25 Tips To Find A Job Using Twitter

Twitter is much more than celebrity gossip or election wars. Here are 25 tips to find a job using Twitter, from the very basic to the most sophisticated. Use them to stay in the professional game!

Twitter is the modern magic wand for all your connectivity and knowledge needs, bridging the ubiquitous time constraints on all of us. It’s simple and it’s fast. Wondering how it can help you to land your next big break?

Job hunting and quality candidate sourcing are two of the most baffling and time consuming tasks many of us face. Hiring managers and recruiters are veering away from conventional ways of advertising and sourcing. New tricks are evolving each day and social networking is definitely the highlight of the recent change.

Here is how you can use Twitter to meet your professional goals such as getting a good break, keeping yourself updated with the latest news, advertise job postings or to source candidates.

It is important to understand how Twitter works before we figure out how to use it.

Let me start by simplifying Twitter.

What is it? An online social networking and microblogging service that permits users to transmit and read short 140-character text messages, called “tweets”. Registered users having an account or ‘twitter handle’ can read and share short tweets. Hashtags (#) are used in front of words to group information for searchers.

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If you think your tweet is almost a job post use a # symbol before the word ‘Job’ – if someone searches for #Job your tweet will be displayed to them. This is how Twitter has emerged as a source of discovery, focusing on sharing useful, relevant data and engaging conversations; it is a news source rather than a social mesh and it is more relevant to today’s needs since it is short, quick and transparent  – the magic markers of global accessibility.

“LinkedIn is for the people you know. Facebook is for people you used to know. Twitter is for people you want to know” ~ Source unknown 

25 tips for a successful job hunt using Twitter

Creating a powerful Twitter account

The account that you wish to use for your job hunt should focus on presenting your professional self to the Twitter world. Highlight professional skills, experience and qualifications.

Start with public Twitting to become a mighty user

Twitter permits users to keep tweets ‘private’ so that only followers may find out your tweets. But private tweeting won’t help your job hunting; use public tweeting to share your job search needs.

Using a descriptive Twitter username

Twitter allows 15 characters for username excluding the @ and any combination of upper and lower case letters. The only ‘symbol’ allowed is the underscore.

Select a unique user name that supports your job search. Usernames are the only names automatically included in a Retweet (‘RT’), so it’s good to have them short and memorable.

Some examples of good usernames that describe what you do professionally would be @AvidCareerist, @CareerSherpa and @JobHuntOrg.

Using your real name as Twitter account name

This will help build credibility and provides you the option to use the same identity and address for different functions at a later point in time. For instance, if your username is @hrjobhunt, once you land a job the same account can be used by simply changing the user name. Twitter allows 20 characters and spaces for the account name.

Use a professional Twitter photo

Twitter gives very little scope to write, so having a great professional image goes a long way in helping you stand apart. It is good to use  the same head-shot for all professional networks like LinkedIn, etc.  This makes it easy for people to ‘recognize’ and connect with you when they see your account, enabling them to connect those dots between two very important social networks.

Create a searchable Twitter Bio

Twitter provides 160 letters and spaces for the bio and this is displayed at the top center of your Twitter home page.  Use as many key words as you can to become more searchable by search engines. Keywords are the words used by recruiters and employers to find people with the right skills and accomplishments. These are truly the KEYS to successful job hunting!

Tweet Like an Industry expert

You are what you tweet. Keep in mind that everything you tweet leads to — or takes away from — your online persona. While searching for a job, make sure your Twitter stream represents you as a professional individual possessing important and unique thoughts to contribute.

Use Twitter Hashtags efficiently

Hashtags are a way to gather and research relevant data for a particular subject; employ them while tweeting and for finding relevant data. Use job listings hashtags like #jobs, #recruiting, #jobadvice, #jobposting, #jobhunt and #jobsearch. To further refine your search, you can use #HRjobs, #Salesjobs etc.

Participate in professional Twitter chats

Twitter chats are great forums to connect with industry leaders and showcase skills. You can find Twitter chat schedules here and take part in professional chats with other industry experts from your domain.

