As a social media tool that is still lagging behind LinkedIn, Facebook and My Space, Twitter may not be the most popular but it does have some advantages when it comes to job search. Knowing how Twitter works may help you understand why it's so useful searching for work and with an insight in to it's working it may offer more appeal to you than it probably does at the moment.
Tweeting on Twitter, sometimes known as micro-blogging, allows you no more than 140 characters to get your message across. With millions of people tweeting billions of tweets, all available to everyone on the site, your selection of who to follow and read reduces the mass of information available to you personally.
Your ability to have short and pertinent snippets to read from your chosen areas can be a refining tool, and reduce the mountain of information available to a manageable amount. Using the site in the same way as other social networking sites, it allows you to connect with recruiters. Unlike other social network sites there is no requirement to ask to connect and wait to be accepted, you can simply 'follow', you are then able to see all of their writings.
By following recruiters and hiring agents, you are able to listen and learn from their words. You can reply to anything you read that they have written, hopefully drawing attraction to yourself from recruiters.
To begin making connections Twitter search and Twellow will find the people you want to follow. Some may well follow you back but don't worry if they don't, your 'follow' will enable you to communicate with them. You can follow conversations and reply if you have anything to say. If you have found a post informative a 'thank you' is very welcome.
Twitter search allows you to search any keywords you choose, identifying your niche, and searching for jobs and vacancies within the tweets. Many hiring managers/recruiters will tweet about vacancies they have. Keyword search for your job you are looking for, and Twitter will provide a stream of tweets containing these words. The search term can then be saved and reviewed several times throughout the day. When using a Tweet reader, e.g. Hootsuite, Tweetdeck keyword searches can be entered and when these words appear in any conversation the tweet will appear in your feedreader.
As many businesses track social media sites to check when they are being talked about, good or bad, responses to tweets can be rapidly executed. Likewise if you are tracking companies for job vacancies you can be first to respond and have your application in before the crowd.
Tell Twitter you need a job. Using Twitter to announce that you are looking for work gets the message out quickly and to an audience that you could never hope to reach with just an email. The information is not reliant on an email being read, it's there for all to see in 140 letters or less. In the same way that you are looking for work with keyword searches, likewise companies are looking to recruit. Select your 'follows' by researching them, checking that they are the right people to follow, this will build a good network for you to read and learn from. Follow your industry and recruiters within your area of expertise will help improve the possibility of someone noticing when you tweet that you need a job or that someone that you follow will know of an opening. Choose your 'follows' wisely, focus on people who can help with your job search and don't just add for the numbers.
Make your Twitter presence a balanced one. Try to involve all aspects of yourself in the Twitter feed. It's nice to see the person behind the words, with some personal '140s', but don't concentrate on this entirely. It's good to add some words of value, whether it is links to your blog, things you have found valuable and think others might benefit from or re-tweeting other people's words of wisdom. Don't let your content fall into the 'spam' category, there is nothing more likely to lose your following or get you ignored. Aim to impress your prospective hirers and add value in your tweets.
At this point, if you feel you need to keep your work life and private life separate, set up two individual accounts and organise settings of the account to make sure that people need to be authorised to view your private account. Better still, don't put it on the internet if you have any doubts, the web has an awful habit of coming back and biting you.
In your bio, briefly describe yourself and include a link to your site, ensure the information that people will be directed to is professional and honest. If I find that the information I'm sent to is in any way unprofessional, I don't feel the need to follow them. Your bio on Twitter can be linked to your blog, website, LinkedIn profile or a visual CV. Don't miss this opportunity to impress people, letting them know all about you and your abilities.
Twitter has the ability to reach an audience that you would be hard put to match in any other way and on a personal level too. But remember if you don't want the word spreading don't put it on the internet.
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