How to Find a Job on Twitter

By SARAH E. NEEDLEMAN

More companies are tweeting for hires.

As online job boards have grown crowded amid the recession, many big companies, including Microsoft Corp., Verizon Communications Inc., Raytheon Corp. and Viacom Inc.'s MTV Networks, now list job openings on the Twitter microblogging site.

Twitter lets job seekers follow feeds that list jobs from a variety of companies.

For employers, Twitter-where users post updates, or "tweets," of no more than 140 characters-offers one more way to find and attract candidates, and a cheaper alternative to big online job boards. It also helps companies target social-media-savvy job hunters and convey an innovative image. For job seekers, Twitter offers the chance to interact one-on-one with companies' recruiters and can be more convenient than job boards.

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Great video: Tweet Your Way to A New Job.

If you're looking for work, you've already asked your best friends and family if they know anyone who's hiring -- and likely they don't. The best connection to your next job comes not from your strong ties, but from your weak links -- those distant friends and contacts that you make through networking.

That makes three sites in particular -- LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter -- potential gold mines for putting people in touch. Plus, they offer easy ways to track the industry, companies and executives you're interested in pursuing. Bonus: All three are free to use.

Article and photo credit
@jacobshare
The Beginner's Guide to Finding A Job on Twitter
This quick guide will show you to get started with Twitter, build your network effectively and focus on your job search goals all while staying in a good mood. Yes, you can.

Like blogging, Twitter is a terrific way to reinforce your personal brand by showing your professional expertise and helping people. To find a job with Twitter, keep this in mind all the time.

Jacob used all the following tips to create his own Twitter profile, so visit @jacobshare to get examples of everything recommended here below.

1. Discover Twitter. Spend some time surfing Twitter profiles to get a feel for how people are using Twitter. Bookmark a first group of people you'd like to follow. See what you like and don't like and take notes for reference later.

2. Create a Twitter strategy. Your main goal is to find a job, but what are your secondary goals? Specific people to meet, industry news to follow, etc.? Plan to Twitter accordingly. There's a good chance that your ideas will change once you start using the service heavily. And that's ok, just rewrite your goals and strategy when it happens.

3. Sign up to Twitter. Create an account using your "home work" email address - the one you would use strictly for job searching as well - and choose a username that's either your full name, first name and profession or a pseudonym that describes you e.g. SmartTechGuy. If you're planning to twitter a lot about your private life, consider a second Twitter account.

4. Don't follow your friends while signing up. After creating your account, Twitter will suggest that you immediately search through your email contacts to find friends that are already on Twitter. SKIP THIS because you'll do it later. You want to create an impressive profile before telling anyone that you're on Twitter.

5. Design your profile to impress. For the 'More Info URL', put the url of your blog, LinkedIn profile or other brand-reinforcing website. For the 'One Line Bio', use the personal tagline I told you about in 37 Ideas to Grow Your Job Search Network Right Now. In the Notices tab, make sure you've selected 'Show me: all @ replies' to maximize the chances for conversation until you're comfortable with Twitter. In the Picture tab, choose a clear, professional-looking portrait of yourself that looks good at all the different sizes used in Twitter. In the Design tab, change the background image to something different than the default image. Ideally, upload an image you created with information about yourself and how to contact you.

6. Prepare to simulcast. Free services like HelloTXT.com let you use your tweets for the status messages on your other social network profiles on Facebook or LinkedIn. This is a good way to get more return on your Twitter investment but make sure you'll be able to reply when people also respond outside of Twitter. Not all tweets will make sense off-Twitter, so only simulcast when your tweet can stand on its own e.g. shared links, tips or answers to Twitter's famous "What are you doing?"

7. Pick the best tools for your tweets. I like Twhirl from my PC and m.twitter.com from my mobile but using the standard Web interface is fine in a pinch and it's what most people use. Other tools worth trying are Twitterrific for Mac, TweetDeck which has a nice feature that lets you group Twitter users, Spaz, Snitter, Pwytter, iTweet.Net, fring for mobiles, Twitter Tools if you have a WordPress blog, Twadget on Windows Vista, the Twitter Google Gadget, Twitter for iPhone and many others.

