Twitter Tips To Help You Land A Job

by Melissa Page

From writing cover letters, updating resumés, carefully reviewing long job listings, and preparing yourself for dreaded interviews, job hunting can be a daunting endeavor. However, with today’s fast paced world, online tools such as social media can give you the upper hand and help you expedite the job search process.

While using LinkedIn for job search is a popular and helpful option, using other social media sites such as Twitter can also make for a speedy job hunt. If you haven’t seen results yet, don’t give up! This microblog can very well be the networking tool to help you land on your next career.

How does Twitter help your job search?

Although Twitter may not be the most preferred social media site for an optimized job hunt, it has its perks. Unlike responding to an online job posting with hundreds of other job seekers, Twitter allows you to interact with recruiters, HR representatives, hiring managers, and executives directly. By sending these company representatives an @ reply or direct message, your resume is more likely to be seen and considered.

Here are a few smart and strategic ways to get hired via Twitter:

Establish a professional presence.

Is your current Twitter account under your real name or some fun alias nickname? Now’s the time to start using another one using your real name for employees to see. If your name is common, as in John Smith, consider using your middle initial to distinguish you above the rest. For example: twitter.com/JohnMSmith.

If you have background in graphic design, customize your background to highlight your skill sets, professional experience and interests.

Update your profile.

Use the biography to tell the words what you do and what type of job you are seeking. Your goal is to be found and followed by like-minded people. If you have a website showcasing your portfolio and resume, put it there. You can also put the URL of your LinkedIn profile if you don’t have a personal website.

Make sure to have a professional-looking photo, not scandalous or funny headshots. Look the way you would at the office and don’t forget to flash those pearly whites.

Keep your updates public.

If the purpose of your Twitter account is to meet people and potentially land on your next job, you should keep your updates public. An open profile allows other users to search for your tweets and find your easily.

Use hashtags.

Aside from using keywords, recruiters use hashtag searches to find potential candidate for open positions. Hashtags are words with a #prefix that categorize the subject of the tweet and makes it searchable. For example, #job will yield the results of every tweet that a user categorized with a #job hashtag. Based on your searches, Twitter will also recommend others that may be useful to you.

Follow your dream companies or people who work there.

This is a fast way to find out if the company you love to work for has an open position. Simply search the company name and check the company’s website for it’s Twitter account. Following the company’s Twitter feed will also familiarize you with the brand and company culture, a huge bonus when you’re called in for interview.

By following HR managers, you may uncover job openings that aren’t posted on popular job boards such as Monster and Indeed.com.

Promote others, then yourself.

Overly promoting yourself is a huge turnoff. If you want to gain and maintain an active following, share interesting information and links. Promote others through retweeting their tweets to recognize their efforts. This way, you get to share information about yourself but help others as well.

What next?

Once you’re professional account is up and running, add your Twitter handle to your resume and continuously monitor your social media profiles for any messages from potential recruiters. To spare you the hassle, you can log on to free online platforms such as My Life and get all your emails and social media streams into one dashboard.

Happy tweeting and good luck on your job hunt!

Melissa Page became fascinated with the world of business at a tender age. Today, she shares this fascination to numerous others by blogging about different aspects of social media, marketing, and business. When she’s not busy writing or working on her friends’ group blog, Word Baristas, she’s busy monitoring her social media profiles for opportunities.