My clients tend to be mid-career professionals, well accustomed to email and searching on Google. Their comfort level with LinkedIn varies. But when it comes to Twitter the trepidation dramatically rises. “How can Twitter fit into my job hunt?” they skeptically ask.
The smart job hunter will recognize that Twitter’s functionality has become a reality not only for media celebrities, but for both main stream and start-up businesses. Twitter is being used for corporate branding, marketing, and scouting for plugged-in “high value” talent to fill jobs. Corporations, HR practices, and recruiters all value access to Twitter’s 75 million users. CEO’s, HR, hiring managers, career experts and recruiters are all actively using Tweeting as a part of their messaging and staffing strategies. It only makes sense that job seekers hunt in the same forest as their prey!
So… what can Twitter do for you?
- Uncover job leads posted by recruiters, and job search tips from career experts like myself and many others. To do this you don’t even have to tweet – just learn about hash marks (#), searches, how to create your own lists and access the lists of others. Seek the things that are relevant to your expertise and experience.
- Create a powerful profile branding statement. A strong profile gives you the answer to the standard interview question, “Tell me about yourself” in 160 characters. Use my Twitter profile as an example: “JobHunt Strategy Maestro, LinkedIn Guru, Careerealism.com Expert, Acclaimed Speaker, resume writer, personal branding, social media, network and interview prep.” It’s amazing how much information you can convey about yourself in 160 characters (the maximum length on Twitter)!
Be sure to make your branding statement consistent on Twitter, LinkedIn, your blog, your resume, and your business card. It becomes the essence of your “elevator speech”.
- Position yourself as a valued candidate. Take part in ongoing discussions. Share your subject-matter expertise. Intelligently answer questions that others raise. Share resources that you have found, ask questions that demonstrate you know what you are talking about. Point people to your website, blog, LinkedIn profile and all the rest of your professional online content.
- Follow Power: Remember that you can follow and stop following anyone you want, anytime. Unlike LinkedIn where connections involve an invitation and acceptance, on Twitter you can have immediate access to all the tweets of anyone you choose. By searching Twitter you can find thought leaders in your field. You can learn about what is important to companies on your target list and to their employees, managers, and venders.
For example, search for “cisco engineer”, and look in the upper right of your screen to find a list of people who are cisco engineers. Or search for “HR recruiter Boston” and recruiters in the Boston area who focus on HR professionals. Start following the people on your search results and you will begin to get a much better feel for them and how you can position yourself to be the answer to their prayers.
- Search for anything and everything! Try searching, “How to find a Job”, “job hunt strategy”, or something that describes the job you are seeking like: “java programmer jobs Boston”. Whenever you find an interesting tweet, follow the author, and RT (retweet) it so other can see.
- Hash Mark # Power: In order to assist people to carry on discussions about any given topic, you can create or follow “discussion headers” called hashtags or hash marks. They are words preceded by the “#” sign. Some of my favorites for jobhunters include: #jobadvice, #jobsearch, #jobhunt, #career, #resume, #networking, #interview, and #salary. Search for hashtags that relate to your industry, skills, education, job function, and geography.
Of course, these six tips only scratch the surface of Twitter’s value to the Jobhunter. Experiment for yourself, see what others are doing, and follow my blog to learn more tips along the way.
I’m always interested to hear from readers. Tell me what stymies you, what energizes you, what works, and what doesn’t. I’d love to hear some success stories!
Happy hunting!
Arnie
Tags: Boston, Employment, Facebook, Human resources, job hunt, LinkedIn, Social network, Twitter
