Tweet Your Job Into Existence

Tweet Your Job Into Existence Tweet Your Job Into Existence When you’re looking for a job, you want to be sure to take advantage of all of the tools at your disposal to help you land the best possible opportunity. Social media should be on your to-do list, because it provides a way to connect with networking contacts and decision makers. Perhaps you’ve overlooked Twitter, thinking it’s a network better suited to snarking about celebrity attire at red carpet events and not one to use professionally. Jobvite's Social Recruiting  Survey from 2013  contradicts that assumption. Jobvite found approximately 40 percent of the  job seekers and 55 percent of the recruiters polled  are active on Twitter, which is reason enough to consider the site viable to exploit for job opportunities. Additionally, a  January  study from the talent acquisition software company  iCIMS found 51  percent of jobs posted to social media can be found on Twitter. These data  points, combined with Twitter's  fluid, transparent  and approachable nature, make it a unique social site and fertile ground for job seekers. Iotronics Corporation helps job seekers use online services to leverage social media, and its product, Twesumes, help job seekers optimize their profiles to be discovered. Klaus Obermeier, the company's CEO, offers the following tips for using Twitter for your job search. What to tweet. All of us have something to contribute and Twitter makes it easy to share, interact and build your own brand at the same time. Decide on your tweet themes before you get started. Be sure to use hashtags to label your tweets and make them easier for like-minded people to find. For example, if you are a professional looking for a job in technology with a sustainability and green focus, you could share information and news from all three topics in your Twitter stream and use hashtags such as #greentech and #jobs, to help make your tweets searchable and to find job postings and related content on the subject. Troll streams of recruiters or others in your field to choose the best hashtags, or check out a tool such as hashtagdictionary.com.   Find great people to follow. Twitter is full of great content, experts, forums and resources. There are also thought leaders, brands and organizations to follow that could be helpful for job seekers. Once you find people tweeting about content that interests you, it’s much easier to see its professional value. Search for recruiters, people who work in organizations that interest you and the Twitter streams from companies themselves. You’ll also want to identify thought leaders in your industry; industry news sources and individuals who can help with your job search, including career coaches. Use Followerwonk.com to search Twitter bios and identify if people list their employers. Check out Wefollow.com, which allows you to search for keywords to find interesting people to follow. Engage with people. Share and attribute articles, news  and updates consistent with your brand. Encourage follow backs by engaging in the conversation and giving a “hat tip” to others by retweeting (or forwarding along) their content. Use a Twesume. If you’re in active, public job search, integrating a Twesume as part of your overall Twitter strategy gives you a streamlined way to communicate your top selling points, but only if you already have established yourself on Twitter. “A twesume is a tweet with intent â€" it allows you to communicate your key attributes, skills and background â€" all in 140 characters or less,"  Obermeier says. "Key components of a twesume include job industry, title you are targeting,  geographic target, relevant certifications, technical skills, soft skills  and degrees. Because the twesume is only 140 characters, it also should include a hyperlink back to informative and supportive contents such as a social profile.” You can use your LinkedIn URL or other online social  résumé  or portfolio to provide more information. Obermeier  reminds users, “It’s key to use hashtags to make the tweet more searchable. Popular hashtags to consider include: #Hireme, #Jobs and #Twesume."