How To Use Instagram in Your Job Search
It’s the age of social media, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Instagram can be used for far more than sharing pictures of your dog, your favorite recipe, or your latest vacation.
Here’s a five-step guide to using Instagram in your job search.
1. Consider Creating a New Account
If your Instagram account is full of “selfies” or photos from a wild weekend, then you should definitely consider creating a new account for a fresh social media start, if you want to use Instagram purposefully for job searching.
2. Establish Your Personal Brand
Identify how you want to market yourself and brainstorm how you might be able to use Instagram to help you job search. Obviously, this will be easier for some fields than for others.
3. Think “APP”ropriate
Whether you’re using Instagram or any other mobile app as a pillar of your job search or simply maintaining a personal account, it’s important to be mindful of what you post. Here’s a quick guide:
1. A is for Appropriate:
Unless your account is totally private, make sure everything you post is workplace appropriate. Don’t post anything that would embarrass you in an interview or would embarrass anybody else.
2. P is for Professional:
While a photo shoot of your cats wouldn’t necessarily be inappropriate, it’s not necessarily professional, either. That said, you can still have fun with your Instagram. Just make sure everything you post is relevant to your personal brand if you’re starting an account specifically to enhance your job search.
3. P is for Public/Private:
Be mindful of your privacy settings. Your Instagram should be public if you have created an account for your job search and you want to network with other like-minded professionals or connect with companies.
4. Use Hashtags
You can use hashtags so that your photos show up in searches. Here’s a hypothetical example of how hashtags can be used in a job search setting:
5. Follow Companies
You can stay updated with a company or a brand by following them on Instagram.