Tweeting for a Job

With so many of us out of work, or expecting to be soon, it may be time to try a more innovative approach to looking for the job of our dreams. Enough can't be said about using job listing boards, such as this one and others at beyond.com , as it is the tried and true method. That being said, there are many resources you already use, that you may not be taking full advantage of.

Twitter is a fun and popular social networking program that is rapidly growing in popularity. In fact, more and more, Twitter is being used not just by individuals, but also by companies. Twitter allows it's users to send and receive short messages with a 140 character limit. Because these messages are so short, users can have them delivered via text message instantly to their mobile phone. Since you can subscribe to other peoples twitter feeds or "tweets" by simply clicking a button to follow them, it is a great way to stay in touch and get updates from a variety of people.
One overlooked use of this technology is finding a job. If you are like me when I researched this, you are probably asking yourself, "You can do that?" The answer is "Absolutely". And here is how.
The first thing that you want to do, if you haven't already is to make your own Twitter ID. If you already have one that you use mainly for personal use with your friends, you may want to consider making one just for professional use. Make sure your twitter account is professional and employer friends. Here are some tips.


Make sure your name is professional- This probably goes without saying, but you want your user name to reflect your in a good light, so pick something professional.
Use a business avatar picture- Again, you will want to use a nice headshot or an icon that looks clean and simple.
Put your job experience highlights in your twitter bio- Even though you only have a small number of characters available, use them to hit the main points.
Include a link to your resume in your bio or on your page- Make sure that you save enough room in your bio for a link to your resume. You can use a site like this to shorten your URL to make it easier to stay inside the character limit.
Make your layout advertise you-Your layout is a large space that you can use to promote yourself. Although there are many ready made backgrounds, think about making your own using PowerPoint. There are some great tutorials that make it super easy for anyone to do.


Now that you are set up to start looking for a job, you may want to research recruiters and HR representatives that are already on Twitter. When you find someone you are interested in, you will want to check out there bio, the web site to their company and also look at their follow rate (how many people follow them vs. people they follow to see if they have been around awhile and if they follow people back). Send them a tweet with a short message that you are looking for a position and your field and experience.
It is also a good idea to tweet about your job search, remembering to keep it clean. You may want to tweet that you are going to an interview or to comment on what a great job the interviewer did. Never use your twitter to complain about your job, your job search or an interviewer. Keep in mind that potential interviewers will read your twitter feed, and you want to be sure that the impression they get from it is that you are a serious job hunter who is professional and courteous. In the digital world we live in, nothing makes you look as bad as posting negative comments about others on the Internet. So, even if it was the worst interview experience ever, still find something positive to tweet about.
In addition to sending tweets directly to recruiters, there are several job hunting resources available to you as well. Here are a few of them.

@Microjobs

Started by well-known PR professional, Brian Solis, @Microjobs was developed to bring together job seekers and recruiters through tweets.

How does it work?

Recruiters begin their tweets with @Microjobs, and then submit. The @Microjobs account automatically tweets out requests to its growing network of job seekers

TweetMyJobs

Another Twitter tool for job seekers and recruiters. Follow the hashtag #Tweetmyjobs and visit the website. This is a very simple tool for job seekers. You can subscribe to desired job channels and even have new openings automatically sent to your mobile phone. Even better? You can specify which cities you want notifications from.

There are many Twitter accounts dedicated to job searching in almost every field imaginable. You can search for the ones that match your field and area, and by following them, you can find out about openings that you may be interested in. Here is just a few examples to get you started.

@attjobs – Jobs at AT&T
@mtvnetworksjobs – Jobs at MTV
@TRCareers – Jobs from Thomson Reuters
@findinternships – Internships and entry level jobs for college students
@freelance_jobs – Freelance jobs
@heatherhuhman – Entry level jobs and internships
@Project4Hire – Freelance and temporary jobs
@jewish_jobs – Jewish job listings
@JobAngels – Helping the unemployed find jobs
@indeed – One search. All jobs.
@jobshouts – General job postings
@simplyhired – Job search site
@StartUpHire – Jobs at VC backed companies
@twithire – Job board service

And, of course here at PhillyJobs.com, we have the following two Twitter channels (among hundreds more under our Beyond.com @Beyond_com and @BeyondJobs umbrella):

@4PhillyJobs - a great resource that tweets out career, news and relevant job search and hiring tweets (plus announcements when there is a new blog post or update to our facebook page)

@Jobs_in_Philly - great Twitter jobs channel that automatically tweets out the newest jobs as they are posted on our PhillyJobs.com site! Start following both channels!

In addition, you can use one of several Twitter search engines to find accounts and hashtags that relate best to the postion you are looking for. Some of the more popular ones are JustTweetIt , Twellow , andTwitterTroll. Happy Tweeting!