@HireMe: Twitter, The New Waterhole for Employment Seekers
Twitter: The New Waterhole
for Employment Seekers
Congratulations!
Now, you earned a degree, and have set up a clear roadmap of your new career and
conquer new horizons. You are ready to swim in the new ocean of job-seekers.
Then you hit the reality, professional advancements don’t happen overnight. And
you may get lost, frustrated and maybe depressed when your search is not fruitful.
There is a very fine line between success and emotions. Be motivated, develop
realistic goals, have a positive attitude and be competitive. Advancing your
career takes time and hard work. You have earned the skills, and are trained,
keep yourself motivated and use your network to explore your chances. The New
York Department of Labor published a chapter from "Ten Tips for an
Effective Job Search" by Dr. Thomas J. Denham that listed networking as
the number one most effective job search technique.
If
you are not familiar with Twitter, then it may not be an easy platform to use. Unlike
other social media, where you can put a multipage story, Tweets were originally
restricted to 280 characters only, hence it could be termed as the SMS of the
Internet. Set up a Twitter account, and make yourself visible to the
professional world using the following steps:
- Become a Twitter Job Search Power User:
The foundation of your Twitter job search power user
presence is your own professional, public Twitter account. Yes, Twitter does allow you to make your
tweets "private" so that only people following you (whom you approve
to follow you) may see your tweets. But
private tweeting won't help your job search.
- Focus your professional Twitter account on appealing to employers and recruiters looking to hire
someone like you.
- Choose a name
that is appropriate for you and your future job/career. Examples of very good
Twitter usernames are: @EduTechnologist, @AvidEducator, etc.
Twitter allows you 15 characters for your Username, not counting the @, and any
combination of upper and lower case letters you want.
- Twitter Photo:
Each Twitter account has a photo or other image associated with it. If you don't provide something, Twitter will give you an egg, and of course, no one may want to hire an egg.
- Excellent Bio plus Location (keywords!)
Keywords, the words used by recruiters and employers to
find people with the right skills and accomplishments, are the KEYS to
successful job search! Twitter gives you
160 letters and spaces for your bio that appear at the top center of your
Twitter home page. Very searchable and
very noticeable to anyone who sees that page. Make them bold.
- Search Engine Optimization on Twitter:
Recruiters and potential employers search Google for job candidates, and Google
loves Twitter. So, by leveraging search engine optimization (SEO) techniques on
Twitter, you can make it easier for them to find you -- not only on Twitter but
also in Google and other search engines.
Your name + professional designation, [User]MS-LT,
[User]PHD-LT etc.
- Your name + target company: @Apple (Apple recruiters will
notice you)
- Tweet daily, and tweet on-topic
- Use relevant #Hashtags in your Tweets.
When
it comes to choosing which social media platforms you'll utilize, select those
that offer the best potential for reaching your ideal audience and broadcast your
credentials to reach the best-suited employer.
Since
I am working on a project that would have an international presence, I chose
Xing.com as the new professional social network. Xing is the answer to LinkedIn
in Europe. Xing continues to be a very strong business network European
countries especially with a focus on Germany, so individuals looking for
positions in a Europe-based company should consider having a Xing profile. In
order to search a different professional network, other than LinkedIn, I searched
the Internet and found Xing to be a very viable source of employment. Setting
up a Xing profile was not more difficult than on LinkedIn or Facebook.
I
would recommend having a profile on both networks – especially if you do
business in Europe and the DACH (German Speaking) region. However, if you’re
looking for a career change or to do business outside the DACH region, LinkedIn
is the clear choice due to its size, the number of countries it’s in and the number of languages it is available in as well.
Bishop, A. (2019, March 14). In 13 Awesome professional
networking alternatives to LinkedIn. Retrieved from
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/linkedin-alternatives/297409/#close
for Employment Seekers
Congratulations!
Now, you earned a degree, and have set up a clear roadmap of your new career and
conquer new horizons. You are ready to swim in the new ocean of job-seekers.
Then you hit the reality, professional advancements don’t happen overnight. And
you may get lost, frustrated and maybe depressed when your search is not fruitful.
There is a very fine line between success and emotions. Be motivated, develop
realistic goals, have a positive attitude and be competitive. Advancing your
career takes time and hard work. You have earned the skills, and are trained,
keep yourself motivated and use your network to explore your chances. The New
York Department of Labor published a chapter from "Ten Tips for an
Effective Job Search" by Dr. Thomas J. Denham that listed networking as
the number one most effective job search technique.
