Twitter

[Enda Goodwin]

Short and tweet

Where can you get almost instant exposure to other recruiters and executives? For most people, it doesn’t come with the first tweet, but over time you can get your name out there and be recognized. This free social networking and micro-blogging service allows users to send tweets of up to 140 characters to the Twitter website.

We caution job seekers not to devote an inordinate amount of time here, but it does have a top spot in the social networking world with 307 million active monthly users (as of Q3 2015 - Statista). If you’re in job search, following the feeds of tweeters related to targeted companies and industries can be useful. Twitter is a great platform for demonstrating thought leadership and interests by sharing links, articles and industry news, and engaging in conversations with other industry professionals. In a recent LHH survey, approximately 60% of recruiters said they use Twitter to post job openings, so it’s worth poking around.

Follow these steps to get started:

1. Sign up. Go to Twitter.com. Fill out your name, username, password and email address. Make sure you choose a username that is consistent with how you want people to recognize you online – such as your first and last name. Keep it professional.
2. Fill out your profile completely. You never know if an employer is going to check out your profile after you have tweeted with an interesting industry article. Make sure you intrigue them – especially in the bio section.
3. Add value in your tweets. When you do devote time to Twitter, make sure it worthwhile. Don’t talk about what you had for breakfast, add something of value! Share articles you find interesting, and links to your industry’s news.
4. Seek out interesting people to follow. Use the Find People feature on Twitter to find suggested users in various industries. Actively engage anyone who could have a positive impact on your job search.
5. Follow your industry Tweets. Search under Who to Follow to find industries and companies to keep you updated for your job search. Knowing the latest ‘inside’ information will speak volumes in an interview.

Twitter terms to know

• Tweet: The result of posting a message on Twitter. Messages are limited to 140 characters.
• RT: A retweet is the result of posting another Twitter user’s message on your own Twitter account, usually denoted by reposting the message and adding RT [username].
• DM: Direct messages are private messages that Twitter users can exchange. Direct messages can only be exchanged if both users are following each other.
• @Reply: A tweet that is public, but is directed at a specific user and is denoted by starting the tweet with the @ symbol and the individual’s username.
• Hashtag: A way to label conversations to make them easily categorized and searchable, denoted by using the “#” sign.