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10 Twitter Basic Tips for Job Seekers

Julie Walraven — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 11:59:50 +0000

Everyone is telling you to use Twitter for job search. Everyone is telling you to use LinkedIn for job search. Everyone is telling you to use Facebook for job search. But once you jump into the water, you stall. You don’t know how to move forward. You don’t know how to use Twitter in your job search.

Let’s just get some basics out of the way. Easy steps to make you build confidence in this brave new world. And while we are at it, let’s blow out some misconceptions about Twitter. Many of these tips will also work on other platforms.

#1 → Do you have a profile pic? And what does it say about you? I have used professional photographers for most of my head shots but my latest one on Twitter and Facebook was taken with my web cam. I liked using the web cam because I could keep shooting and see it instantaneously. The cameras in phones are so reliable now that you could easily get a good shot but let someone else take the picture.

#2 →What does the bio say about you? This is the opportunity for a 160 characters of value. Write this carefully. Sell your brand but don’t sound needy. Here’s my latest bio statement on Twitter:

Today’s economy is challenging. As a professional resume writer, I help job seekers end their search using career marketing & networking strategies.

#3 → Do you have a link? Your LinkedIn profile is a fine place to let your readers learn more about you than they can in 160 characters of your bio or your tweets.
#4 → Don’t forget to tweet. When I see someone who is following people but has said nothing, I wonder why they are on Twitter. As odd as it might feel to just put something out there, something is better than nothing.
#5 → Associate with mainly real people. Following brands is fine but to be effective on Twitter, you need to build a network. If you simply follow brands or company sites, you will get little interaction. Value on Twitter comes from building relationships.
#6 → Don’t turn on the privacy option or use Protected Tweets. I covered this in detail here. You have a reason to be on Twitter and if you make it tough for people to connect with you, they won’t.
#7 → Use direct messages (DMs) sparingly. I don’t want to hear a thank you for connecting with you via DM. Talk to me in the stream. Save DMs for things like sharing your e-mail or phone number with someone who you know can help you in the job search.
#8 → Retweet sparingly. While as a blogger, I like you sharing my posts if they resonate with you, I don’t want that to be the only thing in your stream. Retweet what you really love and space it out with conversation.
#9 → Don’t be afraid to make basic comments. The weather can often spark a conversation.
#10 → Keep it positive. You want to make a good first impression. Save whining for private times.

These are basic starter steps for those who are either just finding the Twitter platform or those who failed to get it right when they started.

Stuck in your job search or just ready to move on or up from your existing position? Julie Walraven, a professional resume writer and career marketing strategist, can help you write your resume and teach you how to find a new job. To find out how, Click here!

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Why job seekers should join instead of follow on Twitter

Julie Walraven — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:33:06 +0000

Notice I said join, not follow. This is another lesson that Jim Connolly taught me. You want people to JOIN you on Twitter not follow you. Follow sounds like you are setting yourself up as a magnet. Join suggests that you are open to conversation and relationship building on Twitter.

What’s the goal of a job seeker on Twitter?

Your goal should be to build beneficial and productive relationships on Twitter. Hence the word join instead of follow.

Dictionary.com defines follow as:

to accept as a guide or leader; accept the authority of or give allegiance to: Many Germans followed Hitler.
to conform to, comply with, or act in accordance with; obey: to follow orders; to follow advice.
to imitate or copy; use as an exemplar: They follow the latest fads.

I don’t know about you but I don’t like that idea. Let’s look at the definition of join:

to bring in contact, connect, or bring or put together.
to take part with others (often followed by in ): Let’s all join in.

I like that better. I want to connect with others, to share ideas, and find common ground.

How do you join or connect with others on Twitter?

You look for common ground. If I want to find people who like dogs or in my case, German Shepherds, I could search for German Shepherds using the search button on Twitter. I might get results that look like this: https://twitter.com/#!/search/german%20shepherds It constantly changes and then I might look further to find someone giving me useful information about German Shepherds or talking about their German Shepherd. This might encourage me to join them. Before I join someone, though, I expand their stream beyond one tweet and look at what they are saying. Then I join them and ideally, I initiate conversation.

What about job search on Twitter?

You can use this example with anything else, including job search on Twitter. You can search for a company or a field and then analyze the stream to see who is really conversing as opposed to blasting and then you check if they are conversing about things you want to learn or if you want to get to know them. Then join them on Twitter.

You can also learn the latest in job search strategy by following career professionals. I have gotten to know many of my colleagues much better because of Twitter and have formed offline friendships by calling or chatting on Skype with those career professionals separated from me by many miles.