8. Setup Auto-Follow. Use a service like TweetLater so that when people follow you, you automatically follow them back. Prune your followers list from time to time to weed out spam-like followers who aren't contributing to your conversations or because their tweets just don't interest you.

9. Choose an url-shortening service to share links. Stay with a service like tr.im or bit.ly that allows you to track how many people click on your link. Even if you've tweeted a link before, create a new "shorturl" every time you mention a link so that you can measure the number of clicks separately.

10. Keep handy an updated, online version of your resume. Whether an optimized LinkedIn profile or a resume posted to your blog, you don't want to hesitate when someone asks you to send it over.

11. Start twittering! Before you have any followers, twitter a handful of messages to set expectations and give people a taste of what they'll see when they follow you. Then continue doing it, at least 15-30 minutes per day as you slowly grow your network.

12. Be someone worth following. Provide value by twittering tips, sharing news or resource links about your profession and answering as many questions as you can, quickly and well. Enjoy yourself too, while helping your followers as much as you can.

13. Follow people who are likely to follow you back. To gain some momentum in getting followers quickly, Use Twitter's Find People tool to invite your email friends and contacts to follow you now that your Twitter profile is ready to show off.

14. Browse Twitter directories to find industry professionals to follow . Examples are TwitDir, Twellow and Just Tweet It.

15. Follow people who might have jobs to offer. Use Twitter Search to look for people who have twittered relevant job offers in the past and follow them until you can sense if it will happen again. Notice any keywords in common and then search on those too. Also, watch how people reacted to those offers. Search more keywords to find conversations among other industry pros and follow them too.

16. Avoid certain kinds of Twitter accounts. Some twitterers are simply broadcasting job listings, essentially Twitter-based job boards like TwitHire. Search them but unless they're focused on your industry, it's just another time-waster to follow them. Another example- accounts where the number of "following" is multiples of the number of followers, a typical the sign of a spammer.

17. Grow your network some more. Use a tool like Twubble to follow who your followers are following. Visit tweeters' profiles and see their starred favorites to get to know them. Also, don't forget the list of people you drew up when you researched Twitter at the beginning of this guide. Do keep in mind the tip above, because you don't want to give the impression of being a spammer either.

18. Find your best time of day for Twitter conversations. Twitter is best when people discuss and help each other out live but not everyone connects at the same time, often spanning many time zones. Watch the people you follow and choose your Twitter time of day accordingly.

19. Twitter from time to time about your job search. Your Twitter friends need to know that you're job hunting. An occasional reminder is critical to cut through the river of tweets. 20. Follow Jacob at http://twitter.com/jacobshare. He will follow you back, and give you feedback and suggestions about your Twitter profile. Or if you prefer, contact Jacob before signing up to Twitter and he will help you focus your ideas to achieve your goals from the start.

KnockEmDead.com can help you with every aspect of preparing for and finding your next job.

Stop by the Ultimate Place For Job Search And Career Advice. This one site has all the resources to give you the competitive edge you need to stand out from the crowd and find a job.

Twitjobboard can help! We are officially in a recession. Thousands of people have been fired or laid off. If you are reading this, chances are very good that you are one of them.

With the empathy and good will of the wonderful people on Twitter.com, we are in hope that we can help you find a job in this economic downturn.

Yes, we can save the Twitterverse from sinking into the next Great Depression with newly created and current job positions.

twitter bird design illustrations

Search specialist Workdigital has launched a job search service for Twitter. It crawls the messaging site for vacancies and contextualises job information. It was launched at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival at Texas -- the same place where Twitter unveiled its social networking/micro-blogging service two years ago.

Workdigital created this Twitter JobSearch.com for Twitter because even recruitment firms use this social networking service to attract other Twitter-users. The search service will be free to job seekers but Workdigital has said it would build a simple advertising-supported service around the site by pulling certain messages out of the site.

The company is convinced its job search service will be useful to users since Twitter messages are generally not organized. This search service will enable users to obtain only Twitter updates that are relevant to them. Workdigital says its job search service can scan millions of 'Tweets' (Twitter messages) and also go a bit further to create a strong contextual search. As of now, there are about 25,000 jobs listed on Twitter and thousands are being added every hour.

