I'm not anti-Twitter, and I do see the benefits of the tool, but frankly, I still don't get it. I find it noisy, potentially disruptive and spammy.

Today I spoke to Julie Mendez of JSM Career Coaching – She's not only a great Career Coach but is also experienced in assisting job seekers with using technology to achieve their goals...to find work.

Julie Mendez, CJSS has more than five years in the Executive Search industry in New York City and as a Branch Manager for a placement agency in Washington, DC. This background in recruiting has given her a broad insight into the need for a top notch résumé and focused job search strategy, and also the perspective of what a potential recruiter or employer will look for in a successful candidate.

Through JSM Career Coaching, she offers résumé, career coaching, job search, and interview coaching services to job seekers around the globe.

Julie has led employment-related teleseminars for many US Embassy communities (fulfilling another passion of supporting our country’s diplomatic spouses) and has been a teleseminar presenter for the National Résumé Writers’ Association. She has received the CJSS (Certified Job Search Strategist) credential from the Job Search Academy, and is a member of the Interview Coaching Association and the International Coaching Federation.

Julie's personal mission is to help you get a job, not just a job but the job; and to empower you by giving you the skills you need to land the particular job you want and deserve.”.

www.jsmcareercoaching.com

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The following notes are from a seminar that Julie conducts on this subject.

Why is Twitter #1 fastest growing opportunity on the Internet?

• More than 105 million users with 300K new ones signing up every day.

• There are over 7,000 employers on Twitter and using TweetMyJobs.com. Such as gov’t agencies like the US State Department, Hyatt Hotel Corporation, AOL, HSN, Netflix, Starbucks, Motorola, Union Pacific and more!

• You can even set up to have the jobs sent to your cell phone which gives you first access!

• Cost for Employers – job boards are so very expensive that companies are looking for way to cut cost and still network their way to qualified clients. LinkedIn is one way of doing that. Tweet My Jobs and Twitter is the next big thing. Why? Because cost is minimal to FREE!

Why Twitter?

• You can connect to other job seekers and find support.

• There is tons of free info out there – about job search and career experts.

• You can find “live” job postings.

• You can find insider contacts, connect to the real “power holders” and get past the gatekeepers! With Twitter you have access to otherwise inaccessible influencers. It’s the most amazing shortcut to use in networking, a great way to build relationships in a very non-intimidating way. (PS. If you don’t like networking, or think you’re not great at it, you have no network to utilize, or think you’re too introverted to be good at it, this is a great tool FOR YOU!) It’s your networking barrier buster!

  • Building relationships is the most important thing you can do for your job search!

• It’s a great way to build your own personal brand (what you’re known for, what you want people to know about you, what you are an expert at), by posting material. Also if you have what is called “digital dirt” (not so great info about you on the internet) it’s a WONDERFUL way to drown that out. How? Twitter is archived on Google, so the “most recent” is the top of the Google search! SEO supercharger.

• It’s a wonderful research tool – to find out about those who might be helpful to you in your job search (like people you might interview with or those that might have contacts that are useful to you, to investigate potential companies and get an insider’s prospective on internal corporate culture, to stay up-to-date and find out the latest industry buzz.

• You can get advice or feedback just by asking for it!

Basics – how to get started.

• I know it can be intimidating, but once you get past a really small learning curve, it’s honestly like the ocean parts open for you.

• First step – set up an account! A couple of points you need to remember:

  • Choose your username carefully, this is how you will be known on Twitter! I recommend keeping everything as professional as possible, possibly using a mix of your real name, your “brand” or some kind of “branded name” like “DatabasePro” or “HRExec”. (Same with the picture by the way! I will admit to have seeing a sortof sketchy picture for job seekers. It’s not how you want potential employers to think of you, trust me! So keep it professional!)

  • Skip the 3 steps that are called “Find sources that interest you.” Here’s why we recommend that. People will follow you back when you follow them. If you don’t have any “tweet history” built up then they might not follow you back and you miss that opportunity to make a great impression. Not having a picture uploaded makes a flighty or “I’m not really serious about Twitter” impression. You will have plenty of opportunities to follow people a bit later.

  • You can have a bit of fun by adding a “HireMe!” badge, or creating an avatar to use instead of a picture, or setting up a cool background theme or creating a custom Twitter background.

