If you’ve spent any time in the corporate world you’ll know that opportunity can come in many forms. One of the most common is an unexpected phone call from a recruiter. Recruiters work with companies to find appropriate candidates for a variety of positions, from mid-level managers to the VPs and CEOs at the top of the food chain.

With the proliferation of online, digital and social media-based positions, there’s now a new breed of recruiter: the digital recruiter. If you’re a social media fanatic and spend any time connecting with people online, you’ve likely had a digital recruitment specialists lurk one of your profiles. 

I recently chatted with Katie Dolgin of Dolgin Search Group Inc., a Toronto recruitment agency that specializes in digital staffing. With a career in digital strategy and recruitment that started in the hub of California’s late 90’s tech boom, Katie has been involved in the world of social/digital media since it started to change the way we connect. After spending a lot of time doing digital herself and making contacts across Canada and the U.S., Katie’s move into recruitment made sense. Today, as the founder of Dolgin Search Group Inc., she does both traditional and digital recruitment, with about 70 per cent of her recruiting efforts falling into digital and social media.

After chatting with Katie, I’ve put together a list of five things you can do to get noticed by people like her.  

1. Understanding a company’s business needs is just as important as knowing how to create social media content or shoot a video.

According to Katie, candidates for top social or digital positions “have to have big picture experience to understand how digital is a lever in an overall strategic initiative.” There’s a lot more to a business than replying, retweeting or just creating content to broadcast online. For recruiters–not to mention your current employer–showing that you understand how social media fits into the bottom line will set you apart from the growing number of social media “experts” who only know how to write copy. An insurance company will need a different social strategy than an accounting firm, or a law firm, or a PR firm. Understanding how a company makes money, interacts with stakeholders and how social fits into other forms of marketing or customer service, is major asset.

2. Don’t be a social media wallflower: make sure you’re online, visible and active.

One of the best things you can do to get noticed is be noticeable. Candidates “have to be able to use all the [social media] vehicles at hand” to stand out, says Katie. “There’s so many ways to connect with people and build a person brand online.” A simple web search will show how many places you’re active, and showing up with active, engaged and insightful profiles on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Google + and other places will show that you’re already building communities of your own, so you’ll be a great candidate to build communities and brand recognition for other people. The best place to start is Twitter, which is the most public and engaged social forum.

 3. Start a blog or portfolio site to show your expertise.

Blogs aren’t the most social platforms out there, but they’re an excellent place to show your connections and insights into a specific industry. Twitter’s 140 characters are great for punch lines and updates, but a blog will let you offer original expertise related to your industry. There’s no need to write a novel, but, as Katie points out, showing you can produce “something well-written, with spunk or creativity shows that you’re active where you say you are,” and worth making contact with. In the end, it’s all about making that initial connection that speaks to the recruiter and convinces them to pick up the phone and call you.

4. Until you get the job you really want, keep building your resume, and keep it up-to-date and public on Linkedin.

Perhaps the most important piece of insight Katie offers is the simplest: “Nothing beats practical industry experience.” Landing your digital dream job means starting at the bottom, working your way up and learning a lot along the way. It also means making sure that your achievements, milestones and promotions are available online for people like her to easily see. If what you’re currently doing isn’t related to what you want to do, find something closer to your ideal industry. A lower-level position in your preferred field is likely better than a mid-level position at a completely unrelated job. Why? Because as #1 pointed out, you need to understand the inner workings and general business dynamics of the field in which you want to work.

5. Be patient.

Recruiters like Katie fill positions at all levels, but for younger workers it usually takes 2-3 years of experience to be considered for tactical execution roles, the most common roles she finds for younger workers. This means that after just 2 years on the job you could find a recruiter knocking at your door. So be patient, keep learning and think about the place you want to go in your career.

It’s easier than ever for young people to make a name for themselves in social media. Since new grads have grown up in a digitally-connected world, an online existence and the kinds of relationships it fosters come easier than they do to older executives. While many older workers come equipped with strategic knowledge and business acumen, becoming a socially connected being–which is really what it means to be ingrained in social media–can be a struggle. Katie sees this every day: “For a young person [social media] is part of their social evolution.”

This has lead to another promising trend: with much of the expertise found in younger workers, it’s becoming more common for younger, high-performing candidates to qualify for more senior positions. In this switch to merit-based recruitment and staffing, enthusiasm, determination and intelligence start to be as important as the time you’ve been on the digital scene.

So, keep tweeting and focus on your long-term career goals. You just might find a recruiter reaching out sooner than expected. 

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Kiel Hume writes for Toronto Standard. Follow him on Twitter at @kielculture.

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