As a job seeker, you want to be found if someone searches on the job title you want, your profession or industry, and also your name.  Your Twitter account will be helpful for you even after you’ve found that next job.  Recruiters and employers are always searching for good people, so this account can become a major long-term asset to your career:

• People Googling your keywords (your job title, profession, industry, etc.) will find you because your Twitter account will appear in the search results, if you have used those keywords as described in the rest of this article.
• People Googling your name will find your Twitter account in the search results if you have used your name as part of your Twitter identity.

Accessing Your Twitter Account Settings

To implement the tips 2 thru 4, you’ll need to access the “Account” tab page of your Twitter settings.  First, login to your Twitter account. Then, click on “Settings” in the links at the top right of your Twitter page to
access this page - http://twitter.com/account/settings It should look like this:
The information collected on your Twitter Account page (above) is displayed on your Twitter pages, with most of it visible on your Twitter Profile page (see Guy Kawasaki’s Profile page below as an example). When you are logged in to your account, you can see what others see by clicking on “Profile” at the top of the page.

Power SEO for Twitter

More on Social Media: Social Media Home How to Get Started with Social Media Social Media No-No’s LinkedIn vs. Facebook vs. Twitter vs. (Fill-in-the-Blank) Social Networked Out? More About LinkedIn: LinkedIn Basics Leveraging Your LinkedIn Profile Effective LinkedIn Profile LinkedIn Applications and Your Profile Value of Growing Your LinkedIn Network Adding Misspellings to Your LinkedIn Profile More About Facebook: Facebook & Your Job Search More Resources: 101 Best Twitter Career & Job Search Resources 8 Twitter SEO Tips for Job Seekers Top 50 Employers Recruiting on Twitter Top 50 College & University Career Centers Twitter

1.  Your Twitter Username (@YOU)

Use your real name, your profession, or your personal brand for your Twitter Username.

Your Twitter Username establishes your Twitter URL (e.g. twitter.com/GuyKawasaki or twitter.com/PublicityHound) and is your public name in Tweets (e.g. @GuyKawasaki or @PublicityHound).  So focus on maximizing the SEO benefit and the branding of your URL. Imagine Tweets coming from you as: @MarketingGuru, @FinancialWhiz, @EcommercePMP, @ProfitManager, @NYCityCPA, or something similar and appropriate for you.

In general, think long term, but, if you must, Twitter does allow you to change your Twitter Username later.  Best not to intend to do that when you start, but if you didn’t get off to a great start, you can still recover.

Twitter allows a total of 15 letters and numbers in this field.  Spaces are not accepted here, but underscores may be used to separate words or letters or numbers.  You have 4 basic options for your Username:

• Your name is probably the best Username you can have if your profession isn’t easily identified in 15 letters or fewer, if you are relatively well-known in your field, or if you want to become relatively well-known in your field.
• Your name + professional designation strengthens the connection between the two, particularly when there are in-bound links to your Twitter Username from outside of Twitter. Those links will usually use your Twitter Username for the text that is clicked.

Add a relevant and accurate job-related keyword to your user name, like [name]CPA, [name]PMP, [name]PhD, whatever is accurate and appropriate, for a little added marketing zing.

• Your profession may be the best choice for your job search because it loudly broadcasts what you do. If you use your profession here, use your real name in the Name field (see Tip # 2, below), to help Twitter, Google, etc. connect the two.
• Your business or blog/Website name, as below. If you have a business or blog you want to promote with this Twitter account, you can build brand awareness for your business or Website by using your business or blog name as your Twitter Username.  By including your name in the “Name” field (see # 2, below), you’ll create some visibility for your name, until you sell your business or Website. Probably not good long-term personal branding for you, however, unless you plan never to sell.

As with your personal email, save the @SexyBlond, @StudlyDudly, and @Colbert4Pres usernames for fun, not for your job search. And, don’t add your real name to those non-job-search accounts, unless you want that connection made for recruiters and employers.

2.  Your Twitter Name

Use your name, your profession, and/or other relevant keywords in the “Name:” field in your Twitter Settings, depending on what you are using in the Username field.

This field is 20 characters long, and will accept spaces and punctuation marks in addition to the usual letters and numbers.

When someone visits your Twitter account, they usually see your Profile page which displays your Name followed by your Username in parenthesis at the very top of the browser (the page “title” in HTML-speak) .  The words and the order of the words in your Twitter Profile page title are very important to search engines and to Twitter search.

Put your most important keywords first. That’s probably your profession or profession and location. PR expert Joan Stewart, right, is the “Publicity Hound” – the name of her business and her Website. So, Joan uses both names in her Twitter Profile.

See the examples below for more options and ideas.

Your keywords are the words you want to describe you.  Keep in mind that, in our example, Guy Kawasaki is already his own “brand” name.  For him, repeating his name is just good SEO because people will probably be searching for him using his name as the keywords.  Most of us are not in that position.

