This document provides information about using Twitter for sourcing, recruiting, and branding. It discusses how to get started on Twitter, including elements of an effective Twitter profile. It also covers best practices for using Twitter as a recruiter, such as following relevant people, using hashtags, and engaging with potential candidates. Examples are given of companies that have successfully used Twitter for recruiting. The presentation emphasizes using Twitter to build relationships and engage with potential job candidates over time.
Twitter presentation for uof il presentation 4 12 12 with toby
1. How to Source, Recruit &
Brand Using Twitter
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
APRIL 18, 2012
PRESENTERS INCLUDE:
TOBY NATHAN & MICHELE REMPEL
2. Toby Nathan
Co-founder and Principal of RecruitaStar, Assisted thousands of people with their
LLC (www.recruitastar.com), a Chicago career search, developed/enhanced resumes
based business partner and a recruitment and helped define their personal brand,
support provider that takes on a company’s taught interviewing best practices, and
upfront part of the hiring process. helped develop a customized job search
strategy.
Fourteen (14) years retained executive
search experience. Worked with individuals from a variety of
industries and functional areas, including,
Fourteen (14) years experience in the but not limited to human resources,
health care industry where I served as a accounting & finance, operations, sales and
senior human resources manager with a marketing, and management consulting.
special emphasis on recruitment,
compensation and benefits. I have BS in Psychology and Business
extensive experience partnering with Administration from the University of
organizations and hiring executives to Illinois at Champaign-Urbana; MS in
assist them with their recruitment needs, Industrial Relations from Loyola University.
and identify what they look for in a
candidate for a position.
3. Michele Rempel
Managing Partner of Mediavine Marketing, LLC We cover a variety of topics that our clients
www.mediavinemarketing.com. Full-time geek have asked for, including:
and enthusiastic user of social media.
Mediavine Marketing simplifies social media for Social Media Overview
successful businesses through training, Building a Social Media Plan for Your Business
consulting and account management. Facebook training
Twitter training
Your story, products, services and value create YouTube training
the content that we help you release out into the LinkedIn training
world using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn,
WordPress training
YouTube, blogging, and more. My team and I
have spent many hours testing to get results,
both from the technology side as well as the
marketing angle. We are here to train you,
consult with you and even manage your digital
presence for you.
Our social media training classes are designed
specifically to assist the small business owner
and leader.
4. What you will learn...
• Twitter Introduction, including how to get started
• Branding for you and your company
• How recruiters can benefit and use Twitter –
what are the advantages
• Best Practices for Recruiters on Twitter and
Twitter Don’ts
• Twitter Applications
5. Getting Started with Twitter
What is it?: Twitter allows its users to send and read other users'
updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of
up to 140 characters in length. Twitter provides opportunities for
keeping current in your field and for getting real time information on
what is happening in various fields and companies.
How does it work?: Updates are displayed on the user's profile page
and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. The
sender can restrict delivery to those in his or her circle of friends.
Users can receive updates via the Twitter website, email or through
an application such as Tweetie, TwitterFon, Twitterrific, Feealizr, or
Facebook.
Third largest search engine in the world.
There are 200 million users.
Getting Started on Twitter: http://support.twitter.com/
6. Elements of a Twitter
Your @name. No duplicates, so you may have to
use a variation to get what you want
Your name. Can be whatever you want
Bio- 160 characters or less
Should include what you do and your website
Photo or logo- you must have one
Background
Should include your logo and a “look” that coordinates with
your company brand (if you’re tweeting for your company)
10. Keep in Mind
The only people who will see your tweets in their
timelines are those who follow you. 6 followers = 6
people who see you
In order to get followers, you either need to be
famous or you need to follow people first
You have to use @name to get someone’s attention
You have to check your @Connect page to see who is
trying to get your attention
Direct Messages (DMs) are not read by everyone
11. Finding People to Follow
Twitter’s search feature- search on a keyword or #
www.twellow.com
www.locafollow.com
www.listorious.com – you can search for lists of
people
www.wefollow.com
www.twinitor.com
Follow people that someone else follows
Get sneaky- follow a competitor’s followers , or
follow who they are following
12. Talking in Twitter Land
To talk to someone, use their @name.
