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ARE SOCIAL MEDIA & MOBILE APPS HELPING YOUR JOB SEARCH?

Posted by Alan L. Klein, CMO

A New Survey Reveals How Digital Media Technologies Are Helping Jobseekers

We’re listening to you! Home Office Careers has completed a survey of its members regarding the application of new and emerging digital technologies to the recruitment process. We want to understand the experiences and expectations of work-from-home jobseekers in using Social Media and Mobile Apps to gain access to work-from-home job offers and opportunities. We also explored Staffing Agencies and Freelancing Services, and we’ll cover these in a second blog next week. But today let’s see what we learned about Social Media and Mobile Apps. (Read the full survey report)

SOCIAL MEDIA

Social Media are on everyone’s priority list these days, especially as they continue to affect all of our lives and have been connecting everybody with everyone else. Today we can’t escape hearing about Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Google+, Pinterest, YouTube . . . and the list goes on and grows with new Social Media services popping up with regularity.

But what about the value of Social Media in helping us find work-from-home jobs and furthering our “Home Office Careers?” So we asked our members: “Have you searched for a work from home job using Social Media networks?” and then asked: “How useful do you think Social Media networks are in helping you to find a work from home job?”

High Expectations But Mixed Results

The survey found that nearly half of work-from-home jobseekers have high expectations for Social Media; they believe that the networking capabilities and reach to a wide audience to be valuable assets in the search, but they have experienced disappointing results to-date:

  • Nearly half – 45% – of our members consider Social Networks to be useful in the search process, but the reality is less encouraging, with only 8% having found a job using Social Media.
  • As expected, a few Social Media networks are among the top go-to resources:

Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn have been the most extensively used in job searches. This reflects the anticipation that these big networks will yield good job opportunities.

The implications of these findings are clear: Today, at least, Social Media are not ready to be the primary resource for finding jobs – and this includes both traditional and home-based jobs. We think that Social Media are best used as a way to network and communicate with others, but have not yet developed their potential to connect people with good job offers.

Home Office Careers’ Facebook Page

Given the lower-than-expected results of Social Media in job searches, it is no surprise that it has not yet reached a majority of Home Office Careers members:

  • Nearly two-thirds of Home Office Careers members have never visited its Facebook page.

New Incentives: Home Office Careers is providing current and future incentives for members to make greater use of the Facebook page. Now there is a selection of the most popular blog entries and podcasts that are easily found on the Facebook page, so someone wanting to read “How To Create A Winning Cover Letter,” for example, or wanting to read “12 Work From Home Jobs You Should Consider” or listen to the podcast “The 3 Most Important Steps To Landing A Work From Home Job” has only to click to read or hear; they can do this without leaving Facebook.

As a further incentive to its members, the company plans to resume posting new job offers on their Facebook page every day, and some of these offers will be unique to Facebook; they will not found anywhere else. Once these “unique-to-Facebook” jobs offers begin posting, they will provide an incentive for members to check the company’s Facebook page more often, and get a head start on other applicants.

Home Office Careers Facebook page

MOBILE APPS

Equally “top of mind” these days are Mobile Media – the ubiquitous iPhones and Samsung Smartphones and iPads and their Mobile Apps that are used every day by most of us. Computer industry predictions point to Mobile Apps far exceeding computers in usage within a few years and some studies show that for online purchases, Mobile Apps are already more important than laptop and desktop computers.

Mobile Apps – Only Minority Usage Currently

A majority of Home Office Careers’ members don’t yet use Mobile Apps to search for work-from-home jobs, but are willing to try:

  • Nearly two-thirds of Home Office Careers members have not used Mobile Apps for job searches.
  • But one in five (20%) are using Mobile Apps to search and find them useful.
  • And a total of 71% either use Mobile Apps or are interested in trying.

(Read the full survey report)

BLOGS & PODCASTS

The survey looked further into blogs and podcasts, to assess levels of engagement and whether these online “voices” are found to be useful by jobseekers.

A minority of members engage regularly with Home Office Careers’ blogs & podcasts but this group rates them highly:

  • Over three-quarters of Home Office Careers members are infrequent readers or listeners.
  • However, 28% have read or listened to 3 or more.
  • And 77% think that the articles, blogs and podcasts are equal or superior to those of other sites – a positive endorsement of the content of HOC’s Career Resources section.

Members are most interested in career advice for older workers, search strategies and resumes:

  • Finding work after age 50 + is of importance to 58% of respondents.
  • Job search strategies and help with resumes & cover letters are of high importance to over 40%.
  • Helping work-at-home moms and helping with job applications are highly rate to over one-third.

Next week we will continue the survey findings and dig into Staffing Agencies and Freelancing Services – two areas of considerable potential for work-from-home jobseekers.

I welcome your comments and questions, and wish you and all readers success in your work-from-home careers.

(Read the full survey report)

The post ARE SOCIAL MEDIA & MOBILE APPS HELPING YOUR JOB SEARCH? appeared first on Job Advice & Employment Resources – Home Office Careers.

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