Tweet for a job

The two most high-profile Tweeters in India — Shashi Tharoor and Lalit Modi — were in trouble with their jobs lately. But Twitter itself is fast evolving into a job hunt medium. In fact, it is proving a challenge to LinkedIn and Facebook, other popular social networking sites.

Twitter is becoming huge. And all sorts of folks have jumped on the bandwagon to both look for jobs and offer them. “At this rate they should change the Twitter symbol into a Cupid; there are so many marriages being made on it,” says Mumbai-based HR consultant Shashi Rao.

LinkedIn, which is a professional network as compared to Facebook which is social, was the site of choice before Twitter came on the scene. While no hard data are available on which is the better site for job hunting, the number of ancillary sites that are springing up seems to indicate that Twitter is winning the race. But with its 140 character per Tweet limitation, it still needs a site like LinkedIn as a backup. You put just the basic details in your Tweet; the more elaborate version resides on LinkedIn or some similar site.

Career consultants also seem to be veering Twitter’s way. Writes independent content producer Jane Meyer in Associated Content: “The type of involvement and targeted networking that is facilitated by Twitter makes it a more useful job search tool than LinkedIn. Compared to LinkedIn, Twitter is faster, more interesting and less restrictive to use in a job search. If you use Twitter, you should have your résumé or CV and other credentials set up on another website. Then make sure that your bio line in your Twitter profile shows the website where your resume is so that potential employers can access it easily.”

Twitter is not a passive medium. The key to it is acquiring “followers” — the people who have signed up to receive your Tweets. (Tharoor has more than 700,000 followers. Lalit Modi has one-tenth that. Vijay Mallya — “IPL divided by politics, united by Kingfisher”, goes a recent Tweet — has around 12,000).

Meyer suggests that if you are using Twitter for a job search, you should start by following people in your industry. Then follow companies you would like to work in. Many corporates have a Twitter presence these days. When people search Twitter for their company or industry, your name will pop up.

If you have useful information in your Tweets — such as links to relevant reports, articles and websites — they will begin to follow you. With a sizeable band of relevant followers, you can Tweet your credentials and a link to your curriculum vitae once in a while. Someone will bite.

You need to remember, however, that Tweeting could be dangerous. Post insults about your boss and it could reach him. People re-Tweet stuff. Emails that are far more private have led to casualties. Only twits Tweet without controls.

A would-be employee of Cisco Tweeted that she knew she would hate her new job but the “fatty pay cheque” compensated. Though she quickly changed the Twitter account to private, it was already on record in Google’s cache. The Tweet went around the world like a virus. Today, there is even a site styled ciscofatty.com set up as a monument to Twitter folly.

But you may not be able to stay away from Twitter for too long. A recent survey by outplacement consultancy organisation Challenger, Gray & Christmas says that social / professional networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn have now become the second-most successful way to bag a job. Networking in meatspace (the physical world) is still No. 1.

Internet job boards, recruitment firms, employer websites, cold calling employers and job fairs follow, in that order. Tweets are sweet for those who have learnt from CiscoFatty.

CHIRPS EVERYWHERE

Twitter-related job resources

@SimplyHired

@Jobacle

@careerealism

@execSearches

@jobnob

@careertips

@indeed

@workerswork

@jobshouts

@BrazenCareerist