The early days of social media were just a few short years ago. Many companies thought that the social media “fad” would soon be gone.  It is transforming industry the same way that it happened years ago with the introduction of the internet, railroad, printing press, and the assembly line. Social media has become social business, according to the speakers and executives attending the Working Mother Media conference called “The Business of Social Media” in New York City on June 14.

It’s Just a Fad!

America’s CEO’s now know that social media is one of the most effective ways to listen, communicate and share with customers and important partners.  It’s also an important component of engaging employees and recruiting talent.  Recruiters and hiring managers are engaging with candidates on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and all of the other social media platforms.

It all happened so fast.  Social media, recruiting, employer branding, personal branding, and job search are all combining to form a very interesting new set of opportunities for companies and higher education. What is the impact for students and recruiters?

Recruiters have very rapidly adopted LinkedIn for mid level and senior executive identification and search. The university recruiters from many companies are also starting to use LinkedIn for candidate identification. At the same time, colleges and universities are gearing up to teach students. The college market is currently the fastest growing segment for LinkedIn.

Most of the college students I encounter have a very average or sub-par LinkedIn profile. They need to learn how to make their profile shine and attract viewers. By using keywords, a student or job seeker can become easily searchable. Some of the college Career offices know how to teach this skill, but many are calling in outside experts which is usually very wise.

Beyond great profiles, there are some additional ways that colleges and coaches can help students with internship and job search.  Teach students how to do advanced searching and professional networking on LinkedIn including the proper etiquette. This is often a missing component but extremely important for students to learn. The other big opportunity for colleges and coaches is with Twitter.  Students are flocking to Twitter in droves and recruiters are there too!

Those of us in the business of coaching college students on social career search are teaching Twitter networking and job search skills. From a career perspective, Twitter chats are a great example of a way to connect to industry leaders very rapidly. Twitter, like LinkedIn, is a fantastic way to research and follow a perspective employer or industry.

There are career fairs on Facebook, job postings on LinkedIn, interviews on Google + hangout,  and basic search and networking everywhere.  We have moved way past fad.  Just as companies are scrambling to keep up with social tech, so too are colleges, universities, students and individual job seekers. Social business is here to stay.

How are you adjusting to social business?

© 2013 Sandra Long. All rights reserved.