Mark Buell had no intention of leaving a job he enjoyed – until one day last September, when a message flashed on his computer screen.
It was a tweet from one of the avid Twitter user’s contacts that simply read: “New job being posted, social media communications manager in Ottawa.”
With an instant inside track to a job that had not yet been advertised, Mr. Buell jumped on the enclosed link to the organization’s website, and sent off a cover letter and résumé by mail.
Three weeks later, he was called for an interview. When asked to present how he would put together a social media campaign for the organization if he got the job, Mr. Buell decided to let his Twitter stream speak for him. His Twitter profile showed he was well-connected, with 1,900 followers built up since he started tweeting two years ago.
“I sent them a link to my Twitter account, every tweet I sent in the past year, at least 2,000. I don’t think they went through them all, but it gave an idea of who I was as a communications professional, as well as an individual,” Mr. Buell says.
An idea good enough, in fact, that it got him the job: He was told that his tweets had turned him into the top choice for the position as communications manager of the Canadian Internet Registration Authority, which was looking for someone to expand its presence on social media.
“My life was suddenly changed because of just those few words,” Mr. Buell says of that Twitter job posting. “I can definitely say I got the job through Twitter.”
Other lives may be changing, too, as an increasing number of those on the prowl for employment discover the new power of Twitter in finding a job – or having one find you. That those 140-character messages can be posted almost instantaneously makes Twitter an invaluable tool for getting tips on jobs before they are posted anywhere else, experts say.
While Twitter use has grown exponentially since its introduction three years ago, few have harnessed its power in the hunt for employment, says Toronto career coach Randall Craig, author of the new book Social Media for Business.
As recently as last June, an Ipsos-Reid poll done for CBC found that just 26 per cent of 826 regular Internet users surveyed had even heard of Twitter, and only 6 per cent were regular users. That’s much lower than the 42 per cent of Canadian Internet users who have Facebook accounts, according to a report by Statistics Canada last July. A Globe and Mail online poll last month found that only 2 per cent of respondents had used Twitter in a job search.
Still, Twitter’s influence is growing and, in some industries, not being a tweeter could hurt your potential as a job candidate, Mr. Craig says. “Companies are using it for marketing and if you want to get a job in marketing or communications and are not on Twitter, you won’t be considered a strong candidate,” he says. He’s also seeing growing use in other industries, from technology to finance.
But Twitter is so new that even savvy users don’t maximize its potential, says Deb Dib, president of Medford, N.Y.-based leadership consultancy Executive Power Brand and co-author of the new book The Twitter Job Search Guide.
How to make the most of Twitter? Here’s advice from both experts and users on the smartest ways to make Twitter part of your job search:
Cultivate a following
“Twitter can be a way to do an end run around the classic pile of anonymous résumés by giving you a presence and a personal brand that people recognize,” says Jacob Share, a Canadian career coach living in Israel and the author of The Ultimate Twitter Job Search Guide.
Twitter messages are so short that they are like comments in a conversation; people will join if it interests them, he says.
