With all of the publicity Twitter is getting these days it’s no wonder I’m getting so many questions from job seekers asking how they can use it effectively in their job search as well as how recruiters use it to find candidates.
I decided to interview several recruiters who are avid users of Twitter and ask them what advice they have for job seekers. This week I talked to Lindsay Olson.
How do you use Twitter in your recruiting efforts?
“I started using Twitter two years ago. I use it to keep in contact with candidates and companies with whom I already have a relationship as well as forge many new relationships. I mainly follow professionals in my industry specialty – public relations and marketing.
I share information about our searches, but my goal is to use it for more than just posting information about my company and searches. I post relevant industry links and information about the industry as well as career advice from my blogs and blogs of others that I think my audience may find insightful.
By sharing useful information and engaging with my followers daily, I’ve built relationships it would have taken years to build, if ever, any other way.”
Have you found success meeting new candidates on Twitter?
“Yes, I’ve met numerous candidates from Twitter in-person and I have placed several candidates in positions with my clients.
Additionally, I get lots of recommendations for searches from followers on Twitter to their colleagues and contacts who may or may not be Twitter-savvy. Those placements were originally sourced from relationships I’ve built on Twitter.
If you count Twitter as the source of the relationship, I would attribute my use of Twitter to a significant increase in revenue to our search firm. I also participate in “tweet ups” when I’m traveling where I arrange a group meetings in an informal setting and in January, 2009, I spent three weeks in New York meeting candidates I’ve gotten to know first on Twitter.”
What are you doing that’s working well?
“One thing that has worked very well for me is linking my Twitter account to my Facebook status updates. Some people say that it’s annoying, but I’ve found there are some people who are on Twitter and still a vast majority are not – but they ARE on Facebook. By using Twitter as the messaging platform and linking it to my Facebook account, I’m able to communicate the same message to a larger audience who frequents Facebook and I engage and interact with candidates in both places.
I’ve also seen a significant increase in traffic to our website and my career blog from links in Twitter. For the same reasons as above, I post [links to] articles that I publish in my blog. Followers begin to read, pass the blog links along to their friends and it results in a loyal following of readers in the blog who are not on Twitter.
I see Twitter as one of the many starting points to develop relationships and raise awareness of my company. It’s a very important one, and one that has brought my company quicker results than any other technology we use today.”
What advice would you give to people who want to use Twitter in their job search efforts?
Lindsay recommends:
- Help others before you ask for help.
- Set up RSS feeds with the keywords for the type of job you are looking for and check it once a day – many recruiters and companies will post out to their Twitter network before posting an open position on online job boards.
- Make sure you fill out your profile completely so you can be found. It’s important to think about how a hiring manager or recruiter might search through bios on Twitter to find a job candidate.
- Remember that everything you write on Twitter is there forever – so be careful what you say and how you come across. You never know who is reading your feed and the assumptions they are making based on your last few tweets.
- As much as possible, try to take some of your Twitter relationships offline and strengthen the relationship in the real world.
You can find Lindsay on Twitter here, and for more helpful information related to your job search I strongly you recommend that you check out her blog.
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