Apr 02 2009
A Bit About Twitter
Twitter is the new “craze” among recruiters, social networking gurus, and just about anyone that is involved in the talent acquisition (that would be “recruiting”) industry.
Many “Average Joes” don’t have a clue what to do or how to use Twitter effectively. Luckily there are a plethora of articles, blogs, websites etc. to help with this. And where can most of these resources be found?
On Twitter, of course. Posted daily, hourly, momentarily by Tweeters.
I set up a Twitter account and have selectively chosen to follow a wide variety of Tweeters. (I didn’t invent the term.) The most effective tools I have found to use have been the application Tweet Deck (http://tweetdeck.com), an explanation of hashtags (metadata tags within the posted content signified with a #), and various blogs on the subject (rather than books and articles), URL shorteners like tinyurl or t.conquent.com (unabashed plug for my company ;).
*Everyone* that tweets their own expertise assures you they know the best way to utilize the tool.
In the spirit of blogging and information, I’m going to give you a few suggestions.
1) In an application such as Tweetdeck, set up searches with various keywords that are of interest to you, such as “job”, “resume”, “recruiter” or industry terms like “software engineer” or “architect” or “C#” or “java”. Seek common terms that appear in the job postings you are looking at that are *industry specific*.
2) It’s about building community and establishing your credentials in order to be *found* as opposed to just be *looking*. You know your skills, you know your industry. If you have a professional blog, post the link when you write a post of interest. Chances are if you are unemployed, while perusing job searches you also find interesting tidbits about not only your industry but the world at large. Post those links with a very short descriptor. For example, I recently posted a tweet about Microsoft and Monster partnering. The # is a hashtag (or metadata tag), which means that people following content on Monster and/or Microsoft will see this post.
employeeze#Monster to partner with #Microsoft combining online Office resume template searches w/ Monster job board. http://t.conquent.com/A500
3) You are limited to 140 characters, which *includes* your profile name. When you are creating your profile, choose something as short as possible that is professional. It will precede every post you make, so you want to make sure you are identifiable. Every profile is unique, so trying jessie1 will probably yield one of those “this profile is already taken”. If you have your own business, try using some variation on the business name for your profile.
4) Newbie Tweeters have a tendency to update Twitter with every single thing they are doing all the time. Don’t do it. It gets annoying as you garner more followers. Don’t tweet “employeeze just got a cup of coffee” followed by “employeeze is answering all my email” followed by “employeeze just got a call from the DH”. The bane and the beauty of Twitter is that you can advertise yourself. Remember, if you are using Twitter to find a job or promote your services, you want to be genuine, show your expertise and personality, but not to overload interested parties with the minutiae of your everyday activities.
5) Keep it positive. Don’t use Twitter (or any other social networking tool) to constantly moan, complain, or bad-mouth people. That being said, an occasional tweet about being frustrated adds character to your profile. Especially if your frustration is either universal or specific to your industry. A good example would be “employeeze hmmm…pay mortgage/cable bill or buy Bjoel/Ejohn concert tix? Tough choice.”
Here are some other sites that I’ve found informative. Happy Tweeting!
http://twitter.pbwiki.com/Hashtags
http://tweetdeck.posterous.com/
The human factor behind Twitter for jobs
http://mashable.com/2009/03/13/twitter-jobs/
Very helpful post! Thanks very much for your insights. Ms. Therese at http://careermysteries.today.com.