Assuming your name is Mary Jane Smith (work with me here, guys) and you are a CPA in NYC, here are some examples with options to consider:

[FORMAT: Twitter "Name" (Twitter "Username"), as they will appear at the top of the Twitter Profile page and be read by the search engines]

• Mary Jane Smith (MaryJaneSmith) – name used in both fields, Name and Username
• Mary Jane Smith (MJSmithCPA) – name plus name variation with profession
• Mary Jane Smith (NYCityCPA) – name plus location with profession
• Mary Jane Smith CPA (MJSmithCPA) – name with profession plus name variation with profession repeated
• New York City CPA (MaryJSmith)  – location and profession plus name
• New York City CPA (MJSmithCPA) – location and profession plus name variation with profession repeated

Options you have:

• If you’ve used your name for your Username, the Name field provides you with the opportunity to add some differentiation and marketing (e.g. New York City CPA in the last 2 examples above).
• If your Username is not your name, put your name in this field enabling Google (and Twitter search) to find your Twitter account if someone uses your name in a search query.

If you are like me and many others, your name is relatively common. Differentiate yourself by adding your middle initial or even your middle name for all your online activities. Then, use that name consistently with Facebook, LinkedIn, email, etc. to establish a consistent “brand name” for yourself.

You can change this Name at any time, but it’s wise to stick to one version of your name for consistent branding.

3.  Your Location

Include where you are living or the location where you  want to work.

This is a very important keyword or keyword phrase, particularly for job seekers.

You can see that Joan Stewart has proudly indicated she is in Port Washington, WI.  If anyone searches through Twitter, Google, or other search engines for people in Port Washington, Joan will show up.

Guy gives his location as “United 3B” which sounds like he lives in first class on United Airlines.  Or, at least that’s where he was when he updated his Twitter Settings. Probably not something most people would search on, but effective and funny for Guy.

4.  Your Twitter Web address

Use the “More Info URL:” field in your Twitter Settings to connect your Twitter account to your LinkedIn Profile, your blog, your Website, VisualCV, or other relevant personal Web address.

This will be a live clickable link that you can change as many times as you want to change it.  This field accepts only one URL, so pick the one that shows your most professional “face” to the online world for your job search.  This is where people will go if they want more information about you.

If you want to connect more than one URL (LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.), you may type an additional URL into your Bio. Do use the “real” URL, sans the http://, not a special shortened version in your Bio, unless you are prepared to check it on a weekly or monthly basis to be sure it’s still live.

NOTE: Because of the 140 character limitation for Tweets, URL shortener services (snipURL, TinyURL, etc.) are in widespread use. But, most of those URL’s do eventually expire, leaving links that point to dead ends. So, don’t include them in your “More info URL” or your Bio if you can avoid it.

5.  Your Twitter Bio

Put relevant, keyword-rich information in your “One Line Bio” on the Twitter Settings page of your account.

Your goal is to include the kind of keywords an employer would use in a search to find people like you.

Twitter gives you 160 characters to use for your Bio - don’t waste this opportunity!  Examples, with the keywords bolded:

Recent college grad, business major, seeking entry level product marketing job w/Fortune 500 co. Intern experience in marketing & sales. Prefer West Coast.

Attorney/corporate counsel w/10 years experience in NYC publishing industry. Skilled w/contracts, IP, & litigation management. Admitted to practice in NY Bar.

Leaving the Bio space empty is worse than having a blank billboard on a busy highway.  It doesn’t do you any good, and it could do you some harm.  Without some content here, you could look lazy and/or clueless or like someone who doesn’t know what job they want.  You may even look like a spammer.

If your Bio is empty, potential employers and followers will not be easily attracted, so a big opportunity will be wasted.

6.  Tweet daily, and Tweet on-topic.

Demonstrate your knowledge of your topic, your writing and research skills, and your work ethic, with the Tweets you publish:

• Be a good source of fresh, good, relevant information.
• Link to good information even if you didn’t write it.
• If you have a blog, link to the most relevant postings you make.
• Re-Tweet good content relevant to your topic and/or your target employers and their competitors.

Attract the attention of your target employers with your Tweets:

• If you find a news item, particularly a postive one, about one of your target employers, Tweet about it, including the name of the organization in your Tweet.
• RT positive Tweets by people working for your target employers or about your target employers (see the example in # 7, below).

Employers don’t care what your weather is, what coffee you ordered at Starbucks, or what is happening to your team in the latest round of the championship [fill-in-the-blank] playoffs, etc. UNLESS:

• The weather Tweet demonstrates your knowledge of weather or climatology for your weather forecasting/climatology job search.
• The Starbucks Tweet demonstrates your expertise as a foodie (coffee-ie?), critic, writer, etc.
• The sports event Tweet demonstrates your skill as a sports reporter, umpire, coach, caddie, etc.

