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#HireMe – Using Hashtags to Land Your Dream Job

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Social media is a great tool for job seekers. Because today’s job market is so competitive, it’s necessary to use a bit of creativity to get noticed in the vast sea of applicants. Social media, especially hashtags, can help differentiate candidates from the competition. What started out as a way to identify keywords and trendy phrases turned out to be a valuable and unconventional means to effectively get noticed by employers.

For Job Seekers

Hashtags are widely associated with Twitter and used to distinguish subjects, groups, interests, or trending topics on social media sites. According to Wikipedia, hashtags became a trend after “San Diego, California resident Nate Ritter … included #sandiegofire in his frequent posts on the October 2007 wildfires hitting San Diego County.” Since then, many other social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram have taken on the hashtag phenomenon as well, making it easy for users to group subjects together for a more catered online experience.

In today’s digital age, hashtags can also be used to aid in online job searches. In the case of Twitter, job seekers can conduct queries based on popular topics related to employment, the most popular hashtags being:

Do You Know What You're Worth?

1. #hiring or #hireme
2. #jobsearch
3. #careers
4. #recruiting
5. #RTjobs
6. #tweetmyjobs
7. #employment
8. #nowhiring
9. Hashtag the actual company’s name that you’re applying to
10. Hashtag credentials or skills that help you stand out (e.g. #MBA or #PhD)

NOTE: It’s always a smart idea to follow the companies that you’ve applied to and create Twitter lists (read more about Twitter lists in Mashable’s article) in order to stay up-to-date on important company happenings.

Read more on how social media can help you find your dream job here.

For Employers

Employers can also use hashtags to their benefit when seeking out new employees. Last year, when PayScale was in the market to hire new talent, the company took to social media to aid in the search, including “#hiring” in their posts to better target their message:

PayScale was able to reach a much broader and focused audience (for free) by incorporating “#hiring” into posts online. Therefore, when candidates search that particular hashtag on Twitter, every company that has tweeted “#hiring” will appear in the search results, PayScale included. Hashtags allow keyword searches to be a breeze, and in the case of recruiting talent, hashtags help companies to be in the right place at the right time.

Tell Us What You Think

We want to hear how social media helped you land your dream job. Share your story on Twitter or in the comments section below. Sharing is caring.

More from PayScale

How Social Media Can Help Job Seekers Shine Bright Like a Diamond

Your Social Media Updates Can Land or Cost You a Job [infographic]

How to Use Social Media to Find a Job


(Photo credits: SlightlyEverything/Flickr, @PayScale Twitter)

Leah Arnold-Smeets
Read more from Leah

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