By guest blogger, Trish Freshwater, Sr. Communications Manager for Sodexo's Talent Acquisition Group
Ever wonder if social media could help you land your next job? The good news is that Sodexo’s Talent Acquisition team is actively using several online opportunities to find you. Even better news is that I am one of a small, but growing, list of candidates who were hired thanks to these social interactions.
Earlier this year, I spotted a position for a senior communications manager at Sodexo on the job board indeed.com. Knowing that communications jobs are often flooded with applicants, I knew I needed to do something different to make myself stand out from the crowd. I wanted to be noticed as a strong contender for the position and a savvy communications professional.
Fortunately, my previous job allowed me to experiment and learn the many ways in which a number of social mediums are used for personal, professional and business purposes. So, I decided to put these tools to the test.
My first step was to update my resume and my personal web site. These would serve as the foundation for all information about me. But, much more essential to networking, I needed to update my LinkedIn profile with relevant information and recommendations from former colleagues, and join the Sodexo Careers – Past, Present & Future networking group. Having done some quick searches, I found that key Sodexo people had profiles on LinkedIn – and I wanted them to be able to find my profile, too.
Once I had some names, I then began a number of people searches on Twitter. I wanted to find the official @SodexoUSA Twitter account and the @SodexoCareers account. I started following each of these, plus any individuals who listed a job title related to Talent Acquisition, the department where my job was housed. Perhaps the most influential person I began to follow was @Arie_Ball, vice president of Talent Acquisition, as she and Sherie Valderrama (@SValderrama), senior director for Talent Acquisition, were responsible for hiring for my position.
I remember my excitement the day that I learned Arie was following me back. I took it as a good sign for my progress in the hiring process – and indeed it was. Somewhere between my discreet, yet targeted, re-tweeting of @SodexoCareers posts and my regular communications-related tweeting, Arie saw something she liked. And, she forwarded my profile information to Senior Recruiter Neil Kilgallon (@nmk_1022).
Once Neil reached out to me, the ball started rolling from the initial phone screening to a series of interviews and a writing test. Finally, a month after Neil’s first direct message to me on Twitter, Sherie offered me the job.
Perhaps even more cool, during my second week on the job, @SodexoCareers saw a tweet by @ToryJohnson with Good Morning America. She was seeking examples of people who landed their job through Twitter, and became interested in my story. Read more here.
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Trish is the senior communications manager for Sodexo's Talent Acquisition Group. She brings more than 14 years of communications experience to her role, with interests in social media, traditional public relations and employee communications. Trish invites you to connect with her on Twitter and Linkedin.
3 comments:
What a fantastic success story! Truly inspirational. Can't wait to see how this type of strategic use of social media spreads through higher education career services departments. Kudos.
Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace are millions of people who have created profiles and thousands of them grow on a daily basis.
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If one were to look back 10 years ago no one could have imagined how revelant the use of social media sites or networking would become! Goes to show change can be good!
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