0Q8u08f2QLhHW" alt="undefined" width="145" height="145" class="butter-float-right"> &ldquo;The career coach was wonderful and she helped me to make a very smart choice. I am so grateful for such an opportunity given to me to air out my issues and get the advice that she gave to address such a problem. Thanks a lot! I really do appreciate it!&rdquo; -&nbsp;Chizitere Izugo


 It&rsquo;s not just the career coaching we provide! We also partner with nonprofit organizations, like RISE, to support members throughout their career certificate program and then advocate for them as they begin their new career journey.
Many of our members move on to roles that dramatically change their lives, including better titles and pay. Jen and Curtis are two of those members! 
<img src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/HeKCvBADRHKYzBilokRo" alt="undefined" width="145" height="145" style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;" class="butter-float-left"> &ldquo;I felt that Data Analytics would be a nice certificate as a way to be a provider of the data rather than a receiver, and the base pay that was presented to be associated with the certificate was appealing. I had a job gap and I felt like upskilling was a way to leverage my career. I had about a 4-year job gap and my current company found me via LinkedIn because of my resume and skills. My pay has increased 13% since my previous job. Thank you for all of the support!&rdquo; -&nbsp;Jen Kober, RISE


<img src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/tD8nUVcgRKOcC8dWwuCm" alt="undefined" width="145" height="145" class="butter-float-right">
 &ldquo;Taking the certificate helped me refresh my knowledge and get back on a technical path. The resources you get from the certificate and from CareerCircle after completing are so helpful. Can't wait to start my new job!&rdquo; - Curtis Johnson 
It means the world to us to be able to be a resource and advocate for our members. To learn more about what we provide, <a href="https://www.careercircle.com/blog/post/what-is-careercircle">check out our recent blog post</a>.
To join CareerCircle and get access to tools like 1-on-1 career coaching, resume builders, and more,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.careercircle.com/candidates/signup">click here</a>.&nbsp;

Here at CareerCircle, our goal is to change the technology industry for the better. We get there by impacting individual lives like these.

What Our Members Are Saying

Here at CareerCircle, our goal is to change the technology industry for the better by making it more diverse and inclusive. We get there by impacting individual lives like the ones in this post.

CareerCircle was founded in 2019 to bridge the skills gap facing the technology industry. Our Managing Director <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kim-sneeder-a49a723/" rel="follow noopener" target="_blank">Kim Sneeder</a> brought her 25 years of experience at Allegis to this new venture and made CareerCircle&rsquo;s success her passion.&nbsp;
 
&ldquo;I was given the incredible opportunity to build CareerCircle with a focus on serving underrepresented talent in tech. During my career, I have constantly worked to advocate for women and people of color in the tech industry, but CareerCircle has given me the chance to do that work at scale. We&rsquo;ve since built an ecosystem of 150 nonprofits, upskilling opportunities, and wraparound career services with a heightened level of advocacy to help our incredible members secure life-changing roles.&rdquo;
 

Our platform has been growing every day since then and in 2023 we have become the exclusive jobs platform for US-based Google Career Certificate graduates and the Google Employer Consortium, reached over 100,000 members, placed over 1,500 people into new jobs, and, by the end of the year, we will have helped to upskill more than 10,000 people.

<h2 style="text-align: center;">What Is CareerCircle?</h2>

Through our digital talent platform, we connect underserved community members with career resources like certificates and the job opportunities that they need to advance their lives and provide companies with the diverse, skilled talent they are looking to hire.
Think of our platform like a circle.
<img src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/AGJRTdAGTOCDFQJbipjb" alt="MicrosoftTeams-image (8).webp" width="1041" height="517" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
Members join our free platform either on their own, through certificate scholarship opportunities from our nonprofit partners like RISE, or after completing upskilling certificate programs like the Google Career Certificate program.
If a member joins through a scholarship opportunity, they are provided a Member Experience Advisor to guide them through their certificate program and act as a champion and advocate throughout their career journey.
After their upskilling is complete, we help members build out their profile through Traitify Assessments and personality quizzes that help members understand their values and skills in the workplace. When they&rsquo;re ready to job search we provide tools like resume builders and templates, interview preparation tools, and 1:1 career coaching. Members can also take a proactive role in their job search by using job alerts and our job board to find the right job for their goals.
Throughout this entire process, our recruiting team is using our talent platform as a diverse talent pipeline to pull candidates for open positions and provide that dedicated recruiting support that people can&rsquo;t get anywhere else. Our employment partners get the diverse, skilled talent that their organizations need to be successful and we place our members in jobs that change their lives for the better.
<h2 style="text-align: center;"></h2>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Our Impact</h2>

