Here’s a compelling post on using Twitter to find a job. These kinds of tactics apply to leveraging LinkedIn too.
In his blog post, David Meerman Scott of WebInkNow spotlights David Murray and how he turned around his failed job search by taking advantage of the researching and networking capabilities on Twitter.
After being laid off, Murray did the traditional thing that everyone says you should do — get your resume together and start calling people. He got nowhere.
Then he came up with this creative idea:
“I came across Chris Brogan’s comment how he used Twitter Search to keep track of his 10,000 followers using RSS feeds,” Murray says. “So I simply began entering keywords in Twitter Search like: Hiring Social Media, Social Media Jobs, Online Community Manager, Blogging Jobs, etc. I then pulled the RSS feeds of these keyword conversations into Google Reader and made it a habit to check these first thing in the morning everyday.”
Bingo.
He came across conversations related to his keywords and followed up by introducing himself to these people via Twitter. This led him to land his dream job as an Assistant Webmaster, Client Services.
Heather Huhman, who writes the Entry Level Careers pages for Examiner.com, sums it up:
“The Internet is changing just about everything. Gone are the days of printing out your cover letter and resume on ‘special’ paper, sticking both in an envelope and mailing the application package off. We are officially in the Job Search 2.0 era.”
Scott’s final bonus tip is a reminder for job seekers to self-Google, “You can influence what [potential employers] see! Remember, on the Web you are what you publish.”
Take a look at the comments following Scott’s blog post too.
Related posts:
Executive Job Search 2.0: Have You Self-Googled Lately?
Get the Best Out of LinkedIn for Your Personal Brand, Networking, and Executive Job Search