Tip #1 – Follow the bigwigs in your industry. See what they are saying and doing. Connect and communicate with them.
A few posts ago, I talked about using Google Reader and RSS feeds to simplify your job search. Twitter can also be a great tool for your job hunt. One of the great things about Twitter is that it’s a level playing field. The CEO of Company X is tweeting and can’t stop you from seeing the tweets. This also means that you can connect an commuicate with said CEO with a real chance of getting a reply. Do not go begging for a job, though. You should be using this opportunity to start building relationships with people in your industry.
Tip #2 – Search Twitter using hash-tags to sift through the millions of tweets.
Twitter users needed a way to sift through and organize the millions of tweets out there. They came up with using the # symbol, which they call a hash-tag, to group similar tweets. Do a search in Twitter for #Job in and you will start to see real-time updates of job listings and tips from around the world. Search #job #socialmedia or #job Georgia in Twitter and you will start to understand how to sift through job tweets yourself. This concept is exactly like tagging a photo of your friends in Facebook. (Pro tip: You can also get these search results sent to your RSS reader by clicking RSS feed for this query located on the right sidebar of the search results page.)
Tip #3 – Set your account up for success.
Don’t try to impress people with wild and crazy backgrounds or goofy photos. This isn’t Myspace. Most people don’t even use Twitter’s website anyway. The best thing you can do is stick with a default background you like, and upload your most professional-looking photo. Since these pictures are viewed at small sizes, to make an impression, try to keep it to a picture of your head and shoulders.
Tip #4 – Get the most out of Twitter with 3rd party software and applications.
Most people aren’t going to twitter.com to connect, they are using 3rd party software and apps. These apps allow you different and more engaging ways to organize and see your tweets. I won’t try to rate and review each application in this post. You can go to www.twitter.com/downloads for a nice list. Personally, I use TweetDeck. It allows me to simultaneously view multiple columns of tweets organized my way. I have a column set up for tweets from my friends, a column for industry folks, a column devoted to search for mentions of my company, NOLS… you get the idea.
Tip #5 – Learn Twitter etiquette and how To re-tweet.
My first suggestion is to get on Twitter and just watch. For a few weeks don’t say anything, just look at other peoples tweets. You will start to see language patterns, shorthand dialog, and lots of re-tweets. A Re-tweet, typed as RT @username, is a way to republish someone else’s tweet while giving them credit. It’s also one way to measure the most influential people on Twitter. The people getting the most re-tweets are the people sending out the best tweets. There is value in re-tweeting for someone. Consider that you are doing them a favor when you RT them, because they will consider it this way too.
Do you have any tips?
