By now, I’m sure we’ve all heard about the power of Twitter. It’s the preferred method of millions of socially-connected people to keep up with their favorite friends, celebrities and politicians. Sure, you understand how to post links and update your friends with short messages, but did you also know that Twitter can be used as an effective tool to locate open jobs in your area?
Here’s the scoop: Recruiters from small and large companies alike are turning to twitter as the fastest method of making millions aware of their job postings. If you don’t yet understand how to tap into the Twitter job market, here are a couple simple tips that will have you tweeting about landing your dream job in no time.
Find the People Posting
The first trick to finding those jobs is to first locate the tweeps (Twitter jargon for “Twitter people”) who post them. Once logged into Twitter, use the search bar at the top of the page to find tweeting recruiters in your area. For example, if you’re located in the SF Bay Area, try typing in the phrase “San Francisco jobs”. Odds are that you’ll find tweets posted directly by recruiters about open job positions in San Francisco. Next, click the links provided within the tweet to be directed to the job description and application.
You can take it a step further and specify the industry that you wish to land a job in. Try using phrases like “San Francisco IT jobs”, or “Bay Area Marketing jobs” to get even better results. Now that you’ve located the recruiters for your favorite company, make sure to “follow” them so their job tweets will appear on your Twitter timeline.
#Hashtags are Your Best Friend!
Another secret to navigating through the Twitter job front is to use hashtags to your advantage. The “#” symbol, called a hashtag, is used in tweets to mark keywords and also acts as a grouping tool. For example, if your tweet reads, “I’m now in the market for an #ITjob in SF. Let me know if you’ve got any leads for C++ positions!”, because of the “ITjob” phrase you marked as a keyword, your tweet will now appear on a searchable page with all other tweets that also share the ‘”#ITjob” hashtag.
Now, take this knowledge and apply it to your job search. Using the search bar, type in phrases applicable to your own job hunt, like “#javajobs” or “#webdeveloper” and take your pick!
Join the Twitter Chat
At any given moment there are tons of people on the job hunt who are chatting about prospects and sharing energy, so you should join the chat, too. Converse in real time with entrepreneurs, job searchers and top level execs! Follow ChatSchedule, a Twitter handle, for an easy way to find a schedule of applicable chats. Check out the google doc, TwitterChatSchedule, as well. Pick a time and log in!
Looking for more tips? Send me an email and let’s connect. Or, catch me on Twitter!
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