Tweeting for jobs: Can it work?

My ears pricked up more than usual when I heard about the new twitter app TwitterJobSearch.com via Mashable, as I am myself a job-hunter.

The idea of tapping a few keywords into a search and finding the job of your dreams through clever use of semantic intelligence, link-crawling, and crowdsourcing is an appealing one. But is it a little far-fetched?

There’s a lot of noise on twitter and the search is likely to turn up lots of non job-related tweets as well as job opportunities.

Looking at the service there are limitations, not just in the 140 character limit but also in the difficulty of filtering jobs by location and that fact that many of the jobs that searches offer are likely to be from technology-based companies or companies, trade media etc simply tweeting the same jobs that they have in their print publications or on their websites.

As an example, when I searched ‘Public Relations North West England’ it returned just seven results, six from sources I already check regularly: The Drum, PR Week and PR jobs London (which occasionally advertises positions outside London); On the other hand a search for just ‘Public Relations’ returned 2068 results.

But I don’t think these limitations means that Twitterjobsearch.com won’t work.

Firstly this is a new service and many potential employers won’t know about it yet. When they do it's likely to be attractive as it offers the potential to save on costly advertising and recruitment agency fees – a tweet is free and has the potential to reach thousands more potential candidates through retweets and links.

I actually believe that in these challenging times more offbeat approaches to job hunting can prove the most fruitful. I’ve certainly seen results from using twitter and other social media tools.

Through twitter I’ve engaged in conversations with PR professionals, learned more about their companies and how best to tailor my skills to make me an attractive candidate.

I’ve got myself on the local circuit and met people working in places I would like to work.

Through reaching out to my journalism contacts via Facebook I’ve been tipped off about PR agencies looking to replace recently departed staff members, allowing me the send off a timely on-spec C.V. and get an interview, and though sheer twitter pester-power I’ve secured work placements that enable me to start closing the gaping chasm in my experience between ‘me the journalist’ and ‘me the PR’.

Of course all this was possible before the widespread use of social media, but it was much more difficult.

Aside from my personal jobhunt I've also spoken to fellow twitterers such as @sweetmandarin who has considered arranging sector-by-sector 'tweetups' at her restaurant in Manchester city centre, as a sort of speed-dating but for employees and potential candidates.

So ok I haven’t got my job yet, but it’s getting closer and I know when those recruitment freezes start to thaw I’m at least on the radar of the companies I want to work for, one step ahead of most other candidates.

And until I find my job I'll continue exploring new ways to reach employers in original ways.

For the job hunters determined to beat the recession I think Twitterjobsearch.com is an excellent tool, but to make the most of it they’ll also need to engage with potential employers through the social web and backup conversations with traditional direct approaches.

If anyone has managed to find a job through social media, Twitterjobsearch.com or otherwise, or has made steps to a new career using social media I’d be interested to hear how so please do get in touch nikki@nikkigirvan.co.uk.