Thursday, July 23, 2009

Twitter Tips: How to Find Job Posts on Twitter

Phil Rosenberg interviewed by Chris Lynch of CIO, on Twitter job search strategies:

By C.G. Lynch, July 23, 2009 — CIO —

Many recruiters and some employers have begun posting job openings on Twitter. But knowing how to get what you want from Twitter's search tool, and sorting through hashtags (#) assigned to job posts, can be tricky. CIO.com spoke with career experts to get their take on how to find the jobs you want.

Although many companies have been shedding jobs, some employers and recruiters have turned to Twitter to post positions and find new talent.

But using Twitter to find new work isn't a straightforward process. Because people publish so frequently, it's easy to miss a lead in the process. Also, Twitter's search tool, while serviceable, sometimes makes it hard to narrow your job inquiries down to something specific.

We spoke with some career experts about how you can search wisely. In general, you must sieve through hashtags, a symbol (#) Twitter users assign to their tweets that sorts them into different categories (I wrote a CIO.com overview on Twitter hashtags a few months ago). We also learned about a few Twitter handles (Twitter user names) that post some helpful content if you're trying to land your next gig.

Twitter Job Hashtags

Twitter hashtags are indexed at hashtags.org, a gigantic and sometimes (ironically) overwhelming list of categories that users have created to help others sort through the noise on Twitter.

The Twitter tags most utilized by job seekers include #jobs, #job, #jobseeker, #career and #careers, says Phil Rosenberg (@philreCareered), president of reCareered, a career consultancy.

On Twitter, you can search for these hashtags by putting the symbol "#" in front of the phrase (for example: #jobs) when you type it into Twitter's search engine.



The search engine will return tweets that have been assigned the #jobs hashtag in real-time. The weakness to searching a hashtag alone: You will be forced to sieve through hundreds or thousands of jobs that might not interest you. Consequently, it might be tempting to visit Twitter's advanced search engine and type in the hashtag (#jobs) along with a keyword related to your expertise (say, "project manager").

But you should be careful about narrowing your search too much, says Rosenberg. The more specific you get with Twitter search, the less it returns. Because recruiters and employers must deal with the 140 character limit, they may omit a keyword in their tweet. In other words, if you search too specifically, you could miss some good posts, he says.

"It's really one of the challenges of Twitter," Rosenberg says. "Lets say the recruiter is posting a job for a 'network administrator,' but they typed in "network admin.' In that case, you might miss it."

Nobody agrees on the best hashtag for jobs, which is why so many exist. The Job Lounge blog has put together a helpful list of Twitter job-related hashtags. Other people have added to the post by commenting with more suggested hashtags .

Twitter Job Handles

In addition to hashtags, many career management organizations, experts and non-profits also keep Twitter pages that tweet new job postings. One such organization is Job Angels (@jobangels), a non-profit that asks people around the Web to "help one person find a job."

The organization will retweet messages sent by people looking for work, and the messages of employers and recruiters who have open positions. It also shares articles and best practices for getting hired, says Mark Cummuta (@TriumphCIO). Cummuta, who has written career columns for CIO.com, volunteers as CIO for Job Angels while he looks for a paid position as a CIO or IT director.

"We're focused on helping the job seeker," he says. "We want to help connect them with openings, but also provide them with information that is going to help in their search."

Other handles that list jobs include @hashjobs, @craigslistjobs, and @thejobsguy, to name just a few. If you search Twitter under the #jobs hashtag, you'll find that the Twitter handles are sometimes geographical or occupational in nature, such as @losangelesEdjob and @JobChicago.

Other handles that job seekers may want to follow don't necessarily just mention job postings. @WSJCareers posts articles and news about the job market that could help you in your search. Some career experts, such as @danschawbel, @CareerRocketeer , @crisjobcoach and @kirstendixson. And don't forget about CIO.com's career guru, Meridith Levinson (@meridith). (We don't profess to know them all, so please feel free to leave more suggestions in this article's comment section.)

Getting the "in" Using Twitter

While it's fine to follow job postings on Twitter, the most powerful aspect of the medium could be connecting with people who work for prospective employers, says Jason Alba, CEO of JibberJobber.com (@jasonalba). He suggests using the medium to find people who are employed at companies or organizations that you might want to work for in the future. Ideally, when a job arises, they might think of you.

"Think about three target companies, type them into Twitter's search tool, and you'll find people who are either talking about those companies or who actually might work for them," Alba says.

C.G. Lynch covers consumer web and social technologies for CIO.com. He writes frequently on Twitter, Facebook and Google. You can follow him on Twitter: @cglynch.

Reposted from: http://www.cio.com/article/497918/Twitter_Tips_How_to_Find_Job_Posts_on_Twitter

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Forget the "Shotgun" Method



I had a discussion with The BYU career and Employment Blog about why a focused job search is so much more effective than just playing the numbers.

Many people still use the "shotgun" method for conducting a job search. They read the Sunday job ads; they submit a standard resume to as many job boards as they can find; they call on a few friends. Then they submit their standard resume to either a handful of opportunities each week, or they submit to dozens of jobs with the same resume as long as the position sounds remotely interesting.

"As job seekers become more fearful of the economy, they fall back on the shotgun method because it feels like they're out there working it," says Phil Rosenberg, former division director of Robert Half International who's now CEO and founder of reCareered, a career counseling and resume writing firm.

The problem with the shotgun method is that it does not work, especially in a job market where employers have the pick of the litter. In fact, it does more harm than good. Recruiters are not likely to want to help you because you have given all potential hiring firms free access to your information, which negates the value they provide to their clients. Second, you commoditize yourself: By posting your resume everywhere, you become indistinguishable from a plethora of job seekers with similar skills. Consequently, hiring firms can immediately negotiate on price, driving your salary down or out. What's more, when you try to be all things to all prospective employers by sending a standard resume to everyone, you end up being nothing to no one. Your resume won't get noticed because it doesn't stand out.

Trackback: http://byucareer.blogspot.com/2009/07/forget-shotgun-job-search-method-many.html


Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".