3 Social Media Ways to Build Your Executive Job Search Network

Networking has always been the best way to land an executive job.

Along with maintaining strong ties to your network throughout your career, when you’re in active job search mode, you’ll need to cast a far-reaching net to encompass new, targeted connections.

Step one in planning your job search campaign is researching and targeting 15-20 companies that will be a mutual good fit.

Working from your list of target companies, identify key hiring decision makers and start networking your way to them.

→ Determine whether you know other employees at the companies – either directly or through others in your network.

→ Try to get introductions from employees to the hiring decision makers. Employers are more attracted to people referred by their own employees because they feel they already know them. And the referring employees may receive a monetary reward for bringing in a good-fit candidate. Everybody wins.

In the new world of executive job search, social networking has become an essential strategy, with LinkedIn topping the list of must-do social media for personal marketing.

Hiring decision makers and recruiters at your target companies are using social media to find good-fit candidates like you. You should establish a presence there, and be looking for them there, too. Meet them where they’re hanging out.

Here are 3 tips to use social media to expand your connections and boost your networking efforts:

LinkedIn Company Search

Log into your LinkedIn account and go to “Find Companies”, in the drop-down menu under “Companies” along the top of the page.

Search for each company on your target list. When you land on a company profile, look for the top-level executives and other employees with LinkedIn profiles, and see if you know anyone. Ask to connect with them.

If you don’t know any of the employees, check out their profiles and see if they’re connected to anyone you know, so that you can ask for an introduction to the employee.

And don’t forget to brand your LinkedIn profile and make it 100% complete, to be found in passive job search and provide people assessing you an understanding of your unique value to your target employers.

Twitter

Join Twitter, craft a keyword-rich, branded Twitter bio and include a link to your website or a web page with further relevant information about you.

Search Twitter for the same hiring decision makers and employees at your target companies, and the Twitter accounts for the companies themselves.

Follow them and stay top of mind with them by retweeting them, favoriting their tweets and sending out @mentions (tweets that include their Twitter name).

Many companies have a Twitter presence these days. If they see an @mention in their Twitter stream, it will likely be noticed.

Google Alerts

By now you should know some of the hiring decision makers at your target companies. Sign up for Google Alerts to have them send you an email with links to the highest-ranked latest news and information published on the Web relevant to the names and keywords you have chosen as Alerts.

Along with setting up Alerts for your own name (to track what people will find when they Google your name), set up Alerts for the following: