Twitter is not just for catching up on the latest celebrity gossip and political scandals, you may be surprised to know that more and more employers are starting to use it to find potential candidates for their workforce. Just 140 characters can help you find your dream job.
Make an Impression
If you want to make the best impression with potential employers, create a username that reflects your professional brand. Choose one that you can tie in with your website, blog and other social media networks. For your picture, use a headshot. While it doesn't have to be taken by a professional, keep it simple with a plain background. You only have 160 characters to fill out your personal profile so make them count. Make it clear why you stand above the rest in your field and add a link to your LinkedIn account or professional portfolio.
Follow the Leaders
Seek out industry leaders in your field of expertise and follow their tweets. You can do this by searching for them by name or by their profession. It's also good to follow recruiters who work with companies that you would like to join. Recruiters will often post useful information about their companies as well as available vacancies. If they start to follow you this could lead to job offers.
Don't Be Timid About Tweeting
Tweet regularly and be sure to retweet any posts that you find interesting. Don't be afraid to ask questions of the influential people in your lists, such as company executives and hiring managers. It's perfectly fine to start a conversation via private messaging but minimize your tweets to five per week so that you don't come across as overbearing.
Join in Discussions
Many industries have weekly chats where you can spend an hour chatting with industry leaders. Check out the Twitter chat schedule to find a discussion that's relevant to your field and jump right in. This is a great way to network and to learn more about prospective employers.
Make the Most of #Hashtags
Use hashtags to help you find the right employer. While some, such as #HR, #recruiting, #jobopening and #hireme, will lead you to broad results, others, such as #engineering, #accounting and #healthcarejobs will lead you to more specific fields.
Use Job Seeker Resources
There are specific Twitter resources available for job seekers. Searching @Microjobs is a good place to start. Recruiters use this tag at the beginning of a tweet to submit job announcements which are then posted out to the network. Register with Tweet My Jobs. When you sign up with this website you create a search for jobs in your industry and you can have matches sent to you via Twitter, email or to your phone on a regular schedule.
