Propel Your Job Searchin 140 Characters or Less

Amy L. Adler, MA, MBA, CARWInscribe / Express

"I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter.”

-- Blaise Pascal, also attributed to Mark Twain

Twitter Basics

A Twitter Refresher

Your Tweets140 characters of pith and wisdom.

Getting Around

Following/Follows

Twitter Basics

Branding Your Twitter Presence

Your HandleYour Name, Your Company, or Your Brand

Your Profile160 characters’ worth of your “I am” statement.

Personalized BackgroundCreate it in PowerPoint.

Twitter Basics

“6-Tweet Resume Profile” Courtesy of Whitcomb, Bryan & Dib: The Twitter Job Search Guide

Your Resume: 140 Characters, 6 Tweets, 1-2 Hashtags

• Tweet 1: Heading or tagline– Take this from the first line of your paper resume

• Tweet 2: Personal branding statement—distillation of your “I am” statement– How do you want to be known? Throw in a great

statistic that reinforces your expertise

• Tweets 3 – 4: Proof of your expertise — Use statistics, metrics, and anything immediately understandable as an asset to your past and future employer

• Tweets 5 – 10: Your bulleted accomplishments

• Cover Letter: You can do the same with your cover letter, tweeting one concept at a time.

Your Resume: 140 Characters, 6 Tweets, 1-2 Hashtags

Twitter Basics

Engaging on Twitterfor Your Career

Search

What to Tweet?

• Do’s of Tweeting: Be the Authority– Content Curation: Retweeting original sources– Original Content: Your blog, other timely information

your interesting to your audience – Commentary and Conversation: Ask advice, respond to

questions, give back• Don’t’s of Tweeting– Don’t use all caps (shouting)– Don’t auto-direct message (it’s transparent)– Don’t use Twitter as your personal soapbox

• Great for introverts and extroverts• Building network online and offline• Don’t be snarky. Engage honestly; think before you hit

“send”• Learn something new about your industry—or

someone else’s• Make it about the relationships (RTs and follows

matter)• Last, but critically: Tweet your expertise—slides, blog

posts

Getting “Out There” with Twitter

Top Job Search HashtagsUse hashtags to mark, comment on, and enhance your tweets.

• #jobsearch• #career• #jobs• #interview• #workwednesday (open jobs)• #hirefriday (tweets a

shortlink to your resume with a brief description of what you’re seeking)

Source: http://monster.typepad.com/monsterblog/2010/10/top-ten-job-search-hashtags.html

• #resume• #jobhunt• #careeradvice• Literally hundreds of

others—do a search on #yourhashtaghere to see what others are saying about what you’re interested in

Top Job Twitter ChatsUse hashtags to chat with others about job search strategies

Find Your Chat:• Monday at 10PM Eastern: #JobHuntChat• Tuesday at 1PM Eastern: #CareerChat• Every other Tuesday at 7PM Eastern: #InternChat• Wednesday at 9PM Eastern: #GenYChat• Every other Wednesday at 7PM Eastern: #EntryChat• Thursday at 8PM Eastern: #u30pro• Friday at Noon Eastern: #HFChat

Get the Whole Chat*:• Go to Google.com.• Enter your Twitter handle, someone else’s handle, or a hashtag in the search box.• Hit “Search.”• In the left-hand column, hit “More.”• Hit “Realtime.”• A timeline of the most recent Twitter mentions appears.

*Thanks to @AvidCareerist Donna Svei for this clever methodology.

Following on TwitterHow You Know You’re Getting Traction

• The more you follow, the more likely you’ll be followed—builds credibility

• The more you follow, the more you’ll learn• Not a definitive metric, but measures publicly

your influence

Make Tweeting Easier5 – 8 useful tweets a day is a good goal, and almost impossible to achieve.

• Tweet only when you have something valuable to add (RTs count: If you find something useful for your network, let them know).

• Preschedule your tweets (use TweetDeck or similar)

• Focus on giving, not getting

Apps and Sites that Help

• TweetDeck, HootSuite, others• TweetMyJobs.com (text messages with jobs by

industry/company/location).• Twitterjobcast.com (streaming tweets of jobs

by industry/location)• friendorfollow.com• Klout.com• Hundreds more

Propel Your Job Searchin 140 Characters or Less

Amy L. Adler, MA, MBA, CARWInscribe / Express