For example, a user can search for "PHP developers in Mumbai" to view Twitter messages posted by recruitment agencies.

This shows that Twitter JobSearch is able pull in additional details such as location and/or job title -- adding more context to the search results. To get a better perspective of how popular Twitter really is one has needs to look at its userbase, which is still not officially disclosed by Twitter but is definitely in the millions and continues to grow.

This can also benefit recruitment firms that are looking for new avenues to reach individuals who are on the lookout for a change. It is simple, free and effective enough to send out a job requirement which a user can search through Twitter JobSearch.

Info and image from article at techtree.com

Real People hiring and hired on Twitter

When Jackie Peters, founding partner of marketing firm Heavybag Media, was looking for a new social media strategist, she naturally turned to Twitter. "Using Monster.com or Craigslist would have generated a stack of resumes from unqualified candidates," she says. "I figured if the candidate wasn't on Twitter, they most likely weren't right for the job."

It can help people seeking work as well. Stephanie Martin's quest for a job started with searching Twitter for people in her field (public relations) and in her target market (Phoenix). She began following the head of PR for her alma mater, Northern Arizona University. Soon she was following--and being followed by--some of the top PR agencies in the area, and then flying to Phoenix for interviews. "The hardest part was explaining how I knew the person who'd arranged the interviews," Martin says. "Because I'd never met or spoken to him; we just tweeted."

There are a variety of Twitter accounts dedicated to providing job listings by field, company, region, and more. Once you've decided which best match your job search, consider turning on mobile alerts for these accounts to be among the first to receive messages (if your mobile phone plan includes SMS messages).
By Company

@attjobs - Jobs at AT&T
@mtvnetworksjobs - Jobs at MTV
@TRCareers - Jobs from Thomson Reuters

By Field

@alldevjobs - Developer jobs
@ArtDirectorJobs - Art director jobs
@cwjobs - Copywriter jobs
@jobsinhiphop - Jobs in Hip-Hop
@journalism_jobs - Jobs in journalism
@juicyjobs - Green jobs
@libgig_jobs - Library Jobs%u2028
@mediabistrojobs - Media job listings from mediabistro.com
@medical_jobs - Medical jobs
@media_pros - Jobs for media professionals
@narmsjobs - Retail marketing jobs
@PRSAjobcenter - Jobs in public relations, communications and marketing
@reflectx - Physical Therapy jobs
@seojobs - SEO job listings
@socialmediajob - Jobs in social media%u2028
@travelmaxallied - Healthcare jobs
@travelnursejob - Jobs for traveling nurses%u2028
@usmusicjobs - US Music Jobs%u2028
@web_design_jobs - Web design and other graphics jobs%u2028

By Job Type

@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

By Region

@MyBristolJobs - Job listings from mybristoljobs.co.uk
@chicagowebjobs - Web-related jobs in Chicago
@ChicagoTechJobs - Technology jobs in the greater Chicago area
@ITJobsLondon - IT jobs in London
@ITJobsSydney - IT jobs in Sydney, Australia
@JobsBoston - Jobs in the greater Boston area
@jobshawaii - Jobs in Hawaii
@NewYorkTechJobs - Technology jobs in the greater New York area
@PDXJobs - Jobs in Portland, Oregon
@sdjobs - San Diego technology jobs%u2028
@sfmobilejobs - Mobile Web and Digital Media jobs in Silicon Valley
@mtltweetjobs - PR/marketing/social media/tech jobs in Montreal
@TopJobsInLondon - Top jobs in London, UK
@web20jobs - UK-based web 2.0 jobs%u2028

General

@JobAngels - Helping the unemployed find jobs
@indeed - One search. All jobs.%u2028
@jobshouts - General job postings
@simplyhired - Job search site%u2028
@StartUpHire - Jobs at VC backed companies
@twithire - Job board service %u2028

To find additional Twitter job resources, use the Twitter search function and type in keywords important in your job search. For example, "job openings," "looking for a job," or "healthcare career." Additionally, you can search out others in your desired career field on sites like Twellow, Just tweet it, and TwitterTroll.