<a href="https://www.wiley.com/edge/site/assets/files/2689/diversity_in_tech_2021_us_report_by_mthree.pdf" rel="follow noopener" target="_blank">According to a 2021 Wiley survey</a>, 68% of business leaders feel there is a lack of diversity in the tech industry and 51% say they struggle to hire diverse entry-level talent. When we were founded we aimed to bridge the skills gap and made it our mission to find jobs for communities who are often underrepresented in the technology industry.
We approach that mission with an equity over equality mindset that ensures that each member gets the direct support they need, no matter their circumstances. And the same goes for our employer partners. We approach every member, organization, and nonprofit by being a consultative partner to ensure that our strategy is catered to their success.
And it&rsquo;s working.
According to <a href="https://www.zippia.com/advice/diversity-in-high-tech-statistics/#:~:text=White%20employees%20account%20for%2062,20%25%20of%20the%20technology%20field." rel="follow noopener" target="_blank">a Zippia study</a>, just over 26% of tech jobs are held by women, and in the US tech industry, 62% of jobs are held by white Americans, while Black Americans hold 7%, Latinx Americans hold 8% and Asian Americans hold 20% of jobs.
Meanwhile, at CareerCircle, our 2023 placements are significantly more diverse. So far this year:
<ul>
<li>32% are Black</li>
<li>28% are white</li>
<li>25% are Hispanic</li>
<li>14% are Asian</li>
<li>36% identify as Women</li>
</ul>

<h2 style="text-align: center;">How to Get Involved</h2>

We are constantly growing, adding new features, and committed to bringing our services to anyone who needs support to make a career change, grow their skills, or just explore how upskilling with advocacy support can change their life.
<h3></h3>
<h3>If you&rsquo;re a job seeker:</h3>
<ul>
<li>Join the platform: If you haven&rsquo;t already, join the platform to get access to free job resources like resume builders, interview prep, and 1-on-1 career coaching. You can sign up <a href="https://www.careercircle.com/candidates/signup" rel="follow noopener" target="_blank">here</a>.</li>
<li>Apply for jobs:&nbsp;Our job board is filled with roles for people looking to break into the technology industry. Remember: You need to be a member to use the job board and set up a job alert so make sure to join first!</li>
</ul>
<h3></h3>
<h3>If you&rsquo;re an organization:</h3>
<ul>
<li>Get direct recruiting support: If you&rsquo;re looking to post a job, get direct recruiting support, access our platform, or be a part of a custom or multi-employer virtual job fair,&nbsp;<a href="https://go.careercircle.com/request-a-demo" rel="follow noopener" target="_blank">get in touch with our team</a> to learn how we can get you set up.</li>
<li>Sign up for an employer account: Our free employer account allows you to get a preview of using the platform for your sourcing needs. You can request a demo <a href="https://go.careercircle.com/talent-solutions-request-a-demo" rel="follow noopener" target="_blank">here</a>. Remember: You need to use your company email to register.</li>
</ul>

CareerCircle closes the opportunity divide and develops the workforce of tomorrow.

What Is CareerCircle?

Our platform has been growing every day and in 2023 we have become the exclusive jobs platform for US-based Google Career Certificate graduates and the Google Employer Consortium, reached over 100,000 members, placed over 1,500 people into new jobs, and, by the end of the year, we will have helped to upskill more than 10,000 people.

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10 Social Media Tips for Finding a New Job in the New Year

What Our Members Are Saying

What Is CareerCircle?

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