You get the idea:  If it’s not on-topic for your employment and job search goals, don’t Tweet about it with this account.

BTW, it is probably a good idea to avoid Tweets about “causes” unless you are looking for employment supporting those causes.  Again, this is something better pursued with your personal Twitter account, not your “work” account.

7.  Make your Tweets keyword-rich.

If you are looking for a job in one of the green industries, be sure to Tweet on the topic using relevant keywords which would include:

• The names of your target employers
• The industry’s or profession’s jargon
• Appropriate professional and industry associations and groups (names and acronyms)
• Important company and individual names in the industry (particularly your target employers, when appropriate).
• Hash mark tags for specific Twitter groups and topics are usually important keywords, like #jobseekers for tweets about job search. [See Susan Ireland's collection of 38 job searchtags marks on Twitter.]

For example, with the keywords bolded:

#environment Green jobs initiative launched in Iowa to encourage energy conservation, use of wind & solar power http://bit.ly…

#apple Apple Computer announced an exciting new product today, according to…
(assuming that Apple Computer is one of your target employers, you’ve used the company name plus the Twitter hashtag for Tweets about the company.)

8.  Link back to your Twitter account.

People underestimate how important this step is.  If you have a blog or a Website, link back TO your Twitter home page – http://Twitter.com/[your Username] -  to encourage people to follow you and to build the search engine “credibility” of your Twitter home page.  Add your Twitter URL (twitter.com/Username) to your email signature, to comments you make on blogs, articles you write, etc.

The more links to your user name, using the user name as the click-able text, the greater the ”credibility” it has with Google and other search engines.

The more “credible” your Twitter home page is, the more likely it is to turn up in a Google search.

Bonus:   Structure your Tweets carefully, particularly the first few words.

Twitter turns the first 50 characters in each Tweet into the Web page title for that Tweet.  This means that the first 15 to 25 characters of each Tweet (depending on the number of characters of the Tweeter’s Name) are picked up as the page’s title - a very important field to Google and most search engines, helping them understand what the Tweet is about.

For example, using one of Joan Stewart’s Tweets:

Joan’s Tweet:
9 proven headline formulas that sell like crazy. http://ow.ly/fA0O

The TITLE of that Tweet generated by Twitter:
Twitter / Joan Stewart: 9 proven headline formulas

You can see that Twitter includes the content in the Name field in the page title of each invidual Tweet, as above.

With all the things you have to juggle while Tweeting (fitting into the character count limit, using the best keywords, leaving enough space for Re-Tweets, etc.).  I wouldn’t obsess about this one – that’s why it’s number eight.  Just keep it in the back of your mind when you are Tweeting, and try to keep the most important words first, if you can.

Bottom Line:

The more you understand about search engines, the better off you will be, particularly when you are job hunting.

If you find entries in the search results you don’t like when “vanity Googling” (searching Google on your name), you can supplant those over time with good content, like your blog and Tweets.  It takes time, but it can be done.  Might as well start now building a strong first page of Google results.

Good luck with your job search!

(c) Copyright 2009.  Job-Hunt.org All rights reserved.

About the author and list compiler…

Online job search expert Susan P. Joycehas 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. For the latest news and updates, follow Susan on Twitter @JobHuntOrg.

Many good career Tweeps are not included in this version of the list because they are not currently active or not on-topic right now (vacation time, whatever).

And, there are many other popular Twitter accounts which provide a mix of content with “personality” and they are not included here. But, they could still be useful to you – it just depends what you want.

Note: Updated on October 18, 2009. Some Tweeters left, and new Tweeters arrived. Find all these Tweeps and more on Job-Hunt’s Job Search Experts Twitter List.

More on Social Media: Social Media Home 101 Best Twitter Career & Job Search Resources 8 Twitter SEO Tips for Job Seekers Top 50 Employers Recruiting on Twitter Top 50 College & University Career Centers Twitter

Who is included here:

• These are the people I’ve judged best at providing good content in their Tweets and trying to help people with the job search/career management process.
• These people Tweet regularly, on topic with new, fresh information.
• For me, the signal-to-noise ratio is usually good – these people are not focused on self-promotion or sending many off-topic Tweets.

I am acquainted with many of the people in this list. I’m happy to say that several of these people have contributed articles to Job-Hunt, sharing more of their advice and expertise with the world. If they have,  currently are or soon will be, contributing articles to Job-Hunt, their names have been bolded. But, that wasn’t a requirement for inclusion, obviously.

If you have suggestions about accounts which should be added, or even deleted, let me know.

Keep coming back. I will post new versions of this every month, and, of course, this is Job-Hunt.org – there will always be more resources added soon.