What about brands on Twitter?

Some brands blast and some brands are people. I prefer people. Eastbay Careers is a good example of a brand who is represented by a person. The bio says:

Tweets brought 2 you by Jessica Fane, Employment Coordinator for Eastbay! I am a 5-10K runner and lover of coffee!

Best part, Jessica talks to you. Her stream is friendly and she responds to you. But she is serious about answering job seeker questions that are pertinent to Eastbay careers.

Someone who is a brand but represents like Jessica does instead of just blasting positions or a steady stream of company retweets makes it easier to talk to a company. You can see the representative of other companies doing this with customer service.

Benefits of joining people on Twitter

If you focus on joining people on Twitter and join in the conversation, I believe you will build the connections you want. How do you join me on Twitter? You talk to me. I have so many people “following” me that unless they start the conversation, I won’t know they want to connect.

What do you think? See possibilities for job search on Twitter?

Stuck in your job search or just ready to move on from your existing position? Julie Walraven can help you find a new career! To find out how, Click here!

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The top 5 mistakes LinkedIn users often make

Julie Walraven — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 15:07:51 +0000

The SeaFarer

You want LinkedIn to work for you but you are not sure how.You have heard people buzzing about how great LinkedIn is for job search or building your business. Unfortunately, no one taught you how to use LinkedIn correctly.

Don’t let these common LinkedIn mistakes ruin your networking

You don’t use your banner heading effectively. The banner heading needs to feature your goals and objectives. Here is mine:They can be changed at any time but if you don’t set the banner heading in this top section, it will default to your most recent job. At no point do you want to say currently unemployed. Sell your value. If you search other people who have spent some time developing their banner headings you can see that the keywords and value they are selling will come up in searches. Don’t waste this space!
You aren’t connecting with anyone. Two to five people in your network does not make a LinkedIn network. With more than 131 million people on LinkedIn, don’t tell me you can’t find anyone to connect with. College professors, alumni members, former employers, former coworkers, community service connections. Your assignment: connect with 60 people right now. Grow that to 100 as soon as possible. Then keep going. LinkedIn will suggest people for you as you build the network. Think about connecting with the people who checked you out and watch who is watching you.
You haven’t set your name. You look like a newbie when you leave those numbers hanging off your name. Claim your name now. Specific instructions here.
Make sure that you leave a trail behind you. Set your settings so people know when you visit their profile. It could start a conversation. For one client, it was the secret to getting calls and offers from employers.
Never assume. Fill out your summary – 2000 characters waiting for you to write a compelling case for the value that you offer to them as a new employee. Complete the description below each position with clear accomplishment-driven statements. Don’t assume that they know what you do.

These tips should help improve your profile immediately. If you struggle with this, there are people like myself who can walk you through the process painlessly and get you up and running so you can use this tool to effectively market yourself.

Is “good enough” going to get you a job?

Julie Walraven — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 12:23:13 +0000

image by Thierry Draus

Every once in awhile someone asks me or another resume writer to write just the cover letter. They don’t need a resume they say — because the resume they have is “good enough.”

Well maybe…

If one of my colleagues wrote the resume but then I would suspect “Excellent” would be a better word.
And maybe if the someone spent days reading resume books, understanding the philosophy behind today’s job search and what makes a resume stand out in this economic climate against tough competition, and worked on fine-tuning their accomplishments so that they attract the interest of hiring managers, yes, maybe then their resume is good enough.

But what the person is usually are telling me is that they only want to pay for the cover letter because they don’t see the value in investing in a complete resume package much less a customized job search and career marketing package.

My clients who use Design Resumes for their career marketing and resume writing needs, however, want to stand out. They don’t want a “good enough” resume. They want to win the new position. In fact, my clients don’t just want to win the new position, they want to be able to negotiate for the salary and the benefits that they want. And guess what? They do just that!

A client I started working with in June was re-employed three weeks later in July. Here’s the beginning of his LinkedIn profile:

Throughout my career, I have thrived on challenges. If you tell me it can’t be done, I will find a way and get it done. I have had a unique ability to help the customer discover a desire for the product or service that they didn’t know they had.

I am skilled at reading people. I surprise people by telling them things that they can’t figure out how I knew about them. I have never walked out of a negotiation and not closed the deal. For me, Failure is not an option!

He is my favorite kind of client. He gets it! He’s a Regional Sales Manager and he negotiated for a much better deal than he was offered and he got it!

For him, there is no “good enough!” How about you?