Most employers in further education have active social media profiles that promote their current vacancies, among other things. In this article, we will be sharing our top tips on taking advantage of social media when job hunting and how it can help get you closer to your desired role. If you are looking for somewhere to start, we regularly update our Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn with the latest opportunities straight from AoC Jobs.
Following employers via their social platforms is an easy way to stay up to date with them and have a constant flow of information on your feed about their organisation as a whole, which could be beneficial to you later on in the application process. Subconscious learning will take place over time, and your knowledge will grow.
Employers often post content around their staff. Following them will help familiarise you with the current staff members in your desired department or team. Knowing the people, you could be working with or interviewed by will set you ahead when preparing.
Following prospective employers on social media is great as most platforms have a direct messaging feature. You have a quick and easy point of contact that you can use to ask whatever questions you may have about an organisation. Our employer profiles are complete with social icons so that you can find and connect with them on social media with ease.
This is an excellent way to stay on top of and be the first to see new posts from employers, especially when posting job openings or updates/news. Another good thing about turning on the post notifications of an organisation that you want to work for is that it reminds you to interact and engage with their content. Using this information later on at the interview will demonstrate your prolonged interest and passion for working there and will set you apart from the competition.
With more and more job listings stating ‘This job advert may close early if we receive a good response’. Applying early for a role is extremely important, and post notifications can help catch job listings as soon as they are posted or advertised.
Employers, as well as job boards like AoC Jobs, often advertise current jobs via social media. Included in these posts are usually keyword hashtags that relate to the role. A great way to find vacancies in a specific department or job title is to think of keywords around your desired job and search them as hashtags. Hashtags are used to reach an audience of people interested in the role; you can be a part of that audience, so use them to your advantage. In this post on AoC Jobs LinkedIn Page, you can see examples of keyword hashtags being used to reach these audiences. Therefore if you were looking for a role as a vice-principal of curriculum, some great hashtags to search would be #VicePrincipal, #Curriculum and #FurtherEducation or#FE.
As of 2019, in The United Kingdom, there were 25,606,939 registered LinkedIn accounts. That number has only continued to rise post-covid due to most, if not all, job searching being done online and from home. LinkedIn essentially is a platform for you to showcase your CV on your profile, connect with other professionals who may be working for your desired employer already and build a rapport with them.
Creating your own LinkedIn profile is beneficial for any job hunter. Not only can you research and familiarise yourself with employers or organisations, but you can engage with them from a profile optimised for job-seeking, which displays your skills, talents and qualities.
You can also use LinkedIn as a research tool to grow your knowledge about an organisation or to gauge their company culture. Employers in education generally have a LinkedIn profile. Some even have their live vacancies displayed on their account, which is super helpful. Follow us on LinkedIn for daily updates on job opportunities that arise in the education sector.
AoCJobs, part of the Association of Colleges, connects teachers and support staff with schools and colleges for online job opportunities.