In the current age of social media that we are now in, there are innumerable outlets for online job searching with platforms such as LinkedIn being the first to come to mind. LinkedIn was built on the momentum of online professional job search and to create a global network spanning all industries that you can think of. It has held dominance as the only effective social media tool for job searches; that is until Twitter started creeping into this scene.
So just how exactly does twitter and job searching relate?
On twitter, we follow those individuals who entertain us, give us juicy gossip, and maybe share those daily love quotes and star signs. The point here is that we get into these social circle followings, because they are what that most appeal to us. And what do we do about these circles? We re-tweet their interesting messages, reply to their tweets to build a conversation that may grow large enough to trend. This is what job search on twitter is basing its foundation on. Job seekers engage users who are in the industry which they would want to work, and help in contributing content to build a social following along this lines. From these social following you can learn from the peers in whatever discipline you are in, and leverage it as a platform to share content to enable you to create awareness as a professional. The ultimate goal here is to position yourself as an opinion leader in a particular skills cluster group, and because it’s an open for all in the network, it provides the opportunity to do exactly that in a very public way.
Just having a Twitter handle isn’t enough to attract the attention of recruiters. They are going to be looking around at what kind of content you share on your account. What this means is that it will be better for you to share a good mix of interesting and thought-provoking content, and tweets that reflect your personality.
- Passionately let your posts show what you love most and give the potential recruiters a glimpse of your personality and interests within and outside your career.
- The good thing about twitter is that recruiters would know that if they hire you, they will get to inherit your network. It is therefore important to build a solid network of people both inside and outside your industry.
“You’re not going to build a very good network if you just promote yourself.”
This is a very important fact to remember, because many do tend to just promote themselves in their true nature of self-interest. Self-interest is a good thing, but in such a case, it wouldn’t hurt to help others a bit, as this will contribute to adding to your expertise in the profile and to the communities around you. So always share other people’s stuff before you share your own because the more you reply and re-tweet others while making relevant contributions, the more others will want to continue to follow you.
At the end of it all, I am of the opinion that resumes will not become obsolete at all, although a candidates’ online presence will contribute to enhance their current resumes. Its important to remember that resumes are still useful for screening a large batch of applicants, and not every industry is well-represented online.