Research, identify and connect with recruiters

Interacting with active recruiters is a great way to get information about job postings and the company. This can assist you to obtain an employee referral sometimes. Research, find and follow companies you would like to work for.

Build a Relevant, engaging network of professionals in your field

Investing time and effort to read profiles and creating a useful list of contacts goes a long way to help you see relevant opportunities and be seen by others as a potential candidate. Portion out your thoughts on professional topics, retweet and share good content.

Do not hesitate to start a “Hire Me” campaign if you find your dream opportunity

Here is a classic recent real life success story of Eric Romer. After seeing a job posting for HeadBlade, a men’s grooming company,  he immediately set up a website, Twitter page, Facebook Page and YouTube account, all to grab his dream  job!

A full-out campaign of this type might not be the best strategy for every job – however, this type of passion is what really stands out in the job recruiting process. If you encounter your dream job, go all out.

To build lasting relations, take It offline

Once a dialogue is gained with a potential employer, an in-person meeting can really boost the relationship; this might not be possible all times but is a good practice. It really is critical to put the name/avatar/tweets together with a face, and make the transition from online to real life. All connections that you’ve made with that person are suddenly solidified. Nothing can replace the value of this connection.

Have a link to your online resume

Twitter provides limited scope to showcase your complete profile so it is useful to have a Visual CV (tools like VisualCV can help), a blog profile etc. which can be shared instantaneously.

Send private notes to potential mentors

Once you have identified the thought leaders from your industry, it helps to further identify potential mentors and send a private note for advice/help or to simply share thoughts and ideas. These are people who can really help with your job search.

Use lists to organize your network

One great way to stay connected without following people is by adding them to lists. Create useful lists such as a list of companies you would want to target for your job search, a list of active recruiters, a list of job boards and job postings etc. Many people are flattered by getting into lists, so this is another weapon you have besides following to get noticed.

Promote other people 

If you feel that you are not getting enough attention, then it would help to make it about other people. Help spread the word about job openings from recruiters you are connected with – this will make them notice you. Retweet and share job openings from recruiters.

Start using other platforms for managing your Twitter and other social networking profiles efficiently

It is important to be able to manage all networking profiles simultaneously and link them. For example, if you connect with a recruiter on Linked, it is a brilliant idea to also follow them on Twitter. This way you will not miss on any updates and also build relations.

In the world of technology, there is no scarcity of tools to help you with this. My favorite is Twitter’s official desktop application TweetDeck, this is also the most powerful Twitter tool for real-time tracking, organizing and engagement.

Pick the best tools for your tweets

I like Twhirl from my PC and mobile.twitter.com from mobile helps in timing and drafting good tweets. Seesmic Desktop lets you categorize the people you follow for easy organization.

Setup Auto-Follow

It is important to follow people who are following you since they may be recruiters sharing useful  information about jobs. Also, it is highly possible that people would unfollow you if you do not follow them back, thinking that you are not keen. Service like SocialOomph can help you to follow your followers automatically.

Choose a good url-shortening service to share links

Reducing the length of Urls gives you a better scope to use hashtags for increasing your visibility in the Twitter world. Services like su.pr or bit.ly  allow tracking how many people click on a link.

Be someone worth following

Provide value by twittering tips, sharing news or resource links about your profession and answering as many questions as you can, quickly and well.

Browse Twitter directories to find industry professionals to follow

It is critical to find and follow industry professionals to get feeds from your industry so you remain up to date with all relevant updates. Some examples are Wefollow, TwitDir and Twellow.

Follow industry-specific job feeds

Use Twitter job feeds guide to follow your industry’s job openings, in your country, region or city.

Use Twitter’s favorite option to categorize information

Save all interesting job openings from your industry as ‘Favorite’ until you’ve applied. This way you can ensure that no opportunities are missed.

Technology is changing  every aspect of human living, and continuous learning is crucial for a meaningful existence. Why should it scare anybody?

Originally published here.

Pic credit: Adapted from a CC licensed image by Creative Tools

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