"Don't You Love Twitter?"

Do you have a Twitter account? Do you love Twitter? Do you not love Twitter? Do you even know what Twitter is? I like Twitter -- a lot! I have made 500+ tweets -- more tweets than followers at this point. And the reality is, I'm not Twitter-savvy enough to know if that is a good thing or a not-so-good thing. All I know is that I am on Twitter, with followers that have about a gazillion people following them (how'd they do that?) and I am learning something and discovering someone new nearly each and every day. I like Twitter -- a lot! I find it a fun, relaxing, educational and enjoyable activity.

Just last week, my client and I were chatting about Twitter as a valuable tool to help job seekers improve their resume writing and interviewing skills. Here's how Twitter may help you, the job hunter, enhance your overall presentation skills, both on paper and in person.

1. Focus. When you are writing a resume or presenting yourself at an interview, the key is to focus, focus, focus on the target goal. When you tweet something, you get 140 characters to deliver your message. That's it. You can't include everything due to character limitations, if indeed you want to make a tweet.
2. Organization. When you are writing a resume or presenting yourself at an interview, are you random and all over the place, or do you organize your thinking, on paper and in person, to deliver the best relevant information to align with the employer's needs? Again, with a limited number of characters to issue a tweet, Twitter helps you learn how to craft a compelling message, hopefully one that readers get and may even Retweet (best if tried at 11:30 in the morning or on a Monday).
3. Brevity. Clarity. Conciseness. When you are writing a resume or presenting yourself at an interview, do you take a long time to get to the point, or do you deliver spot-on content with brevity, clarity and conciseness? The more you use Twitter, the easier it may become for you to share relevant, supportive and essential information, be it in your resume or in an interview.
4. Think: Competition. How do you stack up against your competition? Consider this scenario which happens to be a recent true story. If you're in an interview and the Hiring Manager asks you "Don't you love Twitter?" and you reply "are you talking about a bird or something?", it's unlikely you'll score many points. Your competition knows what Twitter is and does and you can bet they're leveraging it to gain competitive advantage in this market.
5. Decide: Pointless Babble, Conversational, or Pass-Along Value. When you are writing a resume or conversing in an interview, you are in full control of the words you choose. And it's your words strung together, however many or few, that teach your listeners something about you...something that is sure to elicit a yes, no or maybe response. With Twitter, you get to choose which direction you'll go with your tweets: pointless babble, conversational, or pass-along value. With resume writing and interviewing, you get to do the very same and only you can decide, one word at a time.

Maybe you're 24 and just starting the career game. Maybe you're 64 and starting over. Maybe Twitter -- no matter what your age, is something to consider. Twitter, I like it -- a lot!

cross-posted at billiesucherblog

Comments

[Rodney Cooley]

I'm learning about Twitter, but it still sounds strange to say that I "tweeted" something.

[billiesucher]

It does indeed!:)Thanks Rodney.
- Billie Sucher

[Ben Nash]

Twitter is a great communication tool and I like the your ideas on how the 140 character limit can help job seekers focus, be more organized, etc. Many people are still discussing the search and marketing power of Twitter; however, I think the concept of limiting people to communicating with 140 characters has a lot of use in companies and organizations. I came across a similar application called Yammer, which is geared toward communicating in the work place. Take a look and see what you think.

[billiesucher]

Hi Ben -- appreciate your comments. Also, thanks for the tip about Yammer; will check it out. Wonder how many characters I used just now to say this? :)
-Billie Sucher

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