Tough economic times call for innovative approaches. An estimated 51 million people internationally are expected to lose their jobs in 2009, and with the unemployment rate on the rise, how does one find career opportunities fast? One great option is Twitter.
Twitter (
) is evolving as another resource, in addition to traditional methods, for both job searching and recruiting.
Get the most out of your page
• Make your Twitter presence “employer-friendly”
o Put your job pitch in your Twitter bio (which is 160 characters)
o Use a professional looking avatar
o Tweet about your job search
• Utilize your Twitter background. 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.
• 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)
• Establish yourself as an expert in your field on Twitter. 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.
“It’s about who you know”
How do you get to know the right people? It’s not always about who you’re looking for, some people on Twitter are actually looking for YOU.
There are many job recruiters who use Twitter to look for potential candidates. Before contacting a recruiter via Twitter, check out:
• Their bio
• Follower/Following ratio (Have they been around a while? Do they follow people back?)
• Click the link to their website
• Ask others in your network whether or not the recruiter is a credible source
Here are a few recruiters representing different professions and industries on Twitter:
Christa Foley a.k.a. @electra – Christa is the recruiting manager and recruiter at Zappos.com. Christa gives followers an inside look into her career at Zappos. She tweets out examples of negative recruiting interactions with potential clients, outreach she does with high school and college students, and ultimately looks for potential Zappos candidates.
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.
Job search tools & resources
A reactive job search on Twitter probably isn’t the best way to find a job. There are many new Twitter tools and applications to assist with a proactive job search.
@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 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.
Job search accounts
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
@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
@travelmaxallied – Healthcare jobs
@travelnursejob – Jobs for traveling nurses
@usmusicjobs – US Music Jobs
@web_design_jobs – Web design and other graphics jobs
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
@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
General
@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
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.
Your next job could be just a tweet away.
Social media tools are becoming mandatory for career success. They are free advertising and give you the ability to connect directly with hiring managers, entrepreneurs and recruiters, instead of applying for jobs through job boards, which are black holes. Your digital assets — blog, podcast, and social networking profiles — are your online identity and how people discover and connect with you. You have the ability to leverage one or all of these social media tools in order to present a positive image and be recruited for a position that aligns with your passion.
In this post, you’ll learn how to conduct a situational analysis, figure out exactly what your personal brand is, select the best social media tools to connect with your audience, build your online empire and finally, market your brand for career success. In light of the launch of my new book, Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success, we’re also giving away free copies (details at the bottom of this post).
1. Conduct a situational analysis
You can’t leverage social media for career success unless you know where you stand today. This includes taking a good look at your life, what your current responsibilities are, the amount of resources you currently have and your career position. For instance, if you have two children and a full-time job (two children is probably another full-time job), you won’t be able to spend ten hours a day building a community using social media tools. If you’re twenty years old and your parents are wealthy, then you will have more time to invest in your online brand and you may have extra cash to help market yourself. Also, you may have a strong or a weak professional network, which can either support your brand or hinder it moving forward.
When it comes to your career, you need to decide if you’re looking to go to graduate school, start a company, or get a full-time job at a company and climb that corporate ladder. These decisions will impact how you use tools to communicate what you do, who you serve, and how you want to be positioned relative to everyone else, along with your goals and mission.
2. Unearth your personal brand
Since social media tools require multimedia and written components for profiles, you’ll need to figure out your personal brand before you start building your profiles. Start by assessing what your strengths are, what you’re passionate about and then ask your network for feedback. Figure out how people describe you already and how you want people to perceive you in the future. During this time, you’ll want to stay true to yourself, remain authentic and be completely transparent because that is how people are going to relate to you.
Decide on your personal brand statement, a single picture/avatar to best represent you and fill out the typical profile fields that you will find on the majority of social networks (i.e. a summary, work experience, personal interests, etc). Your personal brand statement isn’t a job title, like financial analyst or marketing manager. Instead it tells the world two things: what you do and who you serve. After you’ve written all of this information down, you’re prepared to select the best social media tools for your branding strategy.
3. Select the right tools
Social media tools should be selected along the lines of three sets of criteria. First, the volume of the social network is an important qualification because you want to market yourself where a lot of people are already searching for people that have your expertise. Plus, social networks like Facebook (), LinkedIn (), Twitter (), FriendFeed (), YouTube (), Flickr (), Delicious () and Digg () have millions of users that can share your resume, profile, blog entries and more. This allows your brand to go viral and that exposure can help you land a job without applying. Second, the credibility of social networks helps you consider only the tools that have successful individuals you’d want to network with to help your career. For instance, LinkedIn is known to have many executives on it, including Bill Gates.
Finally, the relevancy of the social network, as it ties in to your career and industry, can void the other two requirements. There are social networks for doctors (Medical Mingle), real estate agents (Active Rain), and many more. You’ll want to join these because you’ll meet people just like you. Ning contains social networks for almost every vertical as well.
Aside from social networks, I highly encourage you to have your own personal digital asset. This could be either a blog or a traditional website registered under your name or the topic you want to own (with keywords). For blogging, use either Wordpress.com/.org, Blogger (), Typepad () or Tumblr (). For traditional websites, use a host such as Bluehost, Godaddy, or a free host like Bravenet.
4. Build your online empire
Now that you have all the tools in place and have filled out all your social networking profiles, it’s time to start building your online empire. This means you have to start generating a lot of content, either written, audio, video or all three. It also requires you to become a resource and a valuable contributor to your community.
You’ll have to constantly share interesting articles that you create or that you find on your topic and distribute them throughout all of your networks (the ones that you chose in step 4). The process for building your empire includes creating interesting and relevant content and publishing it, over and over again. To do this, you need to be committed, confident and passionate about what you do or you’ll end up giving up.
5. Market your brand
Marketing your brand for career success is the hardest part of the process. Most bloggers don’t even bother marketing their blogs. They believe that creating content markets itself, which is completely false and the reason why they have yet to reach a high level of success. Just having social networking profiles isn’t enough. You need to invest ten times as many hours in your marketing campaign as you do actually creating content.
There are many routes you can take to market your brand, such as being a member of a special interest group, becoming a leader in that group and speaking to organizations. Then there’s commenting on blogs in your industry, guest posting on other sites and interviewing bloggers. You can pitch bloggers and traditional journalists so that you can be a part of their stories and you can join forums, Facebook fan pages and groups to meet other people that may want your services. Regardless of the way you get your name out there, ensure it’s consistent with your brand.
6. Monitor your reputation
Whether you choose to use free or fee-based reputation monitoring tools, you need to keep your pulse on what people are saying about you all the time. The mandatory tools you need to use are search.twitter.com and google.com/alerts because you’ll be able to catch microposts (Twitter) and macroposts (blogs/news articles) citing your name.
You want to have a fast reaction time so that you can locate Tweets or blog posts that you can leverage as endorsements or find negative messages that you can prevent from spreading. Think about monitoring your reputation as an opportunity to learn more about how you’re projecting your brand to the world and take some of it as feedback to help you in your future career development.