Check out Twitter for Your Executive or Professional Job Search

If you have invested any quality time searching for a job in today’s market, you are well aware that having only a paper executive resume is no longer going to cut the mustard. Most companies are now posting future job offers online—thus requiring an online response. If you have read job search-related articles, you now understand that your online presence has become the focal point of prospective employers. So with that said, having access to some of the best resume tips and online job search tools can help maximize your employment search.

Now, when I mention online job search tools, what comes to most people’s minds is LinkedIn, a fantastic platform to connect executives and mid-career/professional job seekers with prospective employers who are in search of well-qualified candidates to fill leadership roles within their organizations. Plus, LinkedIn has acquired Lynda.com, a webinar-based learning platform that can help you to build competencies and potentially close specific skills/knowledge gaps.

I will now jump off the LinkedIn bandwagon and move on to what I believe to be one of the most commonly overlooked and underused job search tools—Twitter. I know what you are thinking: “Great, I just became comfortable with LinkedIn, and now here is one more social media profile that I will need to create and maintain.” 

Do not fret! The steps below will help you to easily integrate Twitter into your employment search. I broke them down into what I believe to be small, bite-sized points that you will find easily digestible.

# 1. It is essential for you to create a Twitter account that showcases your professional profile. Look at your Twitter profile as being your online calling card. Make your account information as professional as possible with highlights that briefly introduce you, your industry, passions, specialties, or certifications, etc.

Some of you may already have a Twitter account tied to all of your family and friends. You do not have to spend the month trying to unfollow everyone. My suggestion is for you to have two accounts—one for professional use and one for personal interests. This way your professional online presence doesn’t cross paths with your personal one.

# 2. Start building your network. Looking to get your IT Director resume into the hands of the hiring manager? Start following CEOs or senior leaders who are relevant to your field and companies that you are interested in working for someday—paying close attention to keywords otherwise known as hashtags. These hashtags will be your link to your target audience and potential employment opportunities. Follow recruiters who specialize in your industry.

You will find that some companies have Twitter accounts used strictly for announcing job openings; you definitely want to follow these. Once you start following a few key industry leaders, Twitter will provide you with a suggested list of “who to follow”—which will appear within your profile.

This list will showcase some of the people or companies followed by the individuals you’re following, making it easier for you to find other CEOs, executives, or professionals with common interests. Understand you are not just collecting followers; you are building professional relationships and strengthening your online reputation and personal brand.

# 3. Start retweeting tweets that you find valuable by the leaders you follow. The more people who relate to you and your contributions, the more likely they are to continue following you. Tweet tips and share news and professional resource links regarding business, careers, or technology. Get involved in various conversations about your profession, and by all means, answer questions. Impress future employers and the decision makers with your creative insight and responses to discussions or poll questions.

# 4. Once you have built a base of followers, occasionally tweet about your job search. Let your Twitter community know that you are looking for a job. Allow your followers to start working for you. Perform a Twitter search for your particular industry under “#HR Specialist” or “#Job ATL”; this will give you a stream of information regarding job availability in your field as well as the roles you are targeting.  Take advantage of particular job search hashtags that can help you to quickly find available opportunities—hashtags such as #NowHiring, #Hiring, #Careers, #Jobs, etc. You can also look for career and industry-specific hashtags like #ITJobs for an IT Director role, or #HRJobs, and #Marketing, etc.

# 5. Tweet your professional resume. This is the tricky part. How do you compress all of your skills and talents into 140 characters or less in order to use Twitter in your job search? First, you need to know what I believe are key bits of information for inclusion in your tweet. Here are my suggestions on the basics:

Job title: State the job title you currently hold, are seeking, or the one used by the company in its job offer.

Main skills: Share the most relevant set of skills as it relates to the position you are pursuing. Pay close attention to the amount of characters you use; you want to list only the two or three main skills that apply.

Location: You definitely need to state your geographic preference or current location. A recruiter who is reading your tweet will skip over you if they cannot be sure you are in proximity—or willing to relocate—to where the job is. Make sure to preserve crucial character space by abbreviating the particular state you are in or are seeking.

Link to your professional resume: Gotcha! If you have tried the exercise above, you have discovered 140 characters will not be enough to describe yourself and the value you bring to the table. You will somehow need to provide access to your complete professional resume. You can do this by providing a link to your most effective resume format—which could be an online PDF professional resume that you have saved in Dropbox or Google Drive, or you can direct the prospective employer to your newly written LinkedIn profile.

If you are really bold—and technically savvy—you can link recruiters to a PowerPoint resume on SlideShare or a video resume on YouTube. Understand that your link needs to be short. I found the easiest way to accomplish this is to use a social media management system like Hootsuite.com, where this tool will automatically shorten the links for you in order to help adhere to the 140-character limit. If you are stumped on what all this may look like, I am providing a link to an article on The Muse, titled The Best 140-Character Resumes on Twitter.

Whew! For all you busy CEOs, executives, and professional job seekers, I know this is an abundance of career information, but trust me—if you are serious about landing that perfect job, you cannot afford to leave any stone unturned. Chances are your competition is probably sticking to friends, family connections, and LinkedIn as their sources for future employment—which is great. But by integrating Twitter, you will be adding another effective tool to your job search.

Need help with writing an executive resume, cover letter, LinkedIn profile, or professional resume; Contact us at www.resumesbyjoyce.com, or toll-free 1-888-607-7793.