To make your tweets easier to search for,
use a hashtag #
#job
#humanresources
#hiring
13. Twitter Essentials
The only people who will see your tweets in their
timelines are those who follow you. 6 followers = 6
people who see you
In order to get followers, you either need to be
famous or you need to follow people first
You have to use @name to get someone’s attention
You have to check your @Connect page to see who is
trying to get your attention
Direct Messages (DMs) are not read by everyone
14. Twitter Etiquette
If someone follows you, you should follow back
(unless you don’t want to)
So go through your followers on a regular basis to see who you
need to follow back
Thank people who retweet your tweets
Thank people who mention you in a positive way
Retweet others and include their @names as the
original source in the tweet
15. Using Twitter Lists
Lists can be a very effective way to zero in on what a
certain group of Twitter accounts is saying.
Lists can be of other recruiters, identified job seekers,
companies, people who post valuable content, etc.
16. Twitter Tools
Many people find that using a third-party
application makes using Twitter much easier
Tweetdeck www.tweetdeck.com
Hootsuite www.hootsuite.com
Tweetcaster (mobile)
Seesmic (mobile)
Other great tools
www.tweepi.com
www.gremln.com
www.bufferapp.com
17. Why Twitter?
Twitter enables and facilitates real-time and
interactive conversations. Facebook does this as well, but the
vast majority of people (non-recruiters) use Facebook
for communicating with their friends and family – not so
much for professional networking. And while LinkedIn is
certainly a social network, LinkedIn’s social functionality
isn’t nearly as real-time.
What Twitter has over in-person and over the phone
interaction is that it is less intrusive. Most people would
not call or meet with the same potential candidate every
day, every other day, or even every week (you would come
across as a stalker), but you could have an exchange on
Twitter that often with a particular person and no one would
think twice about it.
18. Jobvite Social Jobseeker Survey 2011 indicates:
Which of the following online social networks did you use that
directly led to finding your current/most recent job? (Multiple
responses; asked only of those who said social networks led to their most
recent job.)
Proactive Job Seeker
Employed, open to a
new job
(FB 78%, LI 56%,
Twitter 46%)
19. Jobvite Social Jobseeker Survey 2011 indicates:
Which of the following online social networks did you use that
directly led to finding your current/most recent job? (Multiple
responses; asked only of those who said social networks led to their most
recent job.)
Active Job Seeker
Employed or
unemployed, actively
seeking
(FB 87%, LI 33%,
Twitter 27%)
20. Jobvite Social Jobseeker Survey 2011 indicates:
Which of the following online social networks did you use that
directly led to finding your current/most recent job? (Multiple
responses; asked only of those who said social networks led to their most
recent job.)
Stationary
Employees
Employed, not open
to a new job
(FB 60%, LI 33%,
Twitter 56%)
21. Branding for You and Your Company
Make sure your branding is consistent across all
social platforms- logo/photo, tagline or bio and
message
Twitter gives you an opportunity to appear very
current and relevant, especially if you post real-time
information
22. Branding for You and Your Company
List of 140 Employers Posting Jobs on Twitter:
http://www.theundercoverrecruiter.com/conten
(Includes Advertising, Consulting, Consumer Products,
Education, Engineering, Financial Services, Health Care,
Information, IT, Media, Pharma, Public Sector, Retail &
Hospitality, Public Sector, Transportation & Logistics).
Twitter is about engaging in conversation and adding value.
Recruiters who only post job links typically have very few
Followers and the visibility for all of those links they’re
sharing is practically nil. These Recruiters are often the first
to say “Twitter doesn’t work for recruiting”. At least not the
way they’re doing it.
