BernieBorges.com Blog: Social Media and Web Marketing

5 Ways to Use Pinterest in a Job Search

A Pinterest Resume Can Give You a Competitive Edge

Pinterest is the second fastest growing social media site in the history of the Internet! That should get your attention whether you are a marketer or a job seeker. In this post I look at Pinterest from a career or job seeking perspective.

Pinterest is a digital pin board that is interest based. The idea is very simple. You create your own boards according to your interests and pin digital images to them. You can post a comment for each image that you pin. Others can like or comment on your images. And, others can also “re-pin” your images to their boards. You are notified when others like, comment or re-pin your images (based on your setting preferences).

Here are 5 ways you can use Pinterest to market yourself as a job seeker.

Create a Strong Profile

LinkedIn is an excellent social site to display the chronology of your work history, achievements and professional interests in a narrative format.  LinkedIn also excels in its networking capabilities. Pinterest allows you to literally paint a picture of who you are professionally and personally giving you a powerful medium to differentiate yourself from other candidates in a job search.

Visual Resume

Your Pinterest profile should briefly explain your credentials in a sentence or two. Include a link to your LinkedIn profile and/or your Twitter and Facebook profiles. Include a recent picture in your Pinterest profile.

Create different boards according to your professional interests and accomplishments. One of those boards should be your resume if your are an active job seeker.  Save your resume in a GIF or JPG format and use the Pinterest button to pin it to your resume board. I strongly encourage you to convert your static, narrative resume into a creative infographic. You can probably find a college student majoring in design to do it for free as part of his or her design portfolio. Seek other ways to display your resume through creative visual images.

 

Degrees and Accreditations

If you have multiple degrees or accreditations create a dedicated board for them. Pin images of the certificates even if it means you have to take pictures of them. Consider images of the granting institutions. For example, if you have a degree from Florida State University, add images that illustrate your pride in the school’s tradition.

Professional Organizations

If you have been active in professional associations, pin images from your activities in those organizations. Perhaps you’ve held volunteer positions in an association. Look for ways to display your participation in associations through pinned images. Don’t forget to write a comment for each image that you pin.

Accomplishments

Your career accomplishments go beyond degrees and certificates. Do you have a picture receiving an award or recognition? Have you given a presentation that was captured in a digital image? Get creative to identify your accomplishments even if you are not in the image. If you were a participating member of a committee that achieved a milestone that was captured in a chart, pin that image and explain your role and contributions in the comments box.

Personal Interests

I strongly encourage you to create a few boards that show your personal interests for two reasons. You want to illustrate that your are a well rounded person. Additionally, you don’t want to appear overly self-promotion in your Pinterest profile. For example, if you’re a sports fan, create boards with images of your favorite sports teams.  Or, if you’re an animal lover (like me), create a board for animals. A word of caution…You may want to avoid controversial topics like politics. That’s your call.

Pinterest allows anyone with a little creativity to design a digital resume made up of images. Your Pinterest profile is a unique URL that should reflect your name: http://pinterest.com/bernieborges/. Leverage Pinterest in your job search using the five suggestion here as guidelines to get you thinking about ways to get started. I invite you to share your Pinterest job search strategy with others in the comments section below. Happy pinning!

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