I recently blogged about Twitter being a great big social networking Ponzi scheme, but is the HR community getting value out of Twitter? I recently ran across an interesting blog interview on Radiant Veracity with Lindsay Olson, a recruiter with Paradigm Staffing and active Twitter user.
Lindsay is a self-professed geek and has been using Twitter for two years to build her own brand. As she states in the interview:
I share information about our searches, but my goal is to use it for more than just posting information about my company and searches. I post relevant industry links and information about the industry as well as career advice from my blogs and blogs of others that I think my audience may find insightful. By sharing useful information and engaging with my followers daily, I’ve built relationships it would have taken years to build, if ever, any other way.
Folks, this is how social media REALLY works. It’s about sharing insight and information that is useful, and engaging with others by providing data they can use. And Lindsay says she also finds candidates through Twitter, including referrals from fellow Twitterers who reference their friends and associates who may not be Twitter users. She even has organized “tweet-ups” to meet Twitter followers face to face when traveling. And, in true social media fashion, she leverages here use of Twitter across other social media platforms, using links to Facebook. That way she can use Twitter to update her Facebook status to cover a broader territory.
Lindsay is clearly an early adopter and has found an approach to really take advantage of social media technology. I will share her advice for social media success:
· Help others before you ask for help in return.
· For job seekers, set up RSS feeds using keywords for the type of job you are looking for. Recruiters and hiring companies often post information to their Twitter networks, and it’s a good way to get an advance on open positions, before they hit the job boards.
· Be sure to complete your profile so you can be found. Recruiters and hiring managers often search through Twitter bios looking for qualified candidates.
· Tweet wisely. Remember that everything you have ever posted on Twitter is there forever, so be judicious. You never know who is reading your feed, or what they might think about you based on your last few tweets.
· Use Twitter to connect, but strengthen your relationships offline. There is nothing like face-to-face contact, or even phone contact, to create real world relationships.
