How to Successfully Use Twitter for Your Job Search
I hear it all the time. I am already using LinkedIn for my job search. Why should I use Twitter? Fair question. If you are using LinkedIn, great, it is the premier site to use if you're in job search mode. I would always put the LinkedIn platform as your number one priority for personal branding and networking.
That doesn't mean that you should completely ignore all other social media platforms. While Twitter can seem like an unruly public square where anyone with a Twitter profile can share their views on the topic of the day, it can have a lot of value for a job seeker. According to Twitter, as of September 2019, there were 330 million active monthly users. Compare that to LinkedIn, which had 310 million active monthly users. According to Pew Research, in 2018, 46% of Twitter users visit the site at least once a day. With that much activity, it is a social media platform that you can't dismiss when it comes to your job search.
I am a great believer that you get better results when you do not always follow the herd. That means if everyone is on LinkedIn, there are opportunities to promote your personal brand and network on Twitter. You can also automate many of your job search tasks on Twitter, so if Twitter is not your cup of tea, you can minimize your time on the platform while still getting positive results.
Step One: The Basics
Twitter Profile
To get started on Twitter, you need to have a professional profile. The good thing is that it is far less time consuming to set up a good Twitter profile than a LinkedIn profile. The elements of a Twitter profile are:
Header Photo (1500x500 Pixels) JPG, GIF or PNG
Profile Photo (400x400 Pixels) JPG, GIF or PNG
Name
Bio (260 characters)
Location
Website
Birthdate
If you already have a LinkedIn profile, you should use the same profile photo and header photo (comparable to the LinkedIn banner photo) with some size adjustment. For personal branding purposes, you should have a consistent look across all social media platforms. As for your Bio, 260 characters is more than the 120 characters allowed for the LinkedIn headline but far less than the 2,600 characters allowed for the LinkedIn About section. The Bio is where you can use keywords and hashtags to make yourself easier to find. And yes, recruiters do search Twitter for candidates. Unlike on LinkedIn, where many people use the default headline of "job title at company" format, Twitter users often provide a short narrative and use keywords and hashtags in the description.
As an example, my Twitter bio is below. I have used keywords, such as "resume" and "career" to help with SEO and to be found on Twitter.
I help you find a job you love. Who doesn't want that? I provide career coaching, resume writing, LinkedIn profile optimization & interviewing skills training.
If you have a personal website, blog, or online portfolio, you can add a link to your profile.
The birthdate is optional, and I would advise against putting it on your profile. You can limit who can see it, but if you are just using Twitter for your job search, why bother to set up permissions and just omit it altogether.
Using the Search Feature
Twitter's search feature is a great place to find open jobs, get information about companies, and find people to follow. There are two simple tools, People and Location, to help with your search. People search allows you to type in your search term(s) and choose if you want to search From everyone or People you follow. Location search will enable you to choose Anywhere or Near you.
There is also an advanced search tool. You can search on Words (including language) and Accounts. There is also a filter for Replies and Links. You can also search on Engagement (minimum replies, likes, and retweets) and Dates. Please note that you have to be logged in to Twitter.com, so see these advanced search features.
Open Jobs
While Twitter does not have an integrated job board like LinkedIn, many employers do tweet out open positions. Some of the popular hiring hashtags are the following:
#job or #jobs or #jobsearch
#hiring or #nowhiring
#careers or #careeropportunities
#employment
#recruitment or #recruiting or #recrutingnow
In the era of COVID-19, these are also hashtags to search.
#covidhiring or #covidjobs
If you are looking for a remote or work from home opportunity, as well as temporary or contract jobs, these are also hashtags to search.
#remotejobs or #remotework or #remotehiring
#telework
#flexjobs
#tempjobs
Pair these hashtags with your specific location, industry, or job role to narrow down your search.
Information Gathering
Twitter is a great resource to find information on companies, roles, or people. Searching on a company hashtag, such as #amazon, will bring up the official twitter accounts for the organization, which you can choose to follow, and tweets that have used #amazon in it. Do not forget that not everyone may use the hashtag in front of the name, so you should also search without it to see all the tweets available. Often, tweets will have links that will take you to articles, blogs, etc.
You can also use the same approach as above to find information on different roles or people. If you are searching for information about a role, such as Marketing Director, or a person such as Jeff Bezos, best practice is to put the search criteria in quotes, so it looks for that whole string of words. Otherwise, you could get a list of all tweets with both "marketing" and "director" in it, but not specifically that job title.
Finding People to Follow
Keeping up with industry trends by seeing what influencers have to say can be an essential part of showing your value to an employer. You can use the search feature to find these people. You can then see their tweets and elect to follow, so you see new tweets in your feed. A trick to easily discover other influencers or interesting people to follow in your field is to look at the lists that this person may have set up. On the desktop and mobile versions, you can go to the person's profile, and you will find a circle with three dots (on the top right of the screen on mobile). Click on it, and you will see an option to View Lists. As long as the person has made their lists public, you can look at the people on their lists to see if you would like to follow them.