23. Branding for You and Your Company
Bank of America: @BofA_Careers. 16, 628 followers as of April 8, 2012:
Perhaps one of the reasons this account is so successful is Bank of America’s
inclusion of a social media page
on their site, helping people to find a Bank of America account that offers the
specific content they’re looking for. On Twitter, they take the time to respond to
individual job seekers and encourage them in their career search.
Jobs at Intel: @JobsAtIntel – 13,082 followers as of April 8, 2012:
Intel isn’t afraid to get personal with followers. Tweeting not only good job
opportunities, but working-life content from saving for retirement to their great
benefits.
28. UPS Attributes 955 Hires to Social Media Efforts
45 from Twitter (out of 681 people who arrived via Twitter and created
applications)
226 from Facebook (out of 3,926 people who created applications);
84 from text-messaging (out of 1,004 who created applications)
600 from people (out of 7,919 creating applications) going to UPS’s
mobile-friendly careers page from a mobile device. The mobile-friendly
site had about 510,000 page views in the last 4-5 months of 2010, with
people averaging about a minute and a half each on the site.
UPS Recruiting Metrics (UPS Says It’s Now Delivering Hires, Not Just
Fans and Followers, SocialMediarecruitment.com, ERE article,
November 2011)
29. Key Terms
@Name: Any name preceded by @ shows that the message is intended for a specific person
rather than a general message for all.
RT: This means “re-tweet”. A re-tweet is a message you have you seen and wish to re-tweet to
your own followers. For example you see a news item from a follower that has been released by
a Recruiter. You can then re-tweet it.
#: A hashtag is a tag or keyword to denote a category. They are quoted in a message/or
discussion. If you post a vacancy you should include #job in the post as well as your industry i.e.
#technology- it aids search. Some hashtags already exist and some people just create if they
want a topic to start to trend.
DM/Direct Message: These are tweets sent privately between a sender and recipient.
Mention: Mentioning another user in your Tweet by including the @sign followed directly by
their username is called a "mention". A mention also refers to Tweets in which your username
was included.
Reply: A Tweet posted in reply to another user's message, usually posted by clicking the
"reply" button next to their Tweet in your timeline. Always begins with @username.
30. For Recruiting
As a recruiter, you can use your own Twitter account or use your company's,
but it should be clear that the purpose of your account is to share available jobs
and information about the companies that are hiring.
If your company has a Twitter account but not a lot of followers, there are
tricks for expanding your network and building relationships with clients and
job candidates. Run a quick search on Twitter (search.twitter.com) for
anybody discussing a specific keyword and you can get hundreds of contacts.
You can search for people you know, by location, by industry or interest, by
hash tag, by popularity, by time and more.
Twitter can help gain exposure and redirect job applicants to your website.
You can follow associates and other recruiters that might be sources for
candidates.
Market events you will be attending, such as a tweet saying, "Stop by our
career booth at the Business Tech Expo April 22, 2012 at United Center.“
31. Video
Watch this YouTube Video:
Is Social Recruiting Real? – http://goo.gl/dmypN via @tweetmyjobs
32. Ways to Leverage Twitter for Recruiting
•Social Media Job Board. Using sites like Tweet My Jobs,
leading job distribution network for employers and jobseekers, and
a gateway for employers to post jobs to social networks. Jobs are
also distributed across more than 10,000 job channels on Twitter
so that job seekers can instantly be notified or search or for new
opportunities that match what they are looking You pay $9.99 for
the board to post jobs to their extensive network.
•Taking Advantage of Job Search. In addition to using Twitter
job boards, you can also post jobs from individual or corporate
accounts at no cost. Even if your network is very small, you can
leverage keywords and hash tags to increase your reach and reach
those on the twitter job search Common hash tags for job seekers
include #jobadvice, #jobhuntchat, and #hirefriday.
