CareerPro

August 27, 2012

To Tweet or Not To Tweet (When in Job Search)

Do you realize how accessible information is today versus perhaps even five years ago? Many people now know about LinkedIn company pages and options around finding information through LinkedIn. But now just about every company possesses social media recruiting strategies. Many marketing professionals must keep up on new social media strategies to stay relevant on a weekly and monthly basis. It’s become almost that intense for today’s job seekers. You now must become your own best social media marketing strategist when it comes to searching for a new job.

The dilemma for some people searching for a job is that they already have a job. It’s nice to know how easy it now is to find information on companies, connect to their Twitter or Facebook pages but how do you lock down your activity on “social” media so your current company is not alerted that you are searching for a job?

You Don’t Have to Tweet – I get push back seemingly all the time from people who believe they need to actually Tweet out messages on Twitter when the have a Twitter account. The bottom line? You do not have to Tweet to have a Twitter account. You can get a Twitter account with your name or you can make up a name for your Twitter account, follow key decision makers in your field, companies, recruiters and anyone else you want. You do not have to add your thoughts, tweets and personal bio on Twitter. In fact if you are looking for a job and part of your current job does not require you to be on or actively Tweeting it’s a good idea not to loudly broadcast your ideas or opinions out in this way.

When It’s Good to Tweet – It’s good to push messages out on Twitter if Twitter aligns exactly with your current company or organization’s strategy for you. For example, if you are your company’s Twitter person and your current company expects you to Tweet under your own name then go ahead and do it. Of course. Also, if your personal and professional brand would benefit from publishing, promoting or “tweeting” your thoughts then by all means add tweets to your conversation within your field and the world and tweet away.

Use Twitter as an LP – Now you old guard reading this far may be thinking vinyl album here. Hey, I hear vinyl records may make a little come back. But what do I mean but LP. I mean you should think about picking up a Twitter account to use as a Listening Post (LP). If you are looking for your next career opportunity then by all means pick up a Twitter account and make sure you follow, under an assumed name or a more anonymous name, key companies and their postings for jobs. You can use helpful resources like Tweet My Jobs as well for this kind of LP mentality. But what’s the point here? Listen to subject matter experts, issues related to your career and your profession. Listen to hiring authorities and subscribe to the kinds of Twitter feeds that will connect you to hiring decision makers.

Today social networking websites and online search engines have become a core human resources standard for attracting new talent. You need to tap into those resources daily for to be on the leading edge of job search whether you are confidentially looking for a job or starting the new discipline of your search. LinkedIn still serves as the most dominant player in the room but Twitter and Facebook will continue to dominate the world of online information collecting as you move in your career.

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