Job Search News

Last week, I had the honor of speaking to a very smart, and congenial, group of professional women at the New Hampshire Women in Higher Education Leadership (NHWHEL).  My topic was 21st century job search and career management, so – of course – I spoke about Twitter.

I encouraged my audience to focus on Tweeting “on brand” for their careers.  Near the end of the talk, one of the questions focused on what an on-brand Tweet would look like – what it would contain and how it would be worded. That’s when I realized I had a gaping hole in my presentation.

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What is “on-brand” for your career?

Using myself as an example, “on-brand” for me is simple:  solid, relevant information about job search, employment, and careers.

I look for good articles to share and good Tweets to Re-Tweet, all good enough to be Re-Tweeted by others, hopefully.

“On-brand” is anything related to your career or to what you want your career to be.  If dermatology is your career of choice, Tweet about things related to dermatology – research, trends, news, leading practitioners, etc.

“On-brand” for someone interested in movies could be Tweets about new movies (reviews and announcements of new releases), movies going into production, movies under consideration, books that would be great movies, books that would be terrible movies, directors, actors, box office trends, protecting copyright, etc.

“On-brand” for someone interested in restaurants would be Tweets about new restaurants, new recipes, maybe new foods, etc.

I try to focus on the positive rather than the negative, but it’s a personal choice.

What is NOT on-brand for you career?

Tweets that are NOT related to your career: what you ate, what your kids are doing, what your pets are doing, vacation plans, etc.  Those kind of Tweets can certainly be considered “sharing” and “conversational,” but not really on-brand for most of us, unless your brand is related to kids or pets or vacation plans.

When I’m presenting my career brand, I’m careful about what non-career information I share because I think my Followers view the off-brand Tweets as “noise.”  They’re worried about their careers, their job search, their jobs, and, while I find my pets fascinating, most people won’t find Tweets about them to be relevant to what they want and expect  from me.

Finding on-brand information to share

I find information by:

• Visiting the sites I regularly read to stay up to date.
• Google Alerts I have set up to send me daily updates of news and blog posts on specific keyword phrases.
• The New York Times has an “Alert” function for readers that sends me daily alerts every morning on what is in the current issue of the Times.
• Twitter (of course!) – a wonderful source of information IF TweetDeck organizes it into digestible columns of Tweets for me.  The whole Tweet stream is just too big.
• LinkedIn News posts shared on the Groups I follow.
• Articles or blog posts you have written or friends and colleagues have written.

Structuring on-brand Tweets

When I find a good article that I want to share, this is what I do:

• Do a “Find People” search to see if the writer has a Twitter account (e.g. @JobHuntOrg) that looks active.  If the writer doesn’t have a Twitter account, I look for one for the publication.
• Structure the Tweet to not exceed 110 to 115 characters, to leave room for Re-Tweeting, hopefully.
• Start with the article title, perhaps shortened, if necessary.
• Include the publication where it appeared (e.g. NYTimes, a blog, Website, etc.).
• Include the Bit.ly version of the URL for the article
• Finish with appropriate hashtags, which in my case are usually #jobsearch #jobhunting, etc.

Example 1 – Tweet about a great on-brand article

Jodi Glickman Brown has written 2 excellent blog posts on the Harvard Business Review site delineating an effective process for getting written recommendations from people for your job search.

It was very hard to find Jodi’s Twitter account using Twitter’s “Find People” search, but she sent it to me when she saw this post – @greatonthejob.  (See Jodi’s comment below.)  And the Harvard Business Review has an account that is easy to find.

Jodi’s article is entitled, “How to Ask for a Reference Letter, Part II: The Template” and the URL is http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/04/how_to_ask_for_a_reference_let_1.html

This is a 112-character Tweet:

Reference letter template process, by @greatonthejob in @HarvardBiz: http://bit.ly/cr2GNz #jobsearch #references

That’s not very inspiring or enthusiastic, so here’s a 121-character version:

Excellent! How to Ask for a Reference Letter by @greatonthejob in @HarvardBiz  http://bit.ly/cr2GNz #jobsearch #reference

Example 2 – Re-Tweet an excellent on-brand Tweet by someone else

If you have an on-brand truth that resonates for you and would help others, Tweet it yourself (if you “discovered” it) or Re-Tweet it, if you see that someone else has Tweeted it.

Gayle Howard, a professional resume writer and job search coach, typically sends out a constant stream of Tweets about mistakes she sees people making as she is helping her clients.  They are definitely on-brand for me, so I Re-Tweet them when I find them in my Tweet stream, like this one.

This is a 132-character Tweet which is too long, but it’s such great advice. Note the use of “RT @GayleHoward” is telling readers who originated this Tweet.

Right! RT @GayleHoward No matter how friendly & engaging the interviewer, don’t commit faux pas of bad mouthing a former employer.

Bottom Line

View your professional Tweet stream as your own personal AP Newswire about your profession.  It can help you build and expand your brand.  And a strong brand is great for your career!  It’s only too late for you if you don’t start now.

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Online job search expert Susan P. Joyce has been observing the online job search world and teaching online job search skills since 1995. Susan is a two-time layoff “graduate” who has worked in human resources at Harvard University and in a compensation consulting firm. In 1998, her company, NETability, Inc. purchased Job-Hunt.org, and Susan has been editor and publisher of Job-Hunt since then. Follow Susan on Twitter at @jobhuntorg.

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Posted Thursday, April 15th, 2010 at 6:49 pm in Social Media.