After my recent post about the endless possibilities of twitter, and how it has the potential to lead to your dream job, The Guardian has recently published an article about how Twitter is increasingly being used as a recruitment tool.
With employers apparently using Twitter to seek out the crème de la crème of new talent, and more and more twitterers following micro blogged job vacancies, there is now a new application from the clever people at Tweetdeck, appropriately called Jobdeck, which will track recruitment developments.
Now that the UK has supposedly crept its way out of the recession, perhaps Twitter will be the key to snaring a job. And why wouldn’t employers want to advertise to an internet savvy audience of eager job hunters, rather than blow the budget on old fashioned print advertising?
But new applications like Jobdeck aren’t the only way to find work, or your new workforce. Twitter is increasingly being used for good old fashioned networking. By cultivating the right kind of networks and monitoring people in your industry, you can quickly get noticed.
This year’s graduates, also known as ‘Generation Y’, are at an advantage in that technology and social media are near enough second nature, which makes us particularly attractive to potential employers who are having to try and fathom all this out. By actively becoming involved in social networks you can demonstrate these skills even before a CV has exchanged hands.
Just recently I actually received a direct message from the managing director of a PR agency in Yorkshire who wanted to hear more about me. From a simple 140 character message I have now been invited to her offices for an informal chat. At the very least I have got myself a great new contact, but who knows what else this could lead to?
This just shows that there is something to be said for social media, and also stresses the importance of presenting yourself in the right way on all your public profiles.
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Public profiles is the key concept: tweets are by default in the public domain and so is Facebook following recent privacy changes (though you can amend the settings).
ReplyDeleteThe has benefits for capable students and energetic recruiters, but I fear that many young people assume that their use of social media is personal and private, just like text messaging.
I would tend to agree. This is a really interesting Mashable post about social media footprints and what recruiters are looking for. http://mashable.com/2009/04/08/social-media-recruitment/
ReplyDeleteWhile we are the generation where social media is second nature, i don't think people know how to use it properly still.
ReplyDeleteI see plenty of people posting negativity about their uni, jobs or bosses. Plenty of my friends do not understand Twitter at all and do not see the point. Even when i tell them of how many contacts i have made through it they show no interest.
I really hope that employees will distiguish between those whose knowledge of Social Media is purely from using it between friends, and those who use it for so much more: networking, blogging, selling themselves to employees etc. As it is these people who know how to use Social Media in the ways an organisation will want to use it.