Twitter is easy and job searching on Twitter is a great way to get ahead! So get started and we’ll show you how to find a job with Twitter!

If you haven’t heard of it yet, or if Twitter is all new to you, don’t get stressed out. Not everyone loves gadgets, plus not everyone wants to be on social media 24/7.

That being said, if you are job hunting or job seeking, then Twitter is the perfect free social media and micro blogging service to promote your personal brand. It’s also the perfect tool to complement your online presence on other sites like Facebook and LinkedIn.

Sign up for Twitter:

Just go to Twitter to sign up for your account. Ensure that you create a username that is professional, and that will attract employers you want to tweet with. Not Molly55 if you know what I mean.

If your name is taken, consider any combination of your name and your industry or what you do. As with LinkedIn, you will want to put a nice photo up on your profile, and you might want to customize the background image as well.

Don’t forget to fill in the micro biography – keep it short & simple. You don’t have that many words so be precise and tell the world what you do, how much experience you have, and what your major achievements are. I recommend that the URL link be directed to a professional profile on LinkedIn or similar site while you are in job search mode.

Don’t use a private account

When you make your account private, by definition, you make yourself less visible. I wouldn’t advise it. If you’re worried that your personal tweets will make you lose you a job or stop you from getting an interview, either get a second Twitter account or don’t post personal tweets while you’re on the job hunt. You know my advice when I sign off, “hunt wisely!“

Make use of your bio

Some industry (social media specific) hiring managers, and some of the more clued in recruiters know how to find great talent by searching for people looking for jobs via social media. We regularly advise our JobSearch clients to sign up for Twitter. One of our most recent clients tweeted “looking for FT/PT/#freelance roles in social media” and was snapped up within days. He had followed and retweeted related content and regularly contributed with his own tweets.

Once the recruiters found him, they knew the role he was seeking by reading his bio, and the rest was easy.

Learn how it works before you start to tweet

Just like when you first signed up for Facebook or LinkedIn, it’s best if you play around with it a bit to familiarize yourself with the functionalities. The big difference is that Twitter is not as personalized, you can choose to follow anybody and anybody can follow you. You will also find that Twitter is much easier to use than most other social media sites, so you should be able to grasp the basics within a half an hour or so. Twitter is all about reading and tweeting short messages.

Who & how to follow without becoming a stalker?

Before you follow anyone, make sure you have completed your profile. You don’t want to follow people and create a poor first impression with your profile. Once your profile is complete, start looking for people who might have a job for you. Consider recruitment companies, HR departments, line managers, and owners/operators of new social recruiting sites. They are all on Twitter and will be tweeting new job offers and leads for opportunities.

If you follow them, they are likely to follow you and pick up on your tweets. You can actually search Twitter for tweets containing words such as vacancy, new jobs, requirement, etc. This way you can target the Twitter folks who have jobs available.

TwitterJobSearch.com is a really cool site that compiles all the jobs on Twitter, it is global (yes I am not kidding, they even cover Australia & New Zealand) so just type in what job and location you are looking for, and if you want any other suggestions, check my regular tweets at @ulrichschild. 

Tweeting

Tweet about interesting stuff. Share the ups and downs of your career, life, friends, and family. Retweet interesting tweets from others. Embed these tweets in your job search about once a day, just give your followers an update so that they get constant reminders that you are looking for a new opportunity. If you post links, always use URL shortening services. Your followers will love you for it. Naturally, as with LinkedIn, don’t ever spam out any tweets and don’t stalk your followers.

Twitter – Tweet Tricks & Tips

Now that you are up and running, you might want to look at smart applications to help you tweet. After all, you don’t want to waste all day on another social media solution. There are some great Auto Follow and Repost tools. I recommend that you use them.

Don’t Follow Everyone

I always advise my JobSearch clients to start by following the 10 to 15 companies they really want to work for. The rest are added to a “list” on Twitter; these lists are designed to help you organise the people and topics you are interested in, whether you follow them or not.

Follow Key Members or Influencers

I always advise clients to follow existing employees, (particularly influencers or recruiters) as it is much better than following the company’s Twitter account. Individuals are much more likely to respond.

Increasingly companies are using Twitter to advertise jobs as well as message boards. The character limitations mean they have to be succinct, but there are tons of jobs every day in every field.