The 101 BEST JOB SEARCH/CAREER TWEEPS:

	Twitter Account	Person	Associated URL
Career Coaches
	@AndyInNaples	Andy Robinson	careersuccess.typepad.com
	@barbarasafani	Barbara Safani	careersolvers.com
	@Barry_at_IMPACT	Barry Deutsch	impacthiringsolutions.com
	@CrisJobCoach	Cris Janzen	JanzenAssociates.com
	@careerdiva	Eve Tahmincioglu	evetahmincioglu.com
	@CEOCoach	Deb Dib	executivepowerbrand.com
	@chandlee	Chandlee Bryan	bestfitforward.com
	@DailyCareerTips	Susan D. Strayer	susanstrayer.com
	@DaisyWright	Daisy Wright	thewrightcareer.com
	@ExpatCoachMegan	Megan Fitzgerald	careerbychoiceblog.com
	@KCCareerCoach	Meg Montford	abilitiesenhanced.com
	@LearnSolMary	Mary Wilson	learningsolutionsblog. blogspot.com
	@Leonard_Lang	Leonard Lang	beardavenue.com
	@phyllismufson	Phyllis Mufson	PhyllisMufson.CoachConsole.com
	@susanwhitcomb	Susan Whitcomb	CareerCoachAcademy.com
	@WorkWithIllness	Rosalind Joffe	CICoach.com
	@VaultCareers		Vault.com
Career Exploration
	@willyf	Willy Franzen	onedayonejob.com
	@GreenJobIdeas	Kathleen Lyons	greenjobideablog.com
Career Management
	@ActAsIfSite	Joe Lavelle	actasifblog.com
	@alevit	Alexandra Levit	alexandralevit.com
	@AnitaBruzzese	Anita Bruzzese	45things.com
	@askamanager	Alison Green	askamanager.blogspot.com
Internships
	@heatherhuhman	Heather Huhman (PR internships)	heatherhuhman.com
	@internweb		InternWeb.com
Job Interviews
	@InterviewAngel	Brent Peterson	interviewangel.com
	@InterviewCoach	Lewis	seattleinterviewcoach.com
Job Search
	@alisondoyle	Alison Doyle	Jobsearch.about.com
	@AndreaSantiago	Andrea Santiago	healthcareers.about.com
	@BillVick	Bill Vick	BillVick.com
	@CAREEREALISM	J.T. ODonnell	careerealism.com
	@chrisrussell	Chris Russell	jobradio.fm
	@eExecutives	Harry Urschel	eexecutives.net
	@GLHoffman	GL Hoffman	jobdig.com
	@heymarci	Marci Alboher	heymarci.com
	@HotJobs_editor	Tom Musbach	hotjobs.yahoo.com
	@JobConcierge	JobConcierge	JobConcierge.com
	@JobHuntOrg	Susan P Joyce (of course)	job-hunt.org
	@JobSavants		jobsavants.com
	@JobSearchCoach	Jeremy Worthington	Linkedin.com/in/jeremyworthington
	@JobSearchGuide	Jan Cannon	cannoncareercenter.com
	@JobSearchNinja	Todd Bavol	integritycareertransitions.com
	@jtodonnell	J.T. Odonnell	careerealsim.com
	@keppie_careers	Miriam Salpeter	KeppieCareers.com
	@kevindonlin	Kevin Donlin	gm4jh.com
	@LatinosAtWork	Murray A. Mann	globaldiversitysolutions. typepad.com/latinosatwork/
	@OneJobHunter
	@RiseSmart	Sanjay Sathe	risesmart.com
	@RoxanneRavenel	Roxanne Ravenel	savvyjobseeker.com
	@wendygelberg	Wendy Gelberg	gentlejobsearch.com
	@WSJCareers		online.wsj.com/public/page/news-career-jobs.html
New Graduates
	@GradToGreat	Anne Brown	gradtogreat.com
	@Gradversity	Trevor Wilson	Gradversity.com
	@lindseypollak	Lindsey Pollak	lindseypollak.com/blog
	@Seiden	Jason Sieden	jasonseiden.com
	@StevenRothberg	Steven Rothberg	collegerecruiter.com
	@SweetCareers	Grace Kutney	sweetcareers.blogspot.com
	@QuintCareers		quintcareers.com
Personal Branding
	@Brandyourself	Pete Kistler	brand-yourself.com
	@danschawbel	Dan Schawbel	personalbrandingblog.com
	@LinkedInQueen	LinkedIn Queen	cliqueitmarketing.com
	@megguiseppi	Meg Guiseppi	executiveresumebranding.com
	@williamarruda	William Aruda	reachpersonalbranding.com
Recruiters, Recruiting,& HR
	@BillBoorman	Bill Boorman	billboorman.co.uk
	@Absolutely_Abby	Abby Kohut	AbsolutelyAbby.com
	@Ask_The_RCTR	Norman Harris	frustratedseeker.ning.com
	@BostonRecruiter	Joe Noonan	linkedin.com/in/joenoonan
	@campusdiva	Joanna Clark
	@CincyRecruiter	Jennifer McClure	CincyRecruiter.com
	@DavidGraziano	David Graziano	davidgrazianostaffing.blogspot.com
	@dmcgrath		hr.com
	@financejobs	Paula Wood	financerecruiter.com
	@Fishdogs	Craig Fischer	alistsolutions.com
	@FistfulOfTalent		fistfuloftalent.com
	@hrbartender	Sharlyn Lauby	hrbartender.com
	@HRSpace	Rob Moss	personneltoday.com/hrspace /default.aspx
	@jimstroud	Jim Stroud	jimstroud.com
	@jlipschultz	Jeff Lipschultz	alistsolutions.com
	@MikeVanDervort	Mike VanDervort	thehumanracehorses.com
	@PRjobs	Lindsay Olson	paradigmstaffing.com
	@salesrecruiter	Peggy McKee	phcconsulting.com
	@SDXHiresHeroes	Angela Guidroz focus on veterans	sodexocareers.blogspot.com
	@SusanHeathfield	Susan Heathfield	humanresources.about.com
	@SusanZelinski	Susan Zelinski	SusanZelinski.com
Resume Writers
	@dawnbugni	Dawn Bugni	thewritesolution.info
	@DebraWheatman	Debra Wheatman	ResumesDoneWrite.com
	@ErinKennedyCPRW	Erin Kennedy	exclusive-executive-resumes.com
	@GayleHoward	Gayle Howard	topmargin.com
	@louise_fletcher	Louise Fletcher	louisefletcher.net
	@MartinBuckland	Martin Buckland	anEliteResume.com
	@PowerCV	Sharad Verma	freshercv.com
	@Red_Inc	Melanie Szlucha	Redinc.biz
	@resumeguru	Robert Dagnall	resumeguru.com
	@resumeservice	Rosa Vargas	creatingprints.com
	@rezlady	Sheree Van Vreede	noddleplace.com
	@SusanIreland	Susan Ireland	susanireland.com
	@TheResumeBay	Jon Davidson	theresumebay.com
	@ValueIntoWords	Jacqui Poindexter	careertrend.net
Social Media
	@chrisbrogan	Chris Brogan	chrisbrogan.com
	@jasonalba	Jason Alba	jibberjobber.com
	@mashable	Pete Cashmore	mashable.com
	@SocialMediaWonk	Drew Selman	drewselman.com

