Tweet Tweet… How to get a job using Twitter

Your twitter account

This needs to be “employer friendly”, so make sure you write an eye catching job pitch in your bio and be honest. If you want to start using Twitter solely for job-hunting it might be worth creating a whole new account. Your bio needs to be concise, so take your time to come up with something your happy with. Then make sure you have a professional looking avatar and presentable background. Like a moth to a flame, this should help attract and impress any potential employers.

Add on online CV

Another good step is to have a link to an online CV underneath your bio. There are plenty of tools for file sharing on to help you do this. This will ensure that if you do catch the eye of a recruiter they can instantly check out your qualifications and experience in a bit more detail.

Start following

If you’re after a certain job in a specific industry or organisation, get following tweeters associated with these target areas. There is a number of Twitter apps and directories that can help with this.

Search & Hashtag

It’s also important to also use the search tool, for example search for terms like ‘I need to hire’, ‘looking to hire’, ‘send me your CV’, or ‘my company needs’. Or use hashtags – hashtags like #jobs, #recruiting, #jobadvice, #jobposting, #jobhunt or #jobsearch. To narrow it down, and seek for more specific hashtags, you could add the industry into the tag: #engineeringjobs or #salesjobs. This will also help you find more potential recruiters. Be sure to read their bios, and check their follow/following ratio (do they follow people back?), and inspect company websites to see if they could be of use to you.

Connect

Simply following relevant peoples and organisations won’t achieve anything. Once you’ve singled out potentially useful contacts, start connecting with them by replying to their tweets. Follow tweeted links to their blog posts and leave comments, or tweet them any thoughts or links that they might find interesting. This will help you get noticed. Your goal should be to become an industry expert – or at least tweet like one.

Be smart & savvy

Interaction and more activity will increase your followers, so be sure to keep up a professional vibe. Help other users where you can by answering any questions or adding opinion or career expertise in particular situation. This will also help to demonstrate your capabilities, and don’t be scared to ask for help back, whether it be asking for advice or a contact.

Eventually look to take things off line

Once you’ve gained a certain level of dialogue with a potential employer, a person-to-person meeting could be the end result. Building a network and continuously interacting with relevant employers could eventually lead to the possibility of an interview or meeting.