Ask the Social Media Guy: Pink slip 2.0

• Dec 15th, 2008
• Posted by jhagy
• Posted in Social Media

Q:
I just got laid off. How can social media help me get a new gig?

A:
Your pink slip is a great opportunity to embed yourself into the social media landscape.

Not only can you forge new connections, get back in touch with old contacts, and brand yourself online, but you can also make yourself more valuable to future employers. And we all know that “more valuable” is secret business code for “more expensive.”

You need to set up profiles (the more detailed and numerous, the better) on (at the very least) LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. You can use one of those pages as your homepage, or you can set up a blog (it’s simple and free, unless you want to get fancy) at WordPress, Blogger, or Tumblr. Look for industry-specific niche sites, too.

Post your resumé, pieces of work if you have them, and enough about you that your personality (effervescent and charming—never desperate, bitter or depressed) and skill-set are obvious.

Ask everyone in your address book who isn’t a spammer to post about your plight and pass on your information. What you know is who you know—especially now that social media is becoming a dominant form of media.

Not only should you work all the contacts you already have, but you should reach out and make new ones. If you’re introverted, fake being a people-person online (at least until you land a gig) and you’ll eat less ramen.

Frankly, laid-off or not, everyone needs to have their profiles in good shape online. It’s 2008, and there’s really no excuse for not having an online presence. The most important reference that ant employer will check is Google. If Google doesn’t know you, then nobody does.

If you have a name like Joe Smith, Michael Jackson, Jane Doe, or Alex Rodriguez, you have my sympathy. Google will not give your resume much love. Try to include your middle name if your name is ordinary, in order to give those searching for you a better chance of finding you. Always include your desired job title in your profiles, too. That way, if someone searches for “Jim Jones” + “VP of Sales,” they’ll have a better chance of finding Jimmy and offering him a job as an administrative assistant.

Now that you’ve put up as much info as you can, search for yourself, and if you find anything embarrassing or non-professional, do whatever you can to take it down. Bribery is encouraged in such situations.

Good luck. Oh, and one last hint: the shrimp-flavored ramen will give you nightmares and rashes. Always go for the chicken-flavor instead.

Have a Q for us? Shoot it over to askus@springcreekgroup.com