Using Social Media to Find an Events Job

Gone are the days of sending your resume to a corporate address via snail mail and waiting by the phone to hear back from employers.

The emergence of social media has revolutionized networking and created a world of unimagined opportunities.

Whether you are looking for an events position in a corporation or simply looking to drum up some business for your organization, social media should be your starting place.

This emergent technology helps you form relationships with people you have never met. Let’s face it, the more people you meet, the better your chances of finding the right opportunity.

Below are a few places you should consider as you begin your foray into the social media job hunt.

Follow the Rules – It’s Social

The key word in social media is SOCIAL – Using technologies like Facebook and Twitter is a great way to form relationships with people who share your interests and strengths. The rules of interactions on social media technologies replicate real-time.

If someone offers you a piece of advice, thank them for it. If you need help, ask nicely. This may seem like common sense, but when you are trying to fit a conversation in 140 characters, it can be quite easy to forget the courtesies. This is extremely important to remember as these little interactions will help form the relationships that can lead to your next gig!

Know Your Brand – Who are You?

The first step to making successful connections using social media is to know who you are and what opportunities you are looking for. You are an events professional, but it’s important to figure out what sets you apart from the rest of the event community.

Ask yourself what unique services you provide that your colleagues don’t offer. This is what you need to focus on when leveraging media relationships.

Check out Twitter

Twitter is a great place to begin your social media job search because it hosts a thriving group of event professionals. If you aren’t already using Twitter, start by creating an account and searching for some event planners already tweeting away.

Take some time to see what they tweet and then begin to comment and share your thoughts. Does a colleague have a question that you know the answer to? Share it! Once you establish a few relationships on Twitter, begin to post some event-related content. Post things like articles on hot new tabletop designs and then begin to mix in a “Tip of the Day” or other tidbits that you have learned in the event planning business.

Finally, once you are posting good content that others are retweeting and commenting on, feel free to use the forum to ask for help and ideas.

Warning! I wouldn’t suggest using Twitter to directly market your business or blatantly ask for a job. It’s more effective if you stick to using Twitter for professional, mutually beneficial relationships because you never know where those relationships will naturally lead. This will provide you with a great platform to form partnerships and ULTIMATELY promote your business and job search needs.

Use LinkedIn

LinkedIn is commonly perceived as the “professional” site to be on and rightfully so. LinkedIn provides an amazing technology that is unique and allows you to view and take advantage of the networking ‘reach.’

Using LinkedIn, you can connect with all of the people you know personally – friends, coworkers and people you have worked on projects with. Then, LinkedIn shows you who in your network knows someone you may need to know – that’s reach.

LinkedIn also allows employers to post jobs and will show you who in your network might have a connection to those jobs. This information was not available before social media technologies were developed. It’s important to make sure your profile is completely filled out to maximize LinkedIn’s ability to connect you with potential contacts.

Remember to Make the Most of Professional Event Websites

It is really important to be active in the professional event planning world. Join an association or take some time to meet with other event planners and attend their events. Not only can you learn from other professionals, you gain access to important resources and other small business owners who understand the need to support each other’s businesses.

Start Small

It may seem overwhelming to consider creating profiles on all of these accounts so I suggest you start small.

Try one thing at a time and only keep the technologies that you find the most useful. This will be different for everyone so try everything on for size. It’s worth the time because it is, after all, free to try!