33. Ways to Leverage Twitter for Recruiting
Sourcing with Search Engine Optimization (SEO). In the same manner, you can
search and source directly for job seekers, using keyword search. Free sites like
Search.Twitter.com allow you to search by hash tag, keyword, and with their advanced
search, even by zip code radius. Create a RSS feed of your favorite keyword combination
and add it to your Google Reader. A paid tool which allows for exporting via CSV file is called
Tweet Adder (affiliate link) and allows you the option to save your spread sheet lists for
later use or allow them to be added to your network slowly over periods of time. You have
your choice to search the Twitter stream or Twitter profiles by keyword creating a targeted
connection strategy for recruiting on twitter.
Engaging Savvy Job Seekers. Twitter allows you to engage super influencers using social
media. By keyword searching their profiles as well as tweets, you can learn about events,
other keywords, niche social networks, and blogs your target candidate audience frequent.
Many of these niche sites and blogs allow for free entrance and provide you a wealth of
information about candidate pools and areas of expertise.
The secret to using Twitter for recruiting is using create ways to engage an audience,
patience, and a strategy focused on quality yet targeted engagements. It’s a process just like
building any other network, community, or relationship, but with hard word and a solid
effort you can use Twitter to maximize your recruitment efforts by engaging your intended
candidate audience.
34. Ways to Leverage Twitter for Recruiting
Develop your personal brand. Create a professional but
approachable image. Building a Twitter network is no different to
building relationships with candidates directly in that your
approach is business orientated but rapport building. So ensure
your communications also include some personal information,
personal views and indicators of who you really are.
Itʼs okay to provide an opinion!
Save your search. You can save searches. You can search for
keywords, industry news, mentions about you or your company.
Simply run a search and click on save search. You will now see this
“saved search” and each time you click a refreshed set of results will
appear.
35. Number 1 Method for Cultivating a Relevant
Following on Twitter
Whenever you speak with a potential candidate, either over the
phone or in person, simply ask them if they are on Twitter. If yes,
suggest reciprocal following (you follow them, they follow
you). If they are not on Twitter, suggest that they look into it –
and if/when they do, suggest reciprocal following.
People are more likely to follow you back on Twitter after they’ve
interacted with you over the phone and/or in person and have a
sense of who you are – you will get a higher conversion rate this
way over simply searching for people and following them.
If you talk to 5 potential candidates per day, that would mean 25
opportunities every week to add the right people to your
network on Twitter.
Imagine tweeting about a job opportunity for an engineer and
you have 300+ engineers in your metro area following you.
36. Best Practices
There are some basic tips to enable you to search more effectively. You may be
used to using “search operators” within your CV databases. Examples:
********************************************************************************************
• “Banking jobs” − search contains the exact phrase “Banking jobs.”
• (Building Services OR Mechanical) -electrical − Search contains building
services OR mechanical but not electrical.
• #jobs − Search contains hashtag “jobs.”
• From: Deloitte − Sent from “@deloitte”, To:recruitastar − Sent to “@recruitastar”
• @TobyNathan − User referencing @TobyNathan.
• “hiring” near: ”Naperville” − Containing the word “hiring” near Naperville.
• near:Chicago within:15mi − Sent within 15 miles of Chicago.
• Operations Manager since:2008 − Containing the words “operations manager”
sent since 2008.
37. Searching Twitter with the Power Twitter Extension for
Firefox
If you use Mozilla’s Firefox Internet browser, you can harness the power of
Twitter’s search functionality right from your browser with the Power Twitter
add-on.
Once you download and add Power Twitter to Firefox, you can conveniently
type your searches into the Power Twitter search bar located at the top of your
browser window:
Hit “Enter” to be taken to your results:
Twitter’s advanced search interface and functionality is quite robust,
supporting standard Boolean search with AND (any space is an “implied
AND”), OR, NOT (via the – sign), and phrase searching, as well as special
search operators such as the hashtag (#). Also –jobs to get rid of job postings
posted.
39. Searching Twitter Using TweetDeck
TweetDeck is a good application to manage Twitter . Not only does it allow you
to easily track Tweets, replies, and direct messages – you can also use it to run
searches and keep tabs on the results in real-time.
