
Did you know that there are thousands of new jobs posted on Twitter each day?
Imagine you are a small company, and you are growing rapidly despite the naysayers on the news about the economy. It’s time to hire a full-time sales person.
Will you spend $600-$800 to post on Monster?
Will you enjoyed being spammed when posting jobs on Craigslist, just to get an entry level person?
I doubt it?
I would prefer to get a referral to fill my post. And I trust my friends on Facebook and Twitter to be my referral network for several reasons.
First, its free.
Second, I know these people who may know people I know.
As a matter of fact, this is exactly the thought process going through the minds of thousands of hiring managers daily.
And the benefit to you is that you get to reply to the job minutes after it has been posted.
Are you Tweeting yet?
I have found a few job related twitter "users", but nothing yet that is quite what I've been looking for.
I've actually found jobs at Intel and other companies on Twitter, but none are where I live unfortunately. I think Twitter is still in its early phase of development, especially when it comes to professional job hunting or placement. Take my situation - I'm currently employed, but am looking for advanced opportunities in my area of expertise (Computer Network Admin) but I will only take direct placement, as I'm not interested in any "contract to hire". I have not seen anything that resembles what I'm looking for in Twitter. But I'm sure one day soon we will.
One year ago, companies wouldn't have imagined using Twitter for anything. Now it's almost unheard of NOT to be on Twitter. Even just monitoring what people are saying about their brand has proven a valuable and essential corporate activity.
Funny thing is, those companies that were willing to try something new, and to make it work for them early on have had the most success.
As a career consultant, I have heard several success stories on using Twitter to get interviews. But I think it's main value is in brand management.
Just as companies can't associate sales directly with their brand, that doesn't mean there is no connection. Likewise, though job seekers may not be getting interviews as a direct result of Twittter (for the most part), that is not evidence that Tweeting for a job is pointless.
If history repeats itself, the early adopter will succeed.
The take away, when you have a branding strategy, Twitter is your ticket.
While I have yet to secure a job (I don't graduate until the end of March), I have been able to leverage a couple interviews with Chicago PR Agencies thanks to Twitter. I personally know no more than 4 or 5 people in Chicago, but through Twitter I was able to connect directly with representatives and hiring managers at large agencies like Weber Shandwick and Fleishman Hillard. Just like Josh said, it's a tool and the way you use it will determine your success.