Blog Post: Tweeting for jobs in Colorado?

Hello Job Seekers!

Should you consider using twitter for your job search?

I've been on twitter for 6 weeks now, and have some thoughts.

Twitter is the fastest growing web platform today - it allows companies and individuals to 'micro-blog' in 140 character blasts to anyone who is 'following' them.

You simply set up an account, choose to follow people who are 'tweeting' about things you're intested in, and (not long after) people start following you!

I had some misgivings about whether job seekers should be using it, but some of those have been put to rest. Not only do I like it, I've actually gotten two interviews for contract recruiting work from it in the last week.

3 reasons I like twitter:

1. Get to jobs faster.

I have several indeed.com and other job search agents set up to feed me jobs in the recruiting space. Each of them is set as a ‘daily digest’ feed. The jobs that get posted today are delivered to me on one list tomorrow. Not so with Twitter…although not all the jobs I want to see get into a tweet, the ones that do I can see (and ostensibly apply for) before anyone who has a daily digest feed.

In this market, speed alone won’t get you the work, but it sure can hurt to be seen BEFORE an employer finds 5 people they want to invite in for interviews (and forget about everyone else.)

BTW  - there are LOTS of jobs being tweeted - professional, clerical, manual...really no limits I can see other than less volume than traditional job boards).

To see if there are jobs in your niche look at this nifty twitter board.

2. News in snippets.

I advise job seekers everywhere to stop reading the news. It’s just so depressing! Job hunting requires enthusiasm, soul searching, lots of hard work…and many other ‘entrepreneurial’ habits. The constant, emotional onslaught of news from every quarter is not only depressing (face it, TV and newspapers are NOT in the ‘good news’ business) but can be addictive

As the repetitive news confirms your fears, it can lead to or reinforce bad habits. You don’t need that kind of reinforcement.

But on Twitter, I’m able to feed myself what I want to see (I even follow Rockies and Bronco's tweets), and literally ’scan’ to see if there’s something I want to see. I can ‘check the news’ in about 45 seconds. And if the existing socioeconomic order collapses, I’m sure it will still make the evening news.

3. Leading edge resources.

I’ve been amazed at the number of leading-edge personal marketing and branding resources available. They all quote each other, share with each other, and are building quite a community. I’m convinced that the entire process of people and jobs finding each other is going to change. And on Twitter, you can see who’s leading the charge.

Denver job Tweets can be found by going to Twitter.com and typing in “Denver Jobs. If you already have an account, you can then browse and follow any that look pertinent.

I'd recommend trying them for a few days, then seeing how they pan out...many tweet the same jobs, so you'll get some duplication.

If you don't have an account, the instructions to set one up are simple...and if it seems like too much work or too much incoming information, then give yourself 30 minutes per day to look and test, then decide if it works for you.

I'd also recommend getting the free "Tweetdeck" application. It's simple to use, and helps you organize so that you can manage the data the way you want to.

Got questions - feel free to email me!