The EXTRAS

Many very useful and helpful people provide wonderful information that, while not specifically targeted at careers and job search, seemed worthy of inclusion.  So these are the “Extras:”

Other Useful Tweeps
	@City_Town_Info	Eric Enge: local info & edu	citytowninfo.com
	@ducttape	John Jantsch: Interesting stuff!	ducttapemarketing.com
	@jobangels	Help one person find a job	jobangels.org
	@keithferrazzi	Keith Ferrazzi: Networking	keithferrazzi.com
	@PhishBucket	Job scam alerts & info	phishbucket.org
	@PublicityHound	Joan Stewart: Publicity & media	publicityhound.com

As always, good luck with your job search!

(c) Copyright 2009.  Job-Hunt.org  All rights reserved.

About the author and list compiler…

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 @JobHuntOrg.

Missing Schools

For me, considering the “missing schools”  raises the question of whether any school’s network is so good that it doesn’t need to reach out to alumni?  Or is it simply that so many schools haven’t recognized the necessity/opportunity provided by Twitter to reach out to help their alums, both to help those alums through difficult time and also to strengthen the bond, demonstrating the value of the institution and the education?

We find several major state universities (Michigan, Oklahoma State, Oregon), in addition to small schools like Macalester College and Cayuga Community College, but not the traditional “big name” schools like Ohio State, Penn State, UCLA, USC, Purdue, Clemson, etc.

More on Social Media: Social Media Home 101 Best Twitter Career & Job Search Resources 8 Twitter SEO Tips for Job Seekers Top 50 Employers Recruiting on Twitter Top 50 College & University Career Centers Twitter

Of the “traditional Ivy League” schools, we do have Brown, the Univeristy of Pennsylvania, and Columbia (only the Graduate School of Journalism, though), but not Harvard, Yale, or Princeton. Nor, did we find other well-known private schools like Stanford or MIT.

Missing States

Although we list the top 50 Twitter accounts, only 24 states are included. California and Texas each take 5 spots.  New York and Wisconsin each have 4.  Virginia has 3 schools included.  And, Massachusetts which is considered (at least by residents) as dominant in higher education, has only 2 schools listed, and those are NOT the ones you would probably name first.

Food for Thought

This is a relatively new use for Twitter. You see that newness in both the schools – those included as well as not included - and in the Tweets (content, quality, and quantity).