TweetDeck supports AND, OR, NOT (- sign), phrase, (quotation marks) and
hashtag (#) searching.
The one major limitation of using TweetDeck for searching for candidates is
that it unfortunately does not support the ability to search by location. You
cannot use Twitter’s near/within operator combo to target local results, and
TweetDeck does not search the bio or location fields of Twitter profiles where
location data can also be found. You can of course try and search for mentions
of cities and locations in actual Tweets – but this is an unreliable and
ineffective way of yielding relevant and local results.
40. Searching Twitter Using TweetDeck - Guidelines
AND/OR/NOT + phrase search
Hashtag (#) searching to track relevant
topics/conversations/threads
No ability to search by location
Searches only Tweets – no bio info/data
44. How Do You Find People on Twitter (Outside of
Twitter)
Tweepz.com - Lets you limit searches
to specific parts of Twitter’s user
information (like name, bio, and
location), filter results by
follower/following numbers, location,
and other extracted terms, and greatly
improves on the layout of the search
results.
45.
46. How Do You Find People on Twitter Using X-Ray
X-Ray Search (e.g., site:twitter.com “bio * *
mechancial engineer” “location * chicago”)
You can use an Internet search engine to X-Ray
Twitter for the information you need. Twitter is very
“X-Rayable.”
Use Google – example of a boolean search string to
use:
site:twitter.com atlanta php ~develop –jobs
47. How Do You Find People on Twitter Using X-Ray
X-Ray Search Guidelines:
Ability to leverage search engine specific
operators/functionality (Google’s synonym
search, Exalead’s proximity search, etc.)
Can search information in Tweets, bio, and
location fields
48. Twitter Lists
Twitter Lists are useful, but please note, when you
create or follow a list, the people on the list are not
necessarily following you back, thus they may not
actually “hear” anything you tweet about. Twitter
lists can, however, be useful for finding people in
your target talent pool and of course, listening to
what is tweeted.
Top 2 picks for searching for Lists:
• Listorious
• X-Ray Searching
49. Best Practices
What to Tweet, When to Tweet. If you're not careful you can spend too much
time just tweeting. You will find that some people are constantly tweeting and
its tempting to respond to everything. Keep it simple. Allocate a maximum of 30
minutes a day - this should include an automatic RSS feed that sends a brief
explanation of your vacancy and a link, once set up this takes no effort on your
part. So with vacancies aside that leaves you 15 minutes a day to tweet your
message out and 15 minutes a day for managing responses. They can
be comments on articles you have read, comments on new items, asking your
follower their opinions on relevant subjects, funny anecdotes from your working
day etc.
Be respectful
✓ When people follow you - thank them
✓ When people re-tweet your comments - thank them
✓ Be positive and helpful
✓ Respond to requests and mentions
50. Twitter Applications
For more help use the glossary and help center within
Twitter:
• https://support.twitter.com/entries/166337-the-
twitter-glossary
• https://support.twitter.com/
Twitter Application Directory (275 applications):
http://www.squidoo.com/twitterapps
25 Most Influential Recruiters on Twitter:
http://www.talenthq.com/2010/01/25-most-
influential-recruiters-on-twitter/
51. Closing and Questions
Final Questions, Closing Thoughts
Thank
You
Please don’t forget to link with Toby to Please don’t forget to link with Michele to
Please don’t forget to link with Toby to Please don’t forget to link with Michele to
grow your network on LinkedIn or grow your network on LinkedIn or
grow your network on LinkedIn or grow your network on LinkedIn or
Twitter! Twitter!
Twitter! Twitter!
www.linkedin.com/in/tobyrnathan www.linkedin.com/in/michelrempel
www.linkedin.com/in/tobyrnathan www.linkedin.com/in/michelrempel
http://twitter.com/tobyrnathan http://twitter.com/MicheleRempel
http://twitter.com/tobyrnathan http://twitter.com/MicheleRempel
toby@recruitastar.com michele@mediavinemarketing.com
toby@recruitastar.com michele@mediavinemarketing.com