About 300 to 500 jobs are posted on Twitter per minute, according to Carmen Hudson, CEO and co-founder of Tweetajob. With that many shared opportunities, the task of filtering information becomes daunting — that’s why we have hashtags. They can help you focus on the tweets you want to see along with the ones you didn’t even know existed.
Hudson, whose company sends job tweets that match a job seeker’s location and career interests, says the numbers are true but come with a caveat. “Many of these jobs are duplicates, or from aggregators. It’s likely the number of real opportunities could be much lower. There is quite a bit of ‘job pollution’ on TwitterTwitterTwitter, because the job boards and many employers don’t target their job tweets.”
Nonetheless, the jobs are still there. The key is finding them. As a way to filter through the noise, Hudson recommends job seekers use hashtags to take full advantage of Twitter’s search functionality.
Here are six hashtag categories that might be useful in a job search, along with some examples of what you could look for. For those who are new to Twitter or just need a refresher, check out this overview of hashtags.
General Job Search
Hashtags such as #jobs, #jobadvice, #jobhunt and #jobsearch offer both job openings and general job search advice. If you’re looking for high-level information about how to conduct a job search, this could be a great place to start.
Job Postings
You can take your search one level further by using hashtags for specific jobs like #greenjobs, #jobposting, #telecom or #salesjobs just to name a few.
Chats
Since social media is all about conversation, why not engage in chats about job search? There are a few hashtags for chats, including #jobhuntchat, #careerchat, #internchat, and #hirefriday.
Rich DeMatteo, recruiting consultant and author of the blog Corn on the Job, is the founder of the #jobhuntchat group. This “first of its kind” Twitter chat takes place every Monday night from 10-11 p.m. ET. The audience consists of recruiters, resume writers, HR pros, working professionals, job seekers, interns and college students talking about job search. DeMatteo shared that they’ve had up to 300 participants in a single session and the format is working.
Lindsay Goldner shared her experience:
“Finding #jobhuntchat catapulted me into the world of online networking. As a college senior, I’d barely built up a network and had zero connections in the industries I was interested in. #Jobhuntchat — along with its amazing moderators and participants — taught me that it was imperative for me to put myself out there, both in person and online. Connections I’ve made with people online and at networking events have led to great relationships and multiple job offers!”
Resumes
Once you find the job, then you have to send over the resume. Searching hashtags like #resume, #resumewriting and #CV can give you valuable tips to keep your resume current as well as view other job seekers’ digital resumes for inspiration.
Industry Conferences
Hudson suggests following professional conference events via hashtags:
“Conference hashtags are one of the best ways for jobseekers to find industry colleagues with whom they can network. For example, the HR Technology conference just took place. If I were looking for a job in enterprise software or talent management systems, I would certainly search the #HRTechConf hashtag and follow participants who might be helpful in my job search.”
Even if you’re not attending industry conferences, keep up-to-date with them via the web and follow along on their hashtags before, during and after the conferences to tweet along with attendees and other interested professionals in your field. The conversations that you start via Twitter could translate into future opportunities or even long-lasting business or personal relationships.
Career Advice
The learning doesn’t (or shouldn’t) stop once we land a job. Managing our careers is a constant process. Hashtags such as #career, #careers and #employment can help us with the questions and challenges we deal with every day.
And while this piece is focused on hashtags, don’t forget that there are several companies and recruiters with dedicated career accounts on Twitter. The list includes GoogleGoogleGoogle, MTV, Starbucks and more. You can check out the complete list at Listorious.
There’s no denying that the job search takes time. When using hashtags as part of your job search, there is a process to reviewing what exists, identifying the right ones for your own situation and sifting through the information. But it certainly beats doing it the hard way.
http://mashable.com/2010/10/16/twitter-hashtags-job-search/
