If you are looking for a job and you have posted your resume to almost every job board on the world wide web, and still haven’t found anything, you might want to take a look at Twitter one of these days. Twitter is fast becoming a source for recruitment and job searches. The trend is relatively new but catching on quite rapidly. This is an outcome of the recession, when online job boards became crammed with resumes posted by desperate job-seekers. Big companies are now forced to move to Twitter to look for interesting prospective candidates. Especially, those companies looking for candidates who are familiar with social networking, the social media tools, and the latest online technology are all posting job placements on Twitter at a rapid pace.
Why should you look for jobs on Twitter?
If the above reasons were not enough, here are a few more reasons why, if you are a job-seeker, you should be on Twitter.
Online Exposure: First of all, Twitter is branded online exposure for your own executive presence. Your Twitter page is the place to showcase your business or technology interests, your activities, and talents. It is the place to build a strong online presence that would give you instant exposure. Recruiters are always looking for top talent. Twitter is your chance to show them that you are top talent and a thought leader.
Interaction with Recruiters: Twitter gives you an opportunity to interact with recruiters, career experts, and prospective employers. As a frequent Twitter user, you need to subscribe for the Twitter feeds of such recruiters and simply click on the link to the online postings, where you can post your résumé or application. You can also tweet your questions or doubts and sometimes a recruiter will tweet back with a response. It is a quicker and easier alternative to online job boards.
On the Radar: being active on Twitter keeps you on the radar of prospective employers and recruiters whom you already follow. This also reflects your interest in profession
al and business-related issues, and current events.
About the Recruiter: Twitter is also a good place to find out more about the particular company where you wish to apply for a job. You can also get links to their blogs, or pages of employees etc. where you can get an idea of what the company is really like.
Twitter and LinkedIn: as a professional looking for a job, you would have created a profile on LinkedIn (if you haven’t already, you should do that right now!). Twitter is a dynamic companion to LinkedIn. Your network of professionals is created easily on LinkedIn, but the medium is rather static, as it does not allow you to carry on a conversation or develop a relationship. Twitter lets you do that; it lets you quickly post a query to a recruiter or have a professional chat within a minute.
Easy Access: you can tweet via phone, PC or any other new technology, and you are always available online. So is the prospective employer. Twitter lets you know of a positive response almost as soon as it is posted.
All this benefit and convenience must come at a price! Here are some netiquettes you need to remember when you are job-hunting on Twitter:
- Keep it formal and professional: your job inquiries via tweets should be professional, polite, and formal. Try not to say, “Hey dude, you got any jobs in California?”, unless you want to deliberately sabotage your chances of finding a job in the near future!
- Skeletons in your Twitter feed: Be wary of older posts that may be inappropriate or may cast you in poor light. These may resurface when a recruiter is checking on your online credentials. You could go back and delete tweets which you feel may not be a boon for your career!
- Personal Tweets and Daily Drivel: try not to post too many tweets about the bagel you are eating, or that you are watching a rerun of an old sitcom. You don’t want to look like a lazy person with nothing better to do. Also avoid tweeting about very personal matters or talking
about your personal sorrows, your latest love failure, or how you hate your neighbor! - Alternative Twitter account: one way of fixing problems 2 and 3 is to opt for a professional Twitter account.
- Watch your Language: no real need to elaborate on this one, you know what I’m talking about!
- Picture Perfect: try not to upload any embarrassing pictures of you. Also, have a picture of yourself on your profile, so that a recruiter can confirm it is your site they are looking at.
- Posting Links: Some Twitter users post links of what they read online or interesting information that they found. This is a good trend, if you want to let recruiters know that you are an intelligent individual who likes to keep abreast of current events, and are also a good reader or researcher.
- Spell-check and Proofread: Granted a tweet is not a written manifesto, and it has to be within 140 character, but it doesn’t hurt to be semantically correct.
Where to look?
GreenGigs.blogspot.com, a blog on virtual jobs, has a post on 101 Twitter Feeds for Job Hunters. This could be a good place to go for your job searches.
Here’s wishing you good fortune in finding the job of your dreams, and remember: Every professional contact you have is a potential future boss or colleague.
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I totally agree even though you have told only part of the “story”. Maybe I can contribute some other time to this post. Let me check the rest of this blog. Thanks. Lorenza Lindemuth
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