Twitter accounts are open to everyone, not yet limit-able to approved “members” only.  I did find 2 schools which have “Protected Tweets,” but they appear to be paying a price in Followers (one has 4 and the other only has 1).

The List – The Best and the Brightest?

This is an interesting mix of schools.  I think that the schools listed here are off to a great start and will build visibility for some schools that are otherwise unknown nationally.

Perhaps, in the future, promoting student and alumni employment will be one of the measurements of school quality, and these services will stay open to all Followers to increase “branding” strength for the schools.

I researched this list because school career centers/career services offices can – and, often, DO – provide very useful services to their alumni who are looking for employment.

Additions?

• If you think that your school should have been included but wasn’t, please leave a comment below with the name of the school and the name of the Twitter account.  This list should include only ”official” Twitter accounts, sponsored and supported by the school itself.
• If you know of a school or company “alumni” group with a Twitter account, even one with “protected” Tweets, let me know about that one, too.  We may do an additional list of those Twitter accounts, too, helping other appropriate potential members to find them.

Good luck with your job search!

(c) Copyright 2009.  Job-Hunt.org  All rights reserved.

About the author and list compiler…

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 @JobHuntOrg.

More on Social Media: Social Media Home 101 Best Twitter Career & Job Search Resources 8 Twitter SEO Tips for Job Seekers Top 50 Employers Recruiting on Twitter Top 50 College & University Career Centers Twitter

None of the big pharmaceutical companies are on this list either because I couldn’t find any of them, and, even though Best Buy has thousands of jobs posted on its Website (here), they are using Twitter only for marketing, so far.  No other large retailer showed up, either.

You’ll find the U.S. Department of State is the only branch of the U.S. Federal Government or ANY U.S.A. government entity, that is recruiting on Twitter.  I very recently discovered that the city of Kingston, Ontario, Canada, also recruits using Twitter.  Interesting…

Researching this list reminded me of slogging through the Fortune 500 ten years ago, looking for the large employers that were smart enough to (1) have a corporate Website with “current” content and (2) use their corporate Website for recruiting (and not hiding the job listings).  If I remember correctly, in 1999, only about 10% of them did that.  Closer to 95% do it now.  Wonder how long it will take the majority of them to adapt to Twitter for recruiting…

Food for Thought

Part of this (present vs. missing employers) is “the economy” of course, but not all of it.  Look to these employers, below, to find management that pays attention to what’s going on in the marketplace and that is smart enough to stake out their claim to the appropriate technological footprint.

The List – The Best and the Brightest?

Many companies have customer service and marketing accounts, but use for recruiting is just beginning and will probably pick up as the economy improves and Twitter becomes more popular.  More Twitter accounts will be integrated into Job-Hunt’s vast collection of resources as employers use them more.

If you find an employer’s Twitter recruiting account that is not included, please let me know.

NOTE: We have posted a continuously updated version of this list on Twitter as a Twitter List – JobHuntOrg/Employers Recruiting, one of the top lists on Listorious.com.

For now, this list is in alphabetical order within country:

