DEAR JOYCE: I want to change jobs -- even now. My computer-nerd nephew suggested I start job hunting with Twitter (twitter.com), which to me looks like a lot of work for very little reward. What is your take on the job-search value of Twitter? -- J.A.S.
Twitter, a social networking Web site that lets users send bite-sized text messages to the world from their mobile phones or computers, has become a micro-blogging rage since its San Francisco launch nearly three years ago. The messages of 140 or fewer characters are known as "tweets," and in an invented vocabulary, the verb is "to tweet."
Why so much tweet talk about Twitter in media recently? Social networking sites, bread and butter to the tech-savvy, are creeping their way into job search as younger candidates claim more of the stage and older ones catch the scent of a newly utilized job-producing tool.
TWITTER TOPICS. Twitter is easy to use. "Like LinkedIn or Facebook, it allows you to make connections with others. Unlike these two sites, there is no requirement to know the people with whom you connect because on Twitter, you don't ask someone to accept you as a connection. You simply hit the 'follow' button and from that point on you see everything they write. And you are free to comment on anything you read," explains job expert Louise Fletcher in "Using Twitter to Find a Job" on her Blue Sky Resume blog. Google for Fletcher's "5 Secrets of Using Twitter to Find a Job" -- the most helpful of the Twitter how-to guides I surveyed.
Job expediters that you especially want to reach are recruiters and hiring managers. Fletcher recommends finding them using either Twellow (twellow.com) or Twitter Search (search.twitter.com).
You can also use Twitter to shout out for employment -- "Looking for a video game job in Austin. Are you people open to three-year-experience-level hires?"
Employers use Twitter, too, says Alison Doyle, job search guide for About.com. "Retailer Zappos.com links to Twitter to recruit employees. Many companies have a corporate presence on Twitter. Search by company name to find them on the Twitter site."
MORE TWEET THINGS. After spending the day online checking the latest details for this column, here's a birdcage of tips for job micro-blogging.
-- Although it's a great online resource for job hunting, Twitter requires that you spend adequate time building and replenishing your network, or assets will begin to "unfollow" you.