Are you on Twitter? If you are, you certainly know that you are not alone–32 million others are tweeting right along with you. But did you know that you can use this awesome social media tool to help you find a job? A recent Yahoo! HotJobs poll showed that only 8% of respondents have used Twitter to help with a job search. Considering the state of the job market today, don’t leave any stone unturned if you are out there looking for a job.
Dan Schawbel, author of “Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success,” shares some tips to help you use Twitter to raise your professional profile and put your job search on the fast track.
1. Brand yourself. Instead of just jumping in, Schawbel says, “Before using any social network, create a single, unified social-media strategy, so that your brand remains consistent throughout each network that you join, including Twitter.” He recommends using the same professional picture or avatar and user name, a consistent bio, and a “personal brand statement” that explains what you do and who your audience is.
2. Fine-tune your Twitter homepage. Twitter has some great tools that you should use to make sure that your Twitter homepage looks professional. Schawbel: “Just like your other social network profiles, your Twitter profile should be completely filled out. This includes your full name, location, a biography, and — the single most important element — a single link to a site of your choosing. I recommend directing people to a blog, your LinkedIn profile, or a site that you feel best represents you. If you really want to take your brand to the next level, then a custom Twitter background, which you can make using twitterimage.com or twitterbacks.com, is required.”
3. Build your audience. Don’t think you know anyone on Twitter? Think again. “A percentage of your friends, family, and previous coworkers are already on Twitter,” says Schwabel. “You can easily import contacts from most Web-mail programs or find people using Twitter’s search engine and invite your network onto Twitter with an email invitation. Then, use Twitter search to locate people in your industry, follow them, and interact with them through a series of tweets and ‘retweets’ over time.”
4. Start tweeting. Not sure what to tweet about? “Tweet what you know”, says Schawbel. “The more you tweet about what you know, the more you’ll become the go-to person on that topic in the Twitterverse. The key to building an audience is to remain interesting to your current followers so that they retweet your messages and more people discover and follow you. And, again, by constantly following more people, namely the influencers in your industry, and pushing out relevant tweets, your audience will grow rapidly.”
5. Don’t be shy-let people know you are looking. There are a few ways to let your followers know that you’re in the market for a new job. “First, revise your Twitter profile to call attention to the type of job you’re looking for. Second, customize your Twitter background and add in text that talks about where you’re headed in your career. Finally, you can send a tweet after you’ve built your follower count, which states your expertise and the type of job you’re looking for,” he advises. To get a job you may have to help others find them too. “If you discover a job lead on Twitter and it’s not related to what you want to do, passing it on is an effective way to network.”