	Employer	Location	Twitter Account
Global:
	KPMG	HQ in Switzerland	@KPMG
	Wipro, LTD	HQ in India	@WiproCareers
United States:
	Accenture	HQ in NYC	@Accenture_Jobs
	Access Communications	San Francisco & NYC	@accesscareers
	ACULIS, Inc.	Salt Lake City, UT	@aculis
	ADP	HQ in Roseland, NJ	@ADPCareers
	Allstate Insurance	HQ in Northbrook, IL	@AllstateCareers
	Assurant Solutions	Atlanta, GA	@AssurantCareers
	AT&T	HQ in Dallas, TX	@ATTjobs
	Burger King	US-wide	@BKCareers
	comScore	HQ in Reston, VA	@comScoreCareers
	Davita, Inc.	Lakewood, CO	@DaVitaJobs
	Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu	US HQ in NYC, NY	@JoinDeloitteUS
	Ecolab	St. Paul, MN	@Ecolab_Jobs
	EMC	Hopkinton, MA	@EMCCareers
	EMC	Hopkinton, MA	@EMCCollege
	Ernst & Young	US HQ in NYC, NY	@Ernst_and_Young
	Expedia	HQ in Bellevue, WA	@Expedia_Jobs
	Follett Software Co.	HQ in McHenry, IL	@FSCCareers
	Forrester Research, Inc.	Cambridge, MA	@forresterjobs
	Fullhouse Interactive	Milwaukee & Chicago	@fullhousecareer
	Gartner, Inc.	HQ in Stamford, CT	@GartnerJobs
	Hershey Company	Hershey, PA	@HersheyCompany
	Hewitt	HQ in Lincolnshire, IL	@HewittCareers
	Hyatt Hotels & Resorts	HQ in Chicago, IL	@Hyattcareers
	Hyatt San Antonio	San Antonio, TX	@HyattSanAntonio
	Intel	HQ in Santa Clara, CA	@JobsatIntel
	J.B. Hunt	HQ in Lowell, AR	@WeHaveFreight
	Kaplan Test Prep Services	NYC, NY	@KTPA_Careers
	Keller Williams Realty	HQ in Austin, TX	@KWCareers
	Kissito Post-Acute Care	Roanoke, VA	@kissitocareers
	KPMG US	US HQ in NYC, NY	@KPMGUSCareers
	Kroger	HQ in Cincinnati, OH	@KrogerWorks
	LexisNexis	HQ in NYC, NY	@LN_Recruiting
	Mattel	El Segundo, CA	@MattelRecruiter
	Mattel	El Segundo, CA	@mattelmba
	Mayo Clinic	HQ in Rochester, MN	@mayoclinic
	McCormick & Schmick	Portland, OR	@Careers_At_MSSR
	Microsoft	HQ in Redmond, WA	@JobsBlog (looking a bit inactive)
	MTV Networks	HQ in NYC, NY	@MTVnetworksjobs
	MTV Games	HQ in NYC, NY	@MTVGamesJobs
	MySpaceJobs	Beverly Hills, CA	@MySpaceJobs
	Raytheon	HQ in Waltham, MA	@Raytheon_Jobs
	Razorfish	HQ in Seattle, WA	@RazorfishJobs
	Sodexo	HQ in Gaithersburg, MD	@SodexoCareers
	Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center	Fredericksburg, VA	@CareersAtSRMC
	Thomson Reuters	HQ in NYC, NY	@TRCareers
	Twitter (of course!)	San Francisco, CA	@jobs
	United Parcel Service	HQ in Atlanta, GA	@UPSjobs
	UPMC	Pittsburgh, PA	@UPMCCareers
	US Dept. of State	HQ in D.C.	@DOScareers
	Verizon	HQ in NYC, NY	@VerizonCareers
	Warner Brothers	HQ in Burbank, CA	@WBCareers
Canada:
	City of Kingston	Kingston, ON	@KingstonCareers
	Vancouver Pinnacle Marriot	Vancouver, BC	@VanMarriott
UK:
	IBM/UK		@IBMUKcareer
	KPMG		@KPMGRecruitment
	PepsiCo		@PepsiCo_UKjobs
	Royal Bank of Scotland		@JobsatRBSgroup
Australia:
	Deloitte Australia		@Green_Dot
Belgium:
	IBM/Belgium		@ibmbejobs
South Africa:
	IBM/South Africa		@IBM_CEEMEA_Jobs

Stay tuned for more lists like this, and come back as this one expands.

Good luck with your job search!

(c) Copyright 2009.  Job-Hunt.org All rights reserved.

About the author and list compiler…

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. For the latest news and updates, follow Susan on Twitter @JobHuntOrg.

Blogs are not that hard to create, but they are harder to keep “alive.”

So, how do you become a blogger?

Free Blogs

There are at least 2 excellent places that will host your blog for free.   

1.)  Blogger.com - Owned and run by Google, Blogger.com blogs are free and easy to set up.  Just register, and start blogging.  Your blog’s URL will look like this – [you].blogspot.com

2.)  WordPress.com – Brought to us by the same people who create the WordPress blogging software.  The free functionality is fine, and additional bells and whistles can be purchased with a “premium” account.  Your blog’s URL will look like this – [you].wordpress.com  

Which ever free blog you use will probably be your partner for a long time, so choose the one with which you are the most comfortable.

Do’s & Don’ts

• Do name your blog carefully.  You can name it after yourself for personal branding (not a bad idea – look at Scoble) or after your topic (cab driving, to use scobleizer’s example) for quicker traffic generation.

  If you are still employed, be careful about establishing a personal blog. Your employer may correctly assume that it is part of a personal marketing campaign, interpret that as a job search, and be very unhappy with you. SO, better to name the blog after the topic, and play down your personal identity. Definitely DO link to your personal e-mail address so that anyone interested in contacting you can do it.

• Do think of your blog as personal marketing/personal branding as well as an information sharing service.  On scobleizer, Scoble has some very specific recommendations for creating your blog content.
• Don’t create more than one blog, even though you can do it cheaply, unless you create completely different blogs – different in both subject and content. Start with one – if you can keep it “live” and enjoy creating it, then you can branch out.

  Why “completely different”?  Because search engines hate “duplicate content” – the same article on two different Web pages.  Duplicate content takes up more space in their databases of Web content than necessary, and it can mess up the search results they provide to their visitors, making them look dumb.  So it’s an added expense that may hurt their reputations.

• Don’t “borrow” content from someone else’s Website or blog, unless they’ve given you permission. 

  Why not?

  1.)  It’s bad manners and bad for your online reputation.

