The best kept secrets are not those which are hidden behind 1000 locks. The best kept secrets are those that are always in front on us — too obvious to be noticed.
If you have not believed this so far then start believing in it, as nothing is truer then the above statement is. And it will become more evident when you will read the best-kept secret twitter tips for job search in this series.
Twitter, as we all know by now, is a 140-word marketing nuclear bomb. It is also referred as virtual water cooler where people talk about things that matters to them. Twitter is not just a micro-blogging tool, but it is a search engine in its own right that has the strength to overpower Google. Twitter can be used in many ways, but we will focus on using it as a job search tool. All the tips in this and subsequent posts are geared towards that only.
For a novice, twitter may look useless, but so did search engines in their initial days.
Easy-to-remember username
Username is your twitter name, and this is the first thing that a person finds about anyone on twitter. This is akin to the first part of your e-mail ID — everything before @, and you will not want your username to spoil the party. Hence, do not use your nickname or any other silly things in there. While saying that I did not mean to say that your nickname is silly, all I meant was that your username should look classy. Cheesy stuffs do not cut it. Your twitter name should also be easy to remember.
Real name for real people
Use your real first and last names in the designated space. Do not use any cool-but-idiotic-sounding words in place of the first and the last name. It will hurt your image, and create hindrance in getting a job. A person without real name does not sound like a person, at least not on the Internet.
Real picture
I know how badly you wanted to look like Brad Pitt, but the fact is you are not him then why to use his picture as your profile picture? Believe me it will not impress your employer, and most of all they will come to know it is not Brad Pitt who is applying for the job. Take my suggestion and pull that picture down, and instead use your own picture, preferably in business attire.
In the twitter profile, nothing but close-up of your own picture should be there.
Write a powerful bullet bio
In twitter profile, you do not get a lot of space to talk about yourself; nevertheless opportunity is there to capitalize on the little space you get. You should write a powerful, sharp-edged bio. Every word should be telling. The space is limited, so use only what will make the employer click on the accompanying link. Write a powerful bullet bio.
Add a web address
Do not add URL of the website where you talked about your cool kitten. No employer will like to know about her. What you can do is add the URL of your cool kitten website in your website under fun and hobby section, if you desperately want to show that to your employer. But, reserve the web address space on twitter for your professional website — the one that will inform your client about your professional skills and expertise.
Add location
Using this is slightly tricky. You can only add name of your city, if you are living in a big metro, but generally use name of your county along with the city name. This will tell your employer about your whereabouts. It will help them make their minds.
Customize your profile
The best thing about twitter is it allows you to create a custom profile for your twitter account. You can choose whatever background you want for your twitter profile. Twitter background provides you a wonderful opportunity to brand yourself. Your profile page should speak volume about you.
Theme-based design
Do not choose just any background. This will not do any good. Always remember a good design begins with ideation. With finding a theme for the design. When I say theme I meant what is that one thing that you want to convey to the viewers of your twitter profile. Begin with writing down the points you want to convey until it boils down to one or two core points that you must convey. This will be the essence of your twitter profile.
Now think of a design theme of the blog based on the core you have found.
Designing background
Start designing a background based on the theme you have found. To find the dimension of the background, you can search Google. I do not suggest reinventing the wheel. Just conduct a Google search and you will find a twitter background template.
First tweet then follow
What most people do after joining twitter is they start following as many people as they can and as soon as they can. This is a very bad strategy to increase your twitter follower count. A good one is to start with posting informative and entertaining tweets followed by following people in the fields of your interest. This way you will get more active followers who will give you more opportunity.
No spamming please
Do not start tweeting in bulk as people with “spammer” tag does. Act with moderation and tweet only what is really, really important. If you want people to hire you for a job then do not post stuffs that will take away from your image.
Talking of quality content, I will recommend you to record a video of you talking about what you do, what is your qualification, and how much work experience you have, etc., and tweet this video cover letter once or twice a day.
Do not act desperate
This will not do any good. Tweeting too much may force people to ignore you, if not unfollow you. There is no need to post your résumé five times a day. Tweet your résumé or video cover letter maximum twice a day. That is enough.
You should not deviate from this tweeting practice for even a single day. Have patience, result will come.
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