A few blogs ago, we discussed how to optimize your new Facebook Timeline for a job search. Today we’re talking about Twitter – a micro-blogging site that has fast become all the rage for quickly sharing news and other content to people around the world. Most people use Twitter to keep up with friends, celebrities, and other news in real-time, but you may not know that Twitter can also be leveraged to help you in your job search and professional life.
First things first – create an account! To sign-up, you’ll need to first create a “handle” – or, username – for yourself, which will be preceded by the @ symbol, that others can find you by. You should pick something that incorporates your name, or simply is your name (mine’s just @SammEtters!). If you’re using Twitter for your job search, keep it at least semi-professional.
If you already have an account, you should consider changing your handle (you can easily change it in your Account settings) to be more professional if it isn’t already, or you can start a new account that will strictly be your professional handle.
Next, you’ll want to fill out your profile. Just as on Facebook, you’ll want to choose a semi-professional photo of yourself. Twitter pictures are small and square, so you should try to get an image that shows your face well so people will recognize you.
You also have a 160 character mini-bio – fill this in with a quick bit about your background, skills, and what you’re looking for. You are also able to add a website to your profile. If you have a personal blog or website this would be an appropriate place to showcase.
Who to Follow
Next step, find people to follow! In addition to your friends and other contacts, you’ll want to start following other accounts that will benefit you in your job search and professional life. Consider these types of accounts:
- Influential people in your industry, or thought leaders
- News accounts that cater to your industry or field (many magazines and websites that you already frequent likely have accounts!)
- Companies you want to work for – both those you’re looking into now, and companies you aspire to work for in the future. This way you’ll keep up to date on their current news. Some companies have separate accounts specifically for their careers or HR department, so look out for those too.
- Recruiters in your industry or geographic location – they might tweet both job opportunities and helpful career advice (If you follow @hiredMYway and @HMWJobs, we do both!)
What to Tweet
Once you have people to follow and people following you, you need to start tweeting. You want to position yourself as an authority in your industry, or at least someone who knows what you’re talking about. Tweet about articles you read or observations you’ve made that are relevant to your industry or career field. Read something you like about a particular company? Tweet it, and be sure to mention them by using their handle in the message. If you have your own blog, definitely tweet your articles, especially anytime you update it.
If you’re not already employed, you can also tweet that you’re searching for a job. This lets your followers know to keep an eye out for you, and could possibly lead to a networking connection. You can also use Twitter to ask questions on virtually any topic.
Using Hashtags
A hashtag is a word or phrase preceded by the # symbol, which makes the word clickable. If you click on a hashtag, you can see every other tweet that also used that tag. This is a great way to connect with others that are discussing the same topic. Use relevant hashtags to get your tweets noticed by others in your field. If you don’t know which to use, simply search a few terms or look at what other people in your industry are using.
Searching for Jobs
Many companies and users tweet about job openings, which you can actively search for. Using the search function, you can search by job titles, companies, locations, and hashtags suchs as #jobs, #job, #jobsearch, #jobseeker, #career, or #hiring, which are common hashags for job posting tweets.
You can also use TwitJobSearch.com to easily search and sort job openings on Twitter. It is basically a search engine specific to jobs mentioned in tweets. You can search terms outright, or you can browse jobs by industry, location, and even find a directory or accounts that tweet jobs regularly.
Do you have any other tips for using Twitter? Let us know in the comments!
As always, if you have questions about job searching and social media, you can always tweet us at @hiredMYway!