Overcoming Social Media Stress

The job search has definitely changed drastically over the past few years. Gone are the days when you'd open the Sunday paper, find a job you like, mail in your resume, get an interview, and land the job! For folks that find themselves laid off after 20+ years with the same company, launching a job search today can feel scary and overwhelming.

Today the use of social media and applying online is an integral part of the job search. Stories of identity theft and the desire to maintain privacy can be very unsettling for some job-seekers. There are some privacy settings you can manage on social media. Facebook allows you some control over who sees what and you can decide who you accept as a "Friend." Be sure to check your privacy settings.

Since over 90% of recruiters use LinkedIn to find candidates, it's imperative to have a LinkedIn profile. If you're not on LinkedIn, it's like you don't exist to recruiters and hiring managers. To help alleviate some of the fear, know that you do have the option of who you accept invitations to connect from.

Research Tools for Your Job Search

Are you trying to uncover a contact within one of your target companies? Or perhaps you're trying to discern what the culture is like within your target company? Or maybe you've got a job interview next week and you're wondering what kinds of questions to expect?

Glassdoor is a great resource for any of the above topics. Glassdoor consists of a database of six million company reviews, CEO approval ratings, salary reports, interview reviews and questions, and more. The cool thing about it is that the information is entirely shared by the employees.

When researching using Glassdoor, if you notice some unfavorable reviews on a target company, it may be from some disgruntled current or former employees. You may want to do further research using some other online tools to check for consistency. A couple of other tools you can use are:

Hoovers Online
Book of Lists
Business Journal
LinkedIn

Do your research to help you land your next job!

Positive Self-Talk & the Job Search

Mindset can positively impact a job-seekers success in landing a job or not and how fast.  Negative self-talk is a form of self-sabotage. It’s important to notice what messages you may be saying to yourself about yourself. If it’s negative, it’s important for you to change your thoughts. Positive thoughts can change how you feel and respond to a particular situation. This in turn will increase the likelihood of bolstering your self-confidence and having a positive outcome. Take a look at the following examples of negative self-talk on the left and on the right examples of positive self-talk. 

Negative Self-Talk Example:	Positive Self-Talk Example:
I’m being discriminated against because of my age.	I have a lot of skills and experience to offer an employer. Plus, my appearance looks up-to-date and I’m up-to-date with technology.
I don’t feel comfortable tooting my own horn.	I will state the facts about my accomplishments so the interviewer sees I’m the best candidate for the position.
I don’t want to get on LinkedIn. I'm not comfortable putting myself out there on social media. What negative self-talk are you saying to yourself? How could you reframe those messages into something positive?	Millions of people are on LinkedIn. If most recruiters seek candidates on LinkedIn, I need to be on LinkedIn.