Social media and social
networking are very effective in career development. Employers and recruiters
are using social media more while using job boards less, a trend that began
before 2008. Social media is used in several ways. It helps recruiters have a clearer
idea of who you are and what you have done before they even talk with you. With
close to 600 million members, LinkedIn is the network preferred by most
employers. However, like any social network, LinkedIn has weaknesses. For one, because of the size and the number of users,
my feed doesn’t always feel personal and the content isn’t always
hyper-relevant. There are several other
sites and platforms that can add supplemental value. A growing number of professionals are using Twitter, the
microblogging platform Twitter—as a quick, easy, low-cost alternative.
The tweeter is a wonderful way
to develop a valuable business network online. Twitter’s real-time
communication capability makes it a great business networking platform you
can’t afford to ignore. It
is best designed to provide quick bites of information. As a result, businesses
have developed micro-blogging and special advertisements to take advantage of
Twitter as a promotional tool. The hashtag search function also makes it more
customizable than other social media sites. Twitter is not only a go-to news
source and social experience, but it has also become a platform to advance
careers and advertise skills. Its functions combine those of LinkedIn and Facebook,
making job searching a breeze and giving new meaning to “career marketing.”
If
you are not familiar with Twitter, then it may not be an easy platform to use. Unlike
other social media, where you can put a multipage story, Tweets were originally
restricted to 280 characters only, hence it could be termed as the SMS of the
Internet. Set up a Twitter account, and make yourself visible to the
professional world using the following steps:
- Become a Twitter Job Search Power User:
The foundation of your Twitter job search power user
presence is your own professional, public Twitter account. Yes, Twitter does allow you to make your
tweets "private" so that only people following you (whom you approve
to follow you) may see your tweets. But
private tweeting won't help your job search.
- Focus your professional Twitter account on appealing to employers and recruiters looking to hire someone like you.
- Choose a name that is appropriate for you and your future job/career. Examples of very good Twitter usernames are: @EduTechnologist, @AvidEducator, etc.
Twitter allows you 15 characters for your Username, not counting the @, and any
combination of upper and lower case letters you want.
- Twitter Photo:
Each Twitter account has a photo or other image associated with it. If you don't provide something, Twitter will give you an egg, and of course, no one may want to hire an egg.
- Excellent Bio plus Location (keywords!)
Keywords, the words used by recruiters and employers to
find people with the right skills and accomplishments, are the KEYS to
successful job search! Twitter gives you
160 letters and spaces for your bio that appear at the top center of your
Twitter home page. Very searchable and
very noticeable to anyone who sees that page. Make them bold.
- Search Engine Optimization on Twitter:
Recruiters and potential employers search Google for job candidates, and Google loves Twitter. So, by leveraging search engine optimization (SEO) techniques on Twitter, you can make it easier for them to find you -- not only on Twitter but also in Google and other search engines.
Your name + professional designation, [User]MS-LT,
[User]PHD-LT etc.
Your professional blog/Website name: Promote yourself by
twitting your website/BlogSpot
Your name + Area Code: [User]214
Your name + Location: [User]Dallas
- Your name + target company: @Apple (Apple recruiters will notice you)
- Tweet daily, and tweet on-topic
- Use relevant #Hashtags in your Tweets.
When
it comes to choosing which social media platforms you'll utilize, select those
that offer the best potential for reaching your ideal audience and broadcast your
credentials to reach the best-suited employer.
Since
I am working on a project that would have an international presence, I chose
Xing.com as the new professional social network. Xing is the answer to LinkedIn
in Europe. Xing continues to be a very strong business network European
countries especially with a focus on Germany, so individuals looking for
positions in a Europe-based company should consider having a Xing profile. In
order to search a different professional network, other than LinkedIn, I searched
the Internet and found Xing to be a very viable source of employment. Setting
up a Xing profile was not more difficult than on LinkedIn or Facebook.
I
would recommend having a profile on both networks – especially if you do
business in Europe and the DACH (German Speaking) region. However, if you’re
looking for a career change or to do business outside the DACH region, LinkedIn
is the clear choice due to its size, the number of countries it’s in and the number of languages it is available in as well.
Bishop, A. (2019, March 14). In 13 Awesome professional networking alternatives to LinkedIn. Retrieved from https://www.searchenginejournal.com/linkedin-alternatives/297409/#close
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