Are You Social About Developing Your Career?

Think about traditional ways of advancing in your career.

You most likely would consider furthering your education, working longer hours, going out of you way to impress your boss and hoping you get that promotion you’ve always wanted.

While that can still work, there are now other, more creative, ways to advance your career, especially if you’re willing to switch companies.

Thanks to the power of the internet and social media, networking has made it possible for millions of Americans to land their dream jobs and further develop their careers.

Being More Social

If you want to grow your career and work in a challenging environment day after day, look no further than social media to get you there.

Here are five ways you can use social media and the internet to develop your career:

• Further you education online – Years ago if you wished to further your education, you would have had to attend a brick-and-mortar university. As the following article shows, now, you can get your professional development hours and get your degree completely online. The advantage of this is you can still keep your full-time job and complete your school work on your own time – whether that’s early in the morning, late at night or on weekends. You can take as many or as few classes as you want and complete the degree according to your time frame, not the schools.


• Join LinkedIn – LinkedIn is the number one networking site for professionals. Build a profile, find other people in your area and worldwide that work in your industry, join groups and chat with others who work in your field, and network with as many people as you can. You never know when someone will be looking to hire, and you want to be recommended when that chance arrives.


• Keep your social media pages professional – As much fun as it can be to post selfies and share your weekend plans, it’s not going to help you advance in your career. Use social media to your advantage by keeping it professional and business-oriented.


• Keep people informed – One of the beauties of social media is you can keep people up-to-date on your job situation. If you were recently laid off and are looking for work, don’t be afraid to post that on your pages. This lets friends, family members and business associates know that you’re available. An offer may come your way sooner than expected. Or perhaps you run your own business and are accepting new clients. Let people know through your social media pages. Social media is one of the best – and free! – forms of advertising.


• Discover new careers – Perhaps one of the biggest advantages of using social media to grow your career is learning about other new and exciting career paths. Perhaps you’re an accountant and you’ve always dreamed of owning your own firm. Social media can help get you there by introducing you to those who have already succeeded. Or maybe you work in construction but prefer to teach people how to perform do-it-yourself projects around the house. In this case, you may consider starting a blog with paid advertisers to showcase your projects.

Even if you’re not currently looking to further your career, you should be actively engaged in social media.

Sometimes the best opportunities come when you’re least expecting it.

Social media can help improve your chances of that happening.

Photo Credit: Image courtesy of stockimages at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

from Darlene Milligan http://ift.tt/1LE4LEm via small marketing business

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