  2.)  It’s copyright infringement – every page of every Website, including your blog, is protected by international copyright law, regardless of what you have heard (ask an attorney).The result if someone finds you have stolen their content is that your blog may be taken down – it’s the law (U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, and the European Union Copyright Directive of 2001).

  3.)  AND, it’s DUPLICATE CONTENT – so it won’t do you any good and it will hurt the site you borrow from.

Good luck with your job search!

Unfortunately, her first name could also be spelled, ”Cathi” or ” Cathie” as well as ”Kathy,” “Kathi,” etc. and her last name could be spelled “Byrnes” as well as “Burns.” To make it more complicated, she’s been married twice, so some people know her with her maiden name, Cathy Miller, and some people know her with one (or both) of her married names, Cathy Sullivan and Cathy Burns.

So, how does someone find Cathy Miller Sullivan Burns on LinkedIn if they are looking for her to make a connection?

This is a MAJOR PROBLEM for my cousin!  And for most of us, too.

More on Social Media: Social Media Home How to Get Started with Social Media Social Media No-No’s LinkedIn vs. Facebook vs. Twitter vs. (Fill-in-the-Blank) Social Networked Out? More About LinkedIn: LinkedIn Basics Leveraging Your LinkedIn Profile Effective LinkedIn Profile LinkedIn Applications and Your Profile Value of Growing Your LinkedIn Network Adding Misspellings to Your LinkedIn Profile More About Facebook: Facebook & Your Job Search More Resources: 101 Best Twitter Career & Job Search Resources 8 Twitter SEO Tips for Job Seekers Top 50 Employers Recruiting on Twitter Top 50 College & University Career Centers Twitter

When she created her LinkedIn Profile, she naturally spelled her current name properly.  Anyone who knows her well (or who is holding her business card) will spell her name correctly in a search for her on LinkedIn and will find her.

Cathy has added this paragraph to her profile so that her Profile will appear in the search results when someone is searching through LinkedIn for her -

Other variations of my name – these are the variations that people may use to find me on LinkedIn and elsewhere:  Cathi Burns, Cathie Burns; Cathy Byrnes, Cathyi Byrnes, Cathie Byrnes; Kathy Burns, Kathi Burns, Kathie Burns; Cathy Miller, Cathie Millier, Cathi Miller; Kathy Miller, Kathi Miller, Kathie Miller; Kathy Sullivan, Kathi Sullivan, Kathie Sullivan; Cathy Sullivan, Cathie Sullivan, Cathi Sullivan.

Then, when someone searches for “Kathie Burns” or “Cathie Byrnes,” LinkedIn will also show “Cathy Burns” in the search results because that spelling is included in her profile.

If your parents were creative in naming you, which should be great personal branding, by the way, you should also include more conventional spellings and even other misspellings. You can add a paragraph to your Profile which you label, “Misspellings” or “Other Spellings” and include those variations of your name in that paragraph.

The good news for women is that by including name variations from earlier in their lives, they increase the probablility of connecting with friends from your past (high school or college, first job out of college or after the kids were old enough, etc.) to find you in LinkedIn.

Good luck with your job search!

1.  Over 66% of the recruiters taking the Webinar use LinkedIn for recruiting.

Wow!  I’ve talked with many recruiters who have said that LinkedIn is an important source for them.  And I’ve also interviewed several job seekers who landed new jobs via LinkedIn.  So, I knew it was important! 

I wonder what the poll results would have been if they’d been asked about using Monster, CareerBuilder, Yahoo HotJobs, etc.?

But, THIS data proves the point!  If you are NOT using LinkedIn to promote yourself and your personal brand, you are really handicaping yourself in your job search, now, and, probably increasingly handicapped in the future. 

[Read the articles by Job-Hunt's Social Networking Pro Jason Alba and also Deb Dib's article on how executives can use LinkedIn for their job search for ideas on how to leverage LinkedIn for your job search.] 

2.  Nearly 20% of recruiters use no social networking sites at all.

I wonder about these people.  It seems to me that they are either very well known/networked in a small niche, techno-phobic, or they are planning to change jobs in the not too distant future.

3.  Facebook came in at #2, after LinkedIn, with close to 8% of the recruiters using it.

4.  Twitter (0.9%) is being used more than YouTube (0.9%).

Here are the Poll results, as reported by ERE.net.

So, if you haven’t done it already, time to bite (byte?) the bullet, and create (or expand and polish) that LinkedIn Profile and your LinkedIn network.

Good luck with your job search!

In case you don’t know about it, Twitter is the “micro-blogging” network where you don’t have LinkedIn “connections.”  You have “followers” and you “follow” others.  In other words, people subscribe to your “Tweets” and you subscribe to Tweets by others.

Obviously, doing appropriate and interesting Tweets is a skill, but it can be learned, by hundreds of thousands of people obviously.