With the new digital age, the way to find and get a job has totally changed. If before the only way to get a job was to formulate a perfect CV and wait for someone to respond to your application, today thanks to the internet, we have many more ways and opportunities to getting a job (or more than one) in fashion. Instagram has significantly and positively influenced the job’s world. If everyone uses the platform for the purpose of leisure during the day or to share different moments to keep followers, friends and families updated about what they do during the day, the power of Instagram goes much further. Especially if you are looking for a new job, if you are a freelancer or if you have launched a business and you want the whole world to know it, you have to use Instagram and in general all the power of the online world to do your own PR and get everything you want: a new job, customers for your freelancer career and for your business.
Being your own PR means showing the world your skills and abilities to get noticed by a company or by customers.
In general, PR strategies are used by companies to inform journalists about a new collection, a new product or when they appoint a new creative director, with the hope that they will write an article about it. When you read fashion news on online sites or in magazines, it’s usually because behind it there’s an agency or a person that deals with PR and that send press releases
But in reality, everyone can also do PR for a person to increase his/her authority within an industry. And you can do PR for yourself to get a new job in fashion or find customers.
The power of Instagram as a tool to get a new job is
Start posting content that makes you an expert in the fashion industry: if you want to become a fashion journalist, it would be appropriate to share the articles you read or those you write. If you still do not write for any newspaper and your goal is just to get a job as a journalist, then it is time to start your blog and publish articles to show everyone your writing skills. Take screenshots of your articles and share them on Instagram, post in stories, on Facebook and Twitter and let the whole world discover your work. Use related hashtags to allow people to find your content. It is absolutely essential to use hashtags every time you publish a photo because it is the only way to make sure that your profile is discovered by people interested in the subject.
“Fake it until you make it”: even if you do not currently have a job, create your market by showing you as an expert. You do not need to have 10 degrees or 10 years of experience to be an expert on something. Especially for careers such as stylists, photographers, editors, social media managers tha are jobs you can do as a freelancer while you’re still in school. You could be 22 and already have 3 years of experience, so don’t think you’re not enough.
Show the world your skills and act as an expert.
Start from your Instagram bio, instead of generic phrases, use the job title that best represents you. You can use more than one if you want to get different jobs: you could be a stylist and editor or influencer and personal stylist, fashion consultant … Think about the job you would like to get and give you that description on social media. When someone lands on your profile and reads Stylist & Fashion Consultant, he/she will immediately think that it is your job, and if then they will find posts that show your work (again, even if you don’t currently have a job or you do not have any customer, create and post some work as an example of what you could do, nobody knows if you really got that job or if it’s something you did only for you) and daily stories of you at work or articles you’ve written or read, then this will strengthen your image and your skills. Everyone will consider you an expert in that area.
Do not forget to add an email in your Instagram bio to be easily contacted by any recruiter or potential customers. Instagram is your professional window and the easiest way to get discovered by people, but do not forget to create a website to make everything more professional. It can be simple with a page that talks about you and describes what your skills are, which companies you have worked with and what are the services you offer. You can also post some of your articles from time to time if it helps in getting you a job (if you want to become an editor or journalist it is essential that you publish some of your articles, while if you want to become a stylist, it is better to post photos of your styling work and the names of photographers, makeup artists
The same applies to LinkedIn. Create a professional profile and start posting your work, connecting with people with whom you could collaborate or in general, people working in the fashion industry and use it every day, as you would do with Instagram.
Start today and regularly post content that makes you look an expert. You cannot expect to post one photo and be contacted by someone, but be consistent for a couple of months, post regularly interesting content that shows your skills, and in the end, you will be able to get the results whether is a new job or new clients. You may even be contacted for an interview or podcast to give your opinion as