In today’s down market, finding a job may seem impossible. I have some suggestions to help you find your next daily grind - the first of which is to throw most of the traditional job search techniques out the window. We all know unemployment is rising. So turn off CNN and navigate away from MSNBC.com. Instead of listening to the voices of doom and gloom, dramatically increase your chances of landing a job via Twitter. As many of you know, Twitter is a social networking tool that helps you get in touch and stay in touch with your network of personal and professional contacts. And networking with those personal and professional contacts is how 60% of people find their next gig.
While some of you may be groaning out loud at the thought of keeping up with one more online networking tool, you should know that Twitter has become such a popular tool in networking and job searching that many people are now wondering Is Twitter the Next Monster? I personally do not think Twitter will ever eclipse the big green monster, but it certainly is a viable tool for your job search.
To begin your job search on Twitter, follow these useful twicks and twips (sorry - had to go there) and your next job may only be a tweet away….
- Utilize Twitter apps to organize your search. Tweetdeck is a great way to break your network into categorized tweets, allowing you to focus on job specific tweets.
- Tweet about your job search. Update your followers on how it’s going; because, they can give you potential leads. Remember that Twitter is a two way street, so pay it forward. Help out other job seekers if you come across useful information they could use. Stockpiling good karma is never a bad idea.
- Your bio is a 160 character twesume, so use it to sell yourself to a potential employer and include a link to your Web site or other social networking profiles.
- Your Twitter presence can be as powerful as a first interview. Make sure you are “employer friendly”- in other words, be professional. This is not a time to demonstrate the latest in IM lingo or tweet about the crazy date you had last night.
- Showcase your expertise. No one wants a tweet about that gyro you just had for lunch. But people will be interested in tweets about interesting industry news, trends and links to articles.
- Follow the right people (like me) and be engaged. A lot of recruiters are online. When you apply to a job via a traditional way emphasize your interest by following them or their company on Twitter. Interact with the recruiter to be more than a name on a piece of paper.
For those of you who still doubt the validity of Twitter for your job search, you should check out this article: Forbes: Twitter To Find A Job. As Forbes gives Twitter an endorsement, you can bet companies who hadn’t see the light now will be hustling to integrate Twitter into their mainstream recruitment approaches.
Photo by Join JobAdds.com
Tags: Job searching, Networking, Twitter
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[...] imperative to try Twitter for your IT job search if you want to make social networking work for you. The key to doing Twitter right though, is to [...]
Pingback by Building Your Network of Followers on Twitter | IT Hire Wire — April 30, 2009 @ 4:09 pm
[...] imperative to try Twitter for your IT job search if you want to make social networking work for you. The key to doing Twitter right though, is to [...]
Pingback by Building Your Network of Followers on Twitter | Daily Career Connection — August 10, 2009 @ 8:45 am