Landing the perfect job can be a job unto itself. The same could be said for finding the ideal candidate.
Long gone are the days of showing up at a company asking about openings, filling out an application in the lobby and hoping someone calls you for an interview.
The answer today for everyone—job seekers and recruiters—is social media. It’s so ubiquitous that North Bay colleges have specific classes about how to use various platforms to land a job.
“For all students to be successful they need to know this information and how to play the game. Having it embedded in the curriculum is the best way to reach all students,” said Courtney Budesa, director of Internships and Professional Development at Dominican University of California.
The San Rafael university has specific classes about how to find a job, and also teaches students the importance of being aware of what they are putting out on social media that is visible to potential employers.
Courses and counseling
North Bay higher education institutions promote LinkedIn and Handshake to students. The latter is a job platform for two- and four-year colleges where employers can look for candidates in this demographic, and it’s a way for students to reach companies by having an online profile that isn’t available to the entire world.
Sonoma State has multiple courses focused on social media.
“We teach students how to use social media. With LinkedIn we show them how to use it, how to search for jobs, how to build their LinkedIn profile, how to add qualifications, and how to connect with alumni,” said Becky Sandoval Young, who runs the career center at Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park.
Her goal is to tell as many first- and second-year students as possible about the career center so they are thinking about it as a resource their entire time at college. She also introduces them to Handshake.
“We want them to understand the skills employers want and that everything they do can make a difference in their employment,” Young said.
Claudette Shatto, who teaches business at Napa Valley College, admits she has to stay on top of what’s new in social media because it’s always changing.
The important thing, she said, is to not teach one platform. It’s about strategy.
“Social media is a like a game and algorithm changes every day,” Shatto said. “I also teach them strategies on how to post and be relevant, how to use Google alerts in their industry.”
She also educates on how to comment on other people’s posts, and to share information so they come across as an expert in a topic.
“In all of my classes I have them do a social media audit. I teach them how employers are looking at social media profiles, that employers are making hiring decisions on their social media imprint and that they need to clean it up,” Shatto said.
Napa Valley College has campuses in Napa and St. Helena.
Santa Rosa Junior College’s business department is developing curriculum on artificial intelligence that will have components for job seekers and job posters alike.
Students have various courses they can take that incorporate social media into the curriculum. One is called Marketing Your Skills.
“Those students go through a bunch of things. One component of that class is social media; how to use social media and what not to do with social media, which is just as important,” said Brad Davis, dean of workforce development and career education at SRJC.
Other resources can be found at the career hub. LinkedIn and Handshake are both key platforms that counselors promote and teach.
“One thing that has remained the same is the professionalism, like what email address you choose,” Davis said. “It doesn’t matter what tools you use, you need professionalism to get the respect from people who are going to be looking at you.”
It’s not just students who might need a tutorial about the ins and out of social media.
“We are here to support businesses and their growth. We do a whole bunch of workshops on social media and online marketing,” said Miriam Hope Karell, director of Marin Small Business Development Center in San Rafael.
One workshop on LinkedIn touched on how the business and recruiters come across when people do searches. Just as it’s important for those looking for a job to present themselves professionally, the same is true for companies and those representing the firm.
“We also make sure everyone knows the things that are important to have filled out for SEO, meta tags and all the back end information for Google searches,” Karell said.
After all, posting a job that no one sees is the same as never listing it.