Social networking savvy is the new ‘make-or-break’ attribute for many young entrants of the job market. Ten years ago putting ‘social media’ as a skill would have led to a laugh, and then your resume would have been burned. Of course, that was back when the height of social media was Xanga or Me2U2, and then the majority of users were ten year olds looking to express their preteen angst through a safe channel. But now people can’t get enough of social media. Thus, if you aren’t in a profession that requires tons of work in a lab, chances are you need to be ‘with it’ too.
Now that everyone knows about social media, the ones on the cutting edge need to keep pushing the boundaries to stand out from the rest. This has caused the innovators to find more and more uses for social media. By following this logical progression, the world has now come to use the 140-character Twitter resume (or Twesume) to capture the attention of employers.
Essentially just a tweet of your objective statement, the Twesume has turned Twitter into a forum for the job market. Employers can now log on Twitter and see the objective statements of everyone who added a #Twesume to their tweet. If you want to be one of those people who pop up in their searches, make sure to add a #(your profession) in it so they could sort you out from the hundreds of others.
The goal here is to be quick and precise. Your resume is there to elaborate; your Twesume is there to grab attention, to be the hook. Make it very simple, nothing more than “Mass Com specialist, seven years’ experience, looking for PR position in Baby Food Industry.” That tells them all they need to know, and then maybe they’ll ask you for a resume. It’s essentially the same as making a profile on another job seeker site because all it gives the employer is a name and a profession. Then from there they look up your resume and get in contact with you.
The good thing is that if you have a very active Twitter account then the employer can see that, and the more people an employee is connected to means the more people they can contact. People=profits!
However, this is still a fairly new fad so don’t expect your phone to be ringing off the hook. But you should still do it, especially since every little bit helps. And now that more and more youngsters are joining the HR ranks they will be looking for employees through newer and fresher channels, including Twitter and Twesumes. Casting a net, no matter how small, is still casting a net.
Have you crafted your own Twesume? Do you think it’s worth the effort in your job search? Leave us a comment below or tweet us a response (@sparkhire)!
IMAGE: Courtesy of Flickr by Rosaura Ochoa
Add comment