Once you have set up a search, you can then save the search. Click on the circle with three dots next to the Search Twitter field, and you can save the search. Next time you click on the Search Twitter field, you will see a list of both recent and saved searches.
Lists
The lists feature is a great way to curate information in one place. You may want to create lists of your own to make finding information more manageable and time-efficient, especially if you do not want to spend that much time scrolling through your news feed. You can also subscribe to lists created by others.
To create lists on desktop:
Click Lists in the navigation bar.
Click the Create new List icon.
Choose a name for your list, and a short description of the list. Your list name cannot be longer than 25 characters and cannot start with a number. Then select if you want the list to be private (only accessible to you) or public (anyone can subscribe to the list).
Click Next.
Search for people and add them to your list.
Click Done.
To create a list on mobile:
On Android, go to either the Navigation Menu icon (three horizontal lines) or Profile icon (you will see one or the other) and select Lists. On Mac, go to the profile icon and choose Lists and tap on the New List icon.
Follow step 3-6 for creating lists on desktop.
Step Two: Getting More Involved With Twitter
If you want just to do the basics of Twitter, that is fine. You now have some tools to gather information to use for your job search. If you want to expand your use of Twitter, especially to help establish your professional branding, you will want to get a bit more involved with Twitter. Instead of just gathering information, you will need to put out information.
Composing Tweets
Part of personal branding is to show what makes you unique and what you are known for in your professional and personal life. Part of showing this is to educate others. You can do this through your messaging. Twitter is a perfect place to showcase your professional brand. Unlike LinkedIn, which allows posts to be a maximum of 1,300 characters, Twitter only allows 280 characters. This means that you can only send out short communications, which you might find less daunting. Also, there is an abundance of posts that have links, so you can successfully make others aware of articles, blog posts, or other materials that help distinguish and showcase your expertise.
Tweet ideas
If you are at a loss as to what to post, here are some ideas:
Information about your industry or role that might be of interest.
An inspirational quote that resonates with you and your personal brand.
Tips and tools to help others.
Share an interesting article with a takeaway.
Follow Friday (#FF) suggestions.
Crowdsource opinions on a topic or ask a question.
Share an infographic or video relevant to your users.
You can also retweet posts of interest and add relevant comments to it.
If you do not want to spend a lot of time on Twitter sending out tweets, you can use a social media management platform like Hootsuite or Buffer to schedule these tweets to go out at a designated time. Twitter has its proprietary management platform, TweetDeck, which can be used to schedule your tweets.
Pin a Tweet
In addition to your profile, which helps convey information about you, you can pin a tweet to your profile so that it is the first one that people will see when they look you up. If you are a job seeker, you can tweet about your skills, competencies, and experience and pin this to your profile to give readers more information.
How to Pin a Tweet
To pin a tweet on desktop and mobile:
Go to your profile.
Find the tweet that you want to pin.
Click on the "V" next to the tweet.
Select Pin to your profile or Pin to profile.
On mobile, you may be asked to agree to the statement you want to pin the post.
Join a Chat in Your Industry
The Twitter community has "chats" that take place for industry professionals. Chats are a great way to meet others in your chosen field. Participation in chats also helps you get visibility and enhance your professional image. These virtual chats take place on a schedule and are hosted by organizations or groups of individuals. These chats will have their own hashtag. Often, the questions for the chat are given out ahead of time so that you can prepare your answers in advance.
The format for these chats is pretty simple. There is usually a brief introduction by those participating in the chat. The moderator sends out a question, using "Q" and a number to designate each question and the specified hashtag. Individuals answer in a tweet with "A" and the question number and the designated hashtag. Chats are lively with a lot of interaction with many likes, retweets, and direct messages throughout the chat.
A great way to find these chats is through TweetReports, which keeps a list of ongoing chats. You can also search for "A1" and your topic area to see the types of chats or look at influencers in your topic area who often participate in these types of chats.
To learn more about Twitter chats, read this informative article by SproutSocial on the topic.
Message Others
Connecting through Twitter, like LinkedIn, is an excellent way to network. While you can follow people easily, you can send a direct message as well. The rule of thumb is that a person either has to be someone that follows you or has enabled receiving messages from anyone to receive the message.
Like any networking communication, you want to keep your message professional and give before you ask for anything. You can share something of interest via a link, recommend something, or even provide positive feedback.
Get Started
Now that you have learned a bit about Twitter, I hope you can see it as a helpful tool to help you find a job. The learning curve for Twitter is not as steep as with other platforms, and the shortness of the tweets makes it easy to gather and give information. Are you ready to give Twitter a try?
If you found this helpful, share it with a family member or friend that is currently looking for a new job.
Additional resources for job searching using social media:
How To Job Search On Facebook For Success
How To Get Noticed By A Recruiter On LinkedIn
Shelley Piedmont is a job search coach. She wants to help job seekers put their best foot forward by providing the tools for a successful job search. If you need career coaching, resume preparation, interview skills assessment, or LinkedIn profile assistance, she can help. Schedule a 15-minute no-obligation consultation.