Companies are becoming more tech savvy, using twitter, facebook and other social media venues to interact with customers and “potential employees?” Did I just say “potential employees?!” Yes, companies are using social media venues to interact and promote their company to potential employees. This new trend is pushing job searching into the 21st century and creating a new venue for employers to search for the right candidate.
Companies like Sygenta, Simplot, General Mills, Kelloggs, Caterpillar and Cargill have personal Facebook pages just for their career section. PepsiCo, General Mills, Dow Agrosciences and Syngenta have similar twitter pages directed towards their career section. This is a movement incoming professionals need to pay attention to.
Several of these pages post job and internship openings, while others give career tips. These pages are full of information and are also great places to interact with recruiters on a daily basis. If you become a regular contributor to these pages, your name may become recognizable to recruiters.
Using these social media outlets can be very rewarding when interviewing with these companies. Company Facebook pages and Twitter accounts will post updates and recent news about the company. When researching the company for an interview, use their social media sites to discover insider information that other interviewees may not have access to.
There are also several career development companies and programs that give people tips and forward job postings onto their fans and followers. CALS Career Services is an example of one such program. We have a facebook page, “CALS Career Services-UW Madison” and a twitter page, @CALS_Careers. We post career development tips, jobs postings and event updates. Using social media has proven to be very useful for companies and the employees they are looking for.
