7 ways Twitter can help you land your dream job

If you’re looking for a job, chances are someone advised you to set up a LinkedIn profile – and with good reason. A social recruiting study by Jobvite found that 94 percent of recruiters use LinkedIn as part of their recruiting strategy.

However, LinkedIn isn’t the only social media resource available to job seekers. I recently came across an article on Social-Hire.com which mentions a number of social media alternatives that are giving LinkedIn a run for their money. One of these resources is Twitter. The online social networking service was founded in 2006 and has rapidly grown to over 288 million monthly active users!

I became a Twitter convert in 2012 and absolutely love this tool. If you’re new to Twitter and would like a crash course, check out this free tutorial by GCF Global. If you’re already familiar with the tool but are not yet using it for your job search, now’s the time to take the plunge. [TWEET] Check out the many different ways you can use Twitter to help you find the right job, sooner.

Expand your digital footprint.

Twitter can be a great place to extend your online personal brand. As with any social media account, if you decide to use it for personal branding, make sure the head shot you upload is professional-looking and that any information you provide about your job title, location and career goals aligns with your resume. Use this profile to share industry-related content and interact with other thought leaders in your space. Click on the following link for more tips on customizing your Twitter profile. 

Find potential job leads

Many companies today have Twitter handles dedicated specifically to their recruitment efforts. Run a quick search for Twitter accounts with the terms “Jobs” or “Careers” and you’ll find a long list of potential employers who are sharing job leads and information about their organization and industry. You can also monitor hashtags such as #TweetMyJobs and #JobOpening to discover new opportunities shared by employers and recruiters. Want to learn more? Check out Lindsey Olson’s article on U.S. News for her list of must-follow hashtags for job seekers. 

Receive job-search advice

There are many Twitter accounts like mine and TheLadders that are dedicated to sharing job-search advice and career tips with their followers. Check out this list of top Twitter handles to follow, courtesy of BusinessNewsDaily, and subscribe to my Twitter list of over 150 job-search and career experts to get started. In addition, you can run searches for hashtags such as #JobSearch, #Career, #JobTip, and #CareerAdvice to receive quick job-search tips in 140 characters or less.  

Conduct research

Whether you’re preparing for an interview, researching your target industry or catching up on news before attending your next networking event, Twitter is a great place to find valuable information for your job hunt. Run a search for “Financial Services” for instance, and you’ll be greeted with a list of accounts from publications and companies involved in the financial services sector. There will also be a list of videos, tweets and links that mention this industry.

Demonstrate your expertise

If you currently blog about your industry, you’re likely already using Twitter to share your content with the Twittersphere. However, you don’t have to be a writer in order to demonstrate your interest in your field. Retweet and favor tweets from other people that you find interesting and relevant to your line of work. When attending a tradeshow, Meetup or other event related to your field, tweet a few quotes from a speaker that resonated with you. If you’re in a creative field, don’t be afraid to think outside the box and share your work with a dream employer. Click on the following links to learn how Charlie Loyd and Jerry Rizzo used Twitter in unique ways to land their dream jobs.  

Participate in Twitter chats

Twitter parties, tweet chats, Twitter meetups, Tweetups. These are just some of the many names given to the live business networking events taking place all over the Twittersphere. During a tweet chat, a group of people meet at a specific time to discuss a particular topic using a predetermined hashtag for each tweet. A host or moderator will usually pose questions and prompt participants to share their thoughts. This is a great way to share your expertise, meet new connections, and keep a pulse on your industry. Click on the following link to find a Twitter chat that’s right for you.

Send private messages to important connections 

This approach may not be for everyone but, when used appropriately, it can yield great results. If you’ve identified someone who is in your field and active on Twitter, consider reaching out directly and letting them know you’re looking for new opportunities. Before you start bombarding strangers with “cold tweets” though, I stronglyrecommend interacting with them first through a series of retweets, comments to tweets they’ve sent or after a Twitter chat in which you both participated in. These connections are much more likely to respond to your message if you’ve taken the time to build a “Twitter rapport” with them.