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While it may not be a trending topic on Twitter, more and more people are using the micro-blogging tool to put the word out that they need a job. As people share their success stories of how they landed a job by using Twitter more and more people are going to include twitter as part of their job search strategy. But does it really work?
In the past couple of weeks there are been a few blog posts about people who have used Twitter successfully in their job search
In a post called Twitter Yourself A Job, Jonelle Marte shares the story of Alexa Scordato who wrote this on Twitter:
"Hey there! Looking for a Social Media job up in Boston. Are you guys doing any entry level hires?"
Just a quick look at Scordato's message shows that her approach is very different from the majority of Twitter messages that popped up when I typed in "looking for a job" on Twitter search.
The majority of tweets that I found did not have the specificity of Ms. Scordota's message. Instead of saying Looking for a job she shared that she was looking for a job in a specific field --social media--- and she shared that she was entry level.
It wasn't just having specific information that helped Ms. Scordato -- she didn't blast her message out to every living soul using Twitter. Instead, she sent direct messages on Twitter to a group of people she had met at a conference.
Within a week, she had an interview. Within two weeks, she had a job.[...]
"I would guess that if I had just sent them a long email with my résumé, I might not have gotten a response as fast as I did," says Ms. Scordato, who was hired by Mzinga, a Boston-area company that helps businesses use social technology.
In November, Scott Orth who worked as a search marketing professional was shocked when he was laid off from a job that he thought was completely safe. It didn't take him long to launch SMJH - a real-time social media job hunt.
If you’d like to follow the process and see how effective connections, networking, and viral marketing can be on a personal level, please follow me at:
Twitter (Scottorth) = http://twitter.com/scottorth
LinkedIn = http://www.linkedin.com/in/scottorth
FaceBook = Scott Orth
Personal Site = www.ScottOrth.com
Early results…
I had early success with a couple of Twitter connections; like getting Li Evans to connect me with Mark Knowles of Smart Solution within just a few minutes of a tweet. I’ve had two initial discussions with companies on my first day laid off due to Twitter… not bad
Scott Orth found a job in 10 days. Kathy Dodd who writes at The Life is also documenting her search using social media. Her serach is taking much longer. As of today, Friday February 5, 2009, Kathy is still searching.
I was on-target to be promoted by September. I remember distinctly, I decided to take a walk on a gorgeous spring day in Georgetown and came back into the office, made my lunch and the phone rang. Within 20 minutes I was at the elevator bank hugging my former boss and holding back tears. On my drive home my mind raced - why, how, what next - those were all of my thoughts.
When I got into my house I sat down on my laptop and visited my Facebook page. The status that I entered was “Kathy is at home, shaken” - that didn’t begin to explain the gravity of the situation.
My second status update, 3 hours later, was “Kathy is in need of a job - please email me privately for details.” I spent the afternoon rewriting my resume, and updating my Linkedin profile.
A job-hunt.org, Deb Dil shared an experiment that a resume writer conducted on twitter.
Wendy Balencourt, a professional resume writer and career coach at Trend Resumes experienced: "The best experiment I tried was to post a zippy line about a candidate I had just finished writing for. I got a lot of interest from recruiters for him and helped open the door to possible connections with just one sentence!"
If that can happen to a resume writer's client, imagine what can happen to you, the executive, when you become visible. Recruiters are always looking for top talent -- let them know you are top talent and a thought leader through your useful business
