The value of your tweets. Now that you have set up your Twitter account, what do you tweet in order to get closer to an actual job lead? There are many steps you can take to job search via Twitter but in this blog post I will focus on your tweets’ content because a great tweet can propel you closer to a job — a bad tweet can help you lose the job you currently have…AND QUICKLY!
Microblogging as part of your job search toolkit. Project and strengthen your professionalism, brand, and expertise. If you provide valuable and spot-on content, you will gain influential followers. If your Twitter “followers” find your content useful and insightful, they may recommend others follow you or better yet (RT) re-tweet you, helping you expand your reach and networking possibilities.
Don’t tweet anything you would not say in person to your future boss. For some odd reason people share more than they should via their tweets. You should be even more cautious because what goes online stays online, forever! Be tactful and remember employers will Google you!
Stay on topic and provide useful content. Say you are seeking employment as a Pediatric RN, stay on that subject. Tweet about an article you wrote regarding health care, your thoughts on excellent pediatric care, provide advice, and share links to interesting on-topic blog posts. You may even tweet a job lead you did not pursue. Don’t. Please. Don’t start tweeting about…say…your trip to the grocery store or about your romantic relationships. (I know the little Twitter box request “What’s happening” but don’t literally answer that!) Sure, engage in conversation but at all times be cognizant of what you’re discussing.
Incorporate keywords in your tweets. Include jargon/keywords specific to your target industry. Your tweets will become pages on the Internet and so be sure to optimize your job search tweets for the web. What are keywords? Keywords are industry-specific nouns and noun phrases such as tech skills and job titles. However, perhaps the most imperative reason for incorporating keywords in your tweet is so…your tweets help shape or fortify your expertise!
Hash tags. Adding a hash tag (#) to your industry keyword (e.g., #CEO, #sourcing manager, etc.) will help professionals within your industry find you when they conduct an on-topic search.
Sample Keywords and Hash Tags in Tweets:
#Nursing advice: age-appropriate bedside care is even more important when dealing with #pediatric patients.
#Sales #management: a client-focused presentation is the key in closing deals in a tough economy.
#Webdesign: beautiful layouts that are also search engine friendly are essential for great #SEO.
You should aim to keep tweets even shorter than the allowed 140 characters in order to encourage re-tweets (RTs). If someone does not have to edit your tweet in order to re-tweet it, then that person is more likely to! More RTs means more people will learn you are job searching.
Re-tweets brand you too. Once you RT a message, this tweet becomes part of your Twitter stream, so be selective. What you choose to re-tweet demonstrates your thought process, your decision-making, and illustrates what captures your attention. (I know, Twitter is supposed to be fun, but creating career opportunities in such a challenging job market is work…and a strategic endeavor.)
Tweet your resume in moderation. Yes, you are on Twitter to job search — I understand. Yet, don’t tweet your resume with every other tweet. Hold back a bit. Find folks to follow, share tweets, gain followers, network, re-tweet others, and then tweet your resume once a week and ask others to RT it. People help those they like — not those that annoy them or seem blatantly opportunistic. It is “social” networking so please implement social etiquette.
The ideal situation would be for you to provide a link from your Twitter bio to your resume (on LinkedIn or VisualCV.com) and as you tweet brilliant information, engage your ‘tweople,’ become valuable to your ‘twittersphere,’ your ‘followers’ will be interested enough to click on that link to your resume.
Twitter is just one tool. Twitter is one method for you to go about networking and creating your own job opportunities. Twitter is another channel for you to expand your reach and concurrently build or reinforce your brand as an expert. Don’t ever sit back and wait for someone to magically tweet a great lead for you. Just like your resume, cover letter, and other career marketing tools — Twitter is just one tool.
Rosa Elizabeth Vargas
Executive Resume Writing & Job Search Coaching