The previous suggestions were posted on Mashable by Sarah Evans, who is the director of communications at Elgin Community College (ECC) in Elgin, Illinois. She also authors a PR and social media blog and is the founder of #journchat.

Great video interview with Tory Johnson Top Ten Tips to Get Your Resume Noticed

Include a link to an online CV or resume in your bio. Use a tool like VisualCV. (For more information on building an online resume, see Dan Schawbel's post HOW TO: Build the Ultimate Social Media Resume)

Street-Smart Help With Resumes, Search & Interviews at KnockEmDead.com!

Job-hunters! Follow @Ashraf_Chaudhry get the 1st chapter of his upcoming book on job-hunting as a friendship token at end April.

Find everything you need at jobnet360.com

Classifieds, Videos, Recruiters, Interviews and Resume Resources.

There's lots of space you can use to promote yourself. Don't know how to create a professional-looking Twitter background? Use this free template to design your own.

Twitter started off as a place for geeks to communicate with others and send updates on what they were doing. Over the past year or so, Twitter really has become a professional platform for many people that work as freelancers or are deeply involved in the social media ecosphere. Twitter initially had one theme that was available and has always allowed people to upload their own images for the background. Now Twitter has 12 backgrounds available but the over achievers have taken their professional Twitter background to a new level.

Example is from @problogger
which appeared in Koka Sexton's article Professional Twitter Backgrounds

Put Your Job Pitch in Your Twitter Bio
Use A Professional Looking Avatar
Tweet about your job search

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 tool born out of Twitter for job seekers and recruiters. Follow the hashtag #Tweetmyjobs and visit the website. This is a very simple (and free) 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.

1. Make it a point to be interesting as a person. To be recognized as an expert you will need to build a following around you! With social networking taking over marketing, the blur between marketing and personal communication gets fuzzier each day. Twitter is a great example of this. Use sites like Twitter to share about your expertise, but add in some tidbits that set you apart from others: books you're reading, websites you find interesting,and anecdotal comments about your day. The personal touch will make a huge difference in the way people remember you.

2. What makes a person interesting and memorable is the ability to leave a lasting impression on others. In business this can be done in many ways: Look over your expertise and identify where its interesting, even intriguing. Keep it authentic and play up your natural strengths.

3. Create a buzz. Perhaps you sent out a link on Twitter that everyone is talking about. Maybe you posted a thought provoking blog and suddenly people you don't even know are passing it around the blogosphere.That is part of standing out! These are all ways of building buzz, that subtle form of marketing where you hear about something from a third party. Its a brilliant marketing strategy and well suited for the world of Web 2.0 (blogs, social networking, video, etc.)

It's important to note that you should not misrepresent yourself. If you're not a medical doctor, don't play one on Twitter. As those on Twitter become interested in your content, when employers are looking at you, you'll have more than just your resume to back up your knowledge and experience.

The following suggestions were posted on Mashable by Sarah Evans, who is the director of communications at Elgin Community College (ECC) in Elgin, Illinois. She also authors a PR and social media blog and is the founder of #journchat.

Craig Fisher a.k.a. @Fishdogs - Craig is an IT and executive recruiter who co-founded A-List Solutions staffing firm. On Twitter he offers tweets on how to find a job in the web industry, hiring tips and tricks, along with professional career advice.

Jim Durbin a.k.a. @smheadhunter - A social media recruiter, Jim is active on the Twitter scene. His goal is to partner "social media gurus" with the right companies. Jim responds to followers' questions, offers general recruiting advice and sends out "teaser" tweets for positions he thinks followers might be interested in.

Jennifer McClure a.k.a. @CincyRecruiter - Jennifer is an executive recruiter/coach. She often tweets out specific advice for job seekers, including words not to use on a resume. Jennifer is accessible to her followers and tweets about non-recruiting topics as well.

Laurie DesAutels a.k.a. @biotechjobs - Laurie recruits a specific niche, looking for senior level leaders in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry. Her tweet stream includes links to other job search resources and lots of Twitter information.

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