DEAR JOYCE: I want to change jobs — even now. My computer-nerd nephew suggested I start job hunting with Twitter (twitter.com), which to me looks like a lot of work for very little reward. What is your take on the job-search value of Twitter? — J.A.S.
Twitter, a social networking Web site that lets users send bite-sized text messages to the world from their mobile phones or computers, has become a micro-blogging rage since its San Francisco launch nearly three years ago. The messages of 140 or fewer characters are known as “tweets,” and in an invented vocabulary, the verb is “to tweet.”
Why so much tweet talk about Twitter in media recently? Social networking sites, bread and butter to the tech-savvy, are creeping their way into job search as younger candidates claim more of the stage and older ones catch the scent of a newly utilized job-producing tool.
TWITTER TOPICS. Twitter is easy to use. “Like LinkedIn or Facebook, it allows you to make connections with others. Unlike these two sites, there is no requirement to know the people with whom you connect because on Twitter, you don’t ask someone to accept you as a connection. You simply hit the ‘follow’ button and from that point on you see everything they write. And you are free to comment on anything you read,” explains job expert Louise Fletcher in “Using Twitter to Find a Job” on her Blue Sky Resume blog. Google for Fletcher’s “5 Secrets of Using Twitter to Find a Job” — the most helpful of the Twitter how-to guides I surveyed.
Job expediters that you especially want to reach are recruiters and hiring managers. Fletcher recommends finding them using either Twellow (twellow.com) or Twitter Search (search.twitter.com).
You can also use Twitter to shout out for employment — “Looking for a video game job in Austin. Are you people open to three-year-experience-level hires?” Employers use Twitter, too, says Alison Doyle, job search guide for . “Retailer . links to Twitter to recruit employees. Many companies have a corporate presence on Twitter. Search by company name to find them on the Twitter site.” MORE TWEET THINGS. After spending the day online checking the latest details for this column, here’s a birdcage of tips for job micro-blogging.
— Although it’s a great online resource for job hunting, Twitter requires that you spend adequate time building and replenishing your network, or assets will begin to “unfollow” you.
— As with any networking endeavor, remember to give before expecting to get. Provide value to your followers before sending out a job tweet. Don’t be naive enough to expect to start twittering and reap instant job leads or interview invitations. Lurk, merely reading the tweets of others, before presenting yourself in the Twitter constellation.
— Build a brand (employee of the week, for example) and stick with it — but avoid spam like the, well, spam.
— Answer better questions, as career authority Kevin Donlin (The .) suggests: “Instead of answering, “What are you doing?” answer, “What has your attention?” — Keep your answers drivel-free and follow people who tweet interesting things.
— Be alert to new opportunities as Twitter continues to weave its communications services into other Web sites, from Facebook (apps.facebook.com/twitter) to Workhound, the United Kingdom’s largest online job site (workhound.co.uk/twitter).
— To read a tutorial on using social networking for employment, Google “Using the Social Web to Find Work.” This 2009 e-guide by Chris Brogan is 17 pages.
FAD OR FUTURE POWERHOUSE? My take on Twitter for job captures is mixed. Analysts keep asking how the site will make money — there doesn’t seem to be an easy way to monetize it other than switching to a subscription business model, and that likely would stunt its growth.
And there’s also the very real possibility that users will turn fickle when newer and novel applications appear.
Still, this shuttering economy may be scary enough to drive even non-tech-savvy job seekers to new haunts. The jury’s still out.
(E-mail career questions for possible use in this column to Joyce Lain Kennedy at jlk@sunfeatures.com; use “Reader Question” for subject line. Or mail her at Box 368, Cardiff, CA 92007.) (C) 2009 TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
