Social Media
Changing careers can have a great impact on your personal and professional life. Hence, before you decide to make the change you must have clarity on why you want to change career and how you will proceed with the process to achieve the results you expect. Different people change careers for different reasons. However, in most cases, it is because people feel stuck and bored with the monotony of the job they do. It is, therefore, imperative to be clear about why you want to make these changes.
Once you are sure about the why you also need to think about the how. Planning your career change is the right way to assure that you have a job in hand which ensures financial and job security. Upgrading your knowledge is one of the best ways to ensure that you can land a better job than the one you have at hand. For this, you need to have the right degrees and certifications; perhaps an engineering degree would be the right one for you.
We live in a world where social media has become an integral part of our personal and professional life. While you can use social media to let your loved ones know about your whereabouts and activities you can also use social media as a tool to change your career positively.
Let’s take a quick look at 5 ways how you can use social media to make a positive career change.
Do Real-Time Research
Even before you decide what career path you want to take it is essential that you have relevant data and information to help you make an informed choice. The power of the internet today makes it easier for us to go through different professional and career-development websites and forums. However, you need more than just essential information to make that career transition.
With the help of social media, you can dig deeper into what fields are right for you and how you can utilize your current set of skills, knowledge, experience, degrees and certifications. Social media is a great tool which allows you to interact with people online and get to know first-hand information about the field you are interested in. For instance, you can use LinkedIn where you can connect with people and interact as well. You can also gather more relevant information on how you can choose the right degree programs and certifications required to get the desired job or work opportunity.
Collate Insider Insights and Knowledge
Being on social media can allow you to follow various industry leaders, experts and influencers who constantly provide updates, news and tips that can help you make the most of it. When you are planning to change career you need to have updated information about what’s happening within the industry and what is the future. While you can read information on various blogs and websites, social media is the best way to collate insider knowledge and insights that can help you prepare for the career transition you want to make. To begin with, you can use relevant hashtags to find information on relevant career paths and choices that you want to make.
Show Employers What You Got
One of the main challenges that most professionals face when switching careers is that they hardly have any experience in the field they want to transition to. However, a lack of experience doesn’t necessarily mean that the individual has no relevant skill. When you are making that career change you likely have the required skill or talent required in your new career path, but you don’t know how to take it to the employers.
Once again you can use social media as a tool to showcase what you got. If you already have the necessary skill or have mastered it over time you can post that on social media to reach out to relevant companies and employers. This is an ideal way to let people know what you can do and how you can make a difference if you are hired, even when you do not have any relevant experience as yet.
Similarly, if you are planning to move laterally within your current organization you can use social media to attract the attention of your superiors and let them know that you are a good choice if there are internal promotions.
Expand Your Professional Network
Apart from gathering relevant knowledge, insights, updates, news and information, you can also use social media as a tool to expand and improve your professional network. This is a great way to reach out to more people who can help you look out for the opportunities you seek. Unlike offline professional networks, online professional networks are far-reaching and you can meet, connect and interact with professionals from different cities and companies.
Having a solid professional network can make your search process easier and faster. If you are planning a career change you can post relevant information on your profile for others to read. Having more people in your network means more people can help you find relevant job offers which match your requirements and preferences.
Track and Apply for Relevant Opportunities
Social media platforms today are more than just interaction platforms. Today, most brands and companies have their presence online and have their social media accounts. Both Facebook and LinkedIn have job sections which allow you to look out for relevant work opportunities that you would like to switch to. You can set email notifications and alarms for certain job titles to make the search process efficient.
Conclusion
A career change can happen at any time in a professional career. However, you must know why you are doing it and how you can get it done. Using social media as a tool you can gather relevant information, connect with industry experts and influencers, showcase your skills and talent, make network connections and apply for relevant job opportunities. This ensures that you can positively make the shift in your career which can lead to better job satisfaction and financial and job security.