  • You can always go mobile too! If you have an Iphone or Droid-type phone, there’s an ap for that!

  • SUPER IMPORTANT STEPS:

    • Location – think of how a recruiter would search for you with keywords, like “Silicon Valley, NY (Manhattan), etc.

    • Website slot – Give employers a link for more info! Your LinkedIn Profile , Visual CV, blog or website, or also TwitRes.com is a way to list your resume online.

  • Write Your Profile! Super important step! You’ve got 160 characters max to convey your personal brand and communicate the ROI of you! (Return on investment). This is the Twitter version of your personal elevator speech or 30-second commercial. This is your chance to sell/market yourself! Oh, and it’s searchable by recruiters!

• We recommend posting 10-20 tweets on your to your tweet stream “page” before following others. This gives them a chance to find out more about you before they follow you back.

• Make it EASIER! I really recommend using Twitter clients, these are programs like TweetDeck.com, HootSuite.com, Seesmic.com, SocialOomph.com. I use TweetDeck.com and I love it. It’s free, and super super easy to use!

Here is your Take-Away! 8 EASY Ways to Take Advantage of Twitter (without even using a Twitter Account!)

1. www.TweetMyJobs.com – fresh Job postings. This is a separate job search board!

2. www.TwitterJobSearch.com – this is a job search aggregator that trolls Twitter for posted jobs on Twitter!

3. www.TweepSearch.com www.twazzup.com – Use these websites to find networking connections

4. Review the tweet stream of someone you’re interested in. (www.twitter.com/JulieMendez     www.twitter.com/Ausmerica)

5. www.search.twitter.com/advanced Use hashtags (pound symbol #) to find specific info. Hashtags are used to “classify” a tweet. So you can search by these hashtags to find specific info. Like maybe #marketing #jobs. You might have to do it a couple different ways to see which hashtags are used the way you want and which ones will give you the most info. I also love doing this on TweetDeck because you can save all your searches in columns that will automatically update themselves and keep them up on your screen.

6. Check out Lists that influential people are following (in your industry, in your geographic area, etc.) Review the people on their “lists” and choose more people to follow!

7. www.monitter.com Get real-time info on companies, people, products, brands, etc.

8. Geolocation. Some tweets show the location where the tweet was sent, so you can meet up with others face-to-face. Spontaneous networking! (www.mashable.com)

How can you shift your job search from the “hunter” to the “hunted.”

I want to give you all a very special deal! I want to start a really Twitter saavy network among jobseekers that can work together to take advantage of all Twitter has to offer. There is just too much to deal with in this short session to cover all the nitty-gritty about maximizing your Twitter Job Search experience. So there are couple things I’d like to offer you guys.

First – a giveaway! I have a really informal small poll that I would appreciate your help on. Every person that agrees to give me just a few minutes and fill this out and return it to me will be entered in a give-away of the book, The Twitter Job Search Guide. Now, I make no money or royalties from this book, but it is just THAT good that I want to recommend it to all of you. Also, if you share this with your friends that are also job seekers, they can also be entered into the give-away as well!

Second – if you would like to delve in deeper and go beyond the basics with Twitter, if you would like to become a member of that Twitter-saavy jobseeker group that I mentioned before, I would love if you guys would contact me right away. In October I will be offering a four-week course (1 session per week) on how to use maximize Twitter in just 15 minutes a day! I know how the internet can easily suck you in and you can easily “lose time” as I like to call it. But I am going to tell you how you can do more, find more, and get more, turbocharge what you are already doing, all in MUCH LESS TIME! Really. Just 15 minutes a day! If this sounds exciting, if this sounds like sounds like it might be the thing that will kick-start your job search situation, then email me right now and sign up for this group. JulieMendez@jsmcareercoaching.com. It will only be $50 for the four week course. I’m hoping to offer a “day” and “evening” groups but it all depends on who’s available and interested when. Since I hope to make these groups open and interactive as possible, I have to limit these groups to 10 people. But if this is really popular I will be happy to open more groups!

Other URL's mentioned in the podcast:

TweetDeck - http://www.tweetdeck.com

HootSuite - http://www.hootsuite.com

VisualCV - http://www.visualcv.com