If you’re within the middle of employment search, you’ve probably posted your resume on Monster, Career Builder, and your alumni job boards. Maybe you’ve even started finding old colleagues on Facebook and LinkedIn. But are you making the most of all the social media options that are available to you? Do you skills to use Twitter to spice up your job search?
If you’ve never thought about using Twitter to help you find your next job, now’s the time. Twitter can offer you direct access to professionals in your field, also as resources designed specifically for job seekers. Both of which may pave the thanks to your dream job. Here’s how to get started.
Identify Your Niche
The number of users on Twitter is large and may be a touch overwhelming. The easiest thanks to get a grasp on Twitter is to believe it as a television with lots and much and much of channels. What you need to do is dial in the channel that contains the news and information you want to hear.
In other words, start by identifying the career or industry you would like to enter then finding that channel, or niche, on Twitter. If you would like to become a marriage planner, for instance. You would like to seek out where all the opposite wedding planners are meeting up in cyberspace and chatting. If you’re a chef, you need to find where the other chefs are tweeting about new recipes and daily menus. And how to fix a leaky pipe in the middle of dinner rush.
By identifying your niche, it makes it easier to manage the amount of tweets you’re reading and users you’re communicating. It also ensures that your tweets are reaching people who care about what you’ve got to mention , and the other way around . Lastly, it makes sure you’re receiving information which will keep you recent on your industry.
Research Blogs
A great thanks to find your niche and build your Twitter account is to spot the thought leaders in your industry and skim their blogs or websites. Most writers and bloggers will include a link to their Twitter account, called a Twitter handle, on their blog or homepage. Just search for the blue Twitter icon, or check their contact information, for his or her Twitter handle. If that does not work, you’ll look for them by name directly on Twitter.
To get started, compose a list of 10 thought and industry leaders in your field. Find their blogs and websites, and follow them on Twitter. Check out their blogroll-a list of blogs and writers featured on most blogs-and follow those writers on Twitter also . You’ll have a healthy list of individuals to follow and connect with in no time.
Find the Right Hashtags
Another good way to satisfy and connect with like-minded Twitter users is to use hashtags. Hashtags are the Twitter signposts that will get you where you need to go. They are like search terms, but better. If you’ve never seen one before, they appear like this: #Michiganfootball.
By typing #Michiganfootball into the search screen, you’ll automatically pull up all tweets that use this hashtag. You’ll see tweets like “It’s Saturday! Go Blue #Michiganfootball” and “Denard Robinson for Heisman #Michiganfootball.” this may offer you an entire list of individuals curious about your topic, who you’ll follow and reply to.
You can also use hashtags to enter yourself into conversation a few certain topic. Most people use hashtags at the end of a tweet, but some use them at the end or the beginning. Where you put it doesn’t matter as much as using the right one. By running searches on different terms, you’ll find the hashtags used most frequently by your industry (and therefore ensure your tweets are becoming read).
Locate Job Search Resources
Just as there’s specific Twitter conversations revolving around graphic design principles, culinary secrets, and college football, there also are many resources on Twitter dedicated to helping job seekers. If you’ll identify the users and groups during this niche. You’ve got an entire new way of sharing your resume, contacting recruiters, getting great job advice, and meeting potential employers.
By using job-related hashtags, such as #jobseekers, #jobhunt or #careeradvice, you’ll be able to follow and enter conversations about job searches. This will expose you to users like @jobangels and @Hire_Friday, both of whom aim to connect job seekers to potential jobs, colleagues and employers. The more you’ll find and follow users like these, the more job leads and advice you will get .
Get Engaged
Ok, by now you’re following a bunch of individuals , reading their tweets, and hopefully even sending out a couple of tweets of your own. It’s a great start, but you need to do more if you want to make yourself stand out amongst the millions of other tweeples out there. In other words, you need to get engaged.
So what does that mean? It means starting conversations, commenting, and retweeting other people’s posts. If you’ve an issue about your job search, post it to Twitter with the acceptable hash tags. If you see someone else asking a question and you know the answer, reply to them. Or if you see an excellent piece of recommendation encounter your Twitter feed, retweet it to your followers.
The more you engage, the more people you’ll meet and follow, and therefore the better you chances are going to be of finding job leads and potential employers
Join Twitter Chats
Watch for chats in your niche or industry, and once they come up, join them. Chats are typically held weekly and are run by a moderator, who will set the time, send out announcements, begin the chat, and ask questions throughout. They usually take an hour, and are designated with a hashtag so users can follow them.
A great chat for jobseekers, for instance , is that the Hire Friday chat. Hire Friday is designated by the #HFchat hashtag. Its a forum where job seekers and career professionals alike can discuss employment topics, share job search advice, and ask questions. It’s held every Friday from noon to 1:00 p.m. (EST). You can follow the Hire Friday chat by searching the hashtag #HFchat every Friday at noon. (And don’t forget to follow its founder and moderator, @HRMargo, for updates and information!)
If you watch a Twitter chat for awhile, you will see that the majority of the regular users know one another , promote each others content, and provides one another valuable insights. This is why Twitter chats are so valuable: they give you a great opportunity to connect with others in your field.
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Monitor Your Progress
While it’s great to feature followers to your account, truth measure of Twitter success is what proportion conversation you’re engaged in. What percentage people are taking about you (or your product or company), and the way often your tweets are being retweeted.
To monitor your profess, enter your twitter handle (@yourname) in the search box. All tweets associated with you’ll appear-you may even see people responding to your questions. Asking you direct questions, or thanking you for retweeting their information. You can also click on “retweets” to see who is reposting your tweets and how often. (Don’t forget to thank them!)
As your account grows, you can also watch your progress on Klout. Which uses a variety of data to give you a Twitter score. Such as the reach of your audience, the likelihood that your tweets are going to be acted upon, on what percentage influential tweeples are following you. By following your score on Klout, you will be ready to see exactly where you are. And learn what you would like to try to to to require it to subsequent level.
Move Your Conversations Offline
Once you’ve established relationships through Twitter, it’s important to go beyond the 140 twitter message. You can contact other users through the direct message option (which is like email. But only 140 characters) to exchange email addresses, ask specific questions, or make a time to meet in person.
