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Utilize social media to benefit your job search. You can use LinkedIn to find new contacts, Twitter to follow districts of interest, and Facebook to reconnect with old friends who work in districts of interest. Additional tools include blogs, websites, and online portfolios. Here’s why social media can help you land a teaching job:

Schools are on social media

Teacher candidates need to remember that educators are held to a high level of professionalism that reaches beyond the classroom to all aspects of their lives. As you prepare to apply for teaching positions, you need to acknowledge that social media accounts such as Facebook are not only virtual representations of you personally, but professionally. 

"My suggestion to job-seekers is that they not allow anything whatsoever to be posted on their social media which shows them in anything that could possibly be stretched into an interpretation that they are foolish, stupid, racist, anti-authoritarian, rebellious, hard-partying, promiscuous or, in short, possess characteristics that we would not want in an employee. With so many candidates for so few jobs, no applicant can afford to present him/herself in any light other than professional and caring. " 

You can make connections and find jobs on LinkedIn

Your first step in using LinkedIn is to create your profile, one of the most important components of using this site. Your profile very closely resembles your resume, so be sure to complete it thoroughly and accurately. Once you complete your profile, you can begin connecting. 

Connect: Similar to Facebook, you can begin connecting with people. Instead of friends, however, on LinkedIn, you will make ‘connections.’ The individuals with whom you connect become your first-degree connections. The power of LinkedIn lies in your second-degree connections, who are the contacts of your first-degree connections. If you identify a second-degree connection at a school or district that interests you, you can ask your first-degree connection to introduce you. 

Groups: LinkedIn offers the opportunity to connect with groups of professionals within your chosen occupation. By joining a group, you can research and connect with individuals with similar interests in your area, state, across the nation and internationally.

Alumni: Visit Linked In to research your university alumni according to specific schools, districts or geographic locations.

Follow: Type a school or district name in the ‘Companies’ table to search for its profile page. Once you identify their profile page, click ‘Follow.’ The organization’s updates and job openings will now begin appearing in your news feed.