People, companies and even non-profit organizations that peak your interest should be those that you follow on Twitter. Craft who you follow around your professional interests mostly and your do-good volunteer work as well.
Your profile on Twitter can be a combination of personal and professional but if you are looking for a job you should promote your professional style, capabilities, professional and volunteer interests before you promote your highly personal style. Just like Facebook and the more social of the social networking sites it is simply too tempting to blurt out about something you “feel” vs. think about something that may be of value to someone else.
I tend to recommend a style of sensible humor, informative posts and personality twist posts that show your personal but more professional style – especially when you are in a concerted job search. It’s okay to promote your capabilities but begging for a job or complaining about anything including the job search process should be eliminated. Just demonstrate your professionalism and professional thought process with a personal edge. My favorite graphic designer contributed these thoughts to mine on basic Twitter Tips for Job Search and Jobseekers.
Make sure your posts and 140 character blogging focuses on your professional side. Jobseekers should display basic background or customize it in a professional way.
I welcome more additional ideas to our blog here but I at least are some very basic tidbits on the path you should take on Twitter as it relates to job search.
1. Always be professional, don’t bash
current/former employers or co-workers
2. Tweet
about positive things
3.
Follow
interesting people who help add credibility to your brand
4. Companies have Twitter accounts just for
posting job openings, i.e @ATTjobs
5. If you want to gain followers, pick a public
profile
6. A private profile means you select who
can/cannot follow you, but it also means your professional-related tweets won’t
been seen by the public
7. Remember, nothing is private online
8. If you need to send someone your e-mail or
phone number, send a direct message
9. Develop a professional bio on Twitter and
include your web site
10. Ensure tweets are well-written and everything
is spelled correctly
(Image from http://www.smashingmagazine.com)