Two Twommandments of Using Twitter in Your Job Search

I’d like to introduce you to March’s PRepster of the Month, Stephanie Majercik. Stephanie is a senior at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY graduating May 2010 with degrees in Communication Studies, German and European Studies. She is currently the media relations intern with buffalofutsal and Concert chair/event planner extraordinaire on the Student Programming Board. Connect with her on Twitter, LinkedIn and check out her blogging debut, The Blonde Experience.

A PRepster of the Month Post By Stephanie Majercik

Most students have realized by now that an online presence is helpful during their job search. Some of them have even remodeled their Facebook profiles to appear more professional than the typical college student. Many students, myself included, have recognized Twitter’s potential for networking during their job search.

Like other social networking sites, Twitter is a tool; every tool has a purpose. When used correctly, tools do their job very well. When used incorrectly, tools can have adverse effects. I’ll admit: I’ve learned what not to do when it comes to using Twitter as a job search tool because I’ve used it incorrectly in the past. Twitter has been much more useful to me since I’ve stopped hiding and started contributing. I can only imagine that it can work for others this way too.

1)    Thou Shalt Not Block Your Tweets. Blocking your tweets prevents you from joining the conversation. I used to have my tweets blocked, but realized when I participated in the first #PRStudChat that nothing I tweeted was being seen in the tweet stream. Because they weren’t my followers, they couldn’t see my tweets, and because they couldn’t see my tweets, how could they know I would be a value to their following? The same applies to the job search. For one, companies and professionals you tweet at won’t see your tweets if they aren’t following you. And if they can’t see your tweets, there really isn’t an incentive for them to know if you would be worth following. So in order to ensure that your ideas are really heard, unblock your tweets!

2)    Thou Shalt Keep Your Tweet Stream Holy. We all like to update our statuses to tell others what we’re up to, which is fine every now and then, but I find the true value of Twitter to be interacting with others. I was looking at a friend’s Twitter page the other day and all that was tweeted were statuses like “Updating my resume” and “On the job hunt.” There are no links posted and no @replies to other tweeples. If you’re not interacting or sharing with others, then where is the incentive for employers to follow you? You guessed it: there is none.

Real Friends vs Social Media Friends

As I was surfing Facebook the other day, I came across Christine Perkett’s (@missusP) Facebook status on my feed:

But what happens when your social media friends become your real friends?

Last week during my trip to NYC and New Jersey, I met Patrick Johnson, Deirdre Breakenridge and Valerie Simon, Brittany James and PRCog (no, I still don’t know his real name) for the first time.

Even though I had never met any of them before, their friendship was very real to me. They’ve helped me out without expecting anything in return; I’ve done favors for them in return anyways; And I’ve gotten to know most of them beyond their Bio (read: things that they don’t typically tweet about).

Meeting them in-person just reinforced those feelings of friendship. And it showed: there were no handshakes, just hugs. In the end, I found out that each one of them was even more wonderful in person than their online persona.

But what is the difference between a social media friend and an IRL friend, and how do you bridge that gap?

• Connect with them on more than one social media platform: My SM-friends are connected with me on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, e-mail, Skype/ iChat and via phone. I tend to crack myself up by DM-ing someone on twitter and then switch to text-messaging halfway through the conversation (they don’t think it’s as funny as I do).
• Be a digital body. Lend an ear, a helping hand and a shoulder to cry on. As I discovered when I asked the question, “Do You Use Social Media to Vent?” people turn to social media for emotional support or a release. Offer sympathy when someone tweets about losing their job, use your knowledge and experience to answer a student’s question about writing a cover letter and give a digital high-five when someone says they are drinking your favorite microbrew. Bottom line: engage.
• Meet them Face-to-Face:  Even though technology enables us amazing social opportunities, there is still something lost between the lines of text on the screen. In order to get a real feel for someone as a person, you have to meet face-to-face. I’ve traveled to Chicago, New York and New Jersey to meet my SM-friends in-real-life. I’m working on finding a way to get myself down to Atlanta, GA. Allan Schoenberg, Director of Communication for CME Group (with whom I’ve met in-real-life several times), also understands the importance of turning connections made through social media into face-to-face friends. However, if you can’t afford the cost or time to travel the nation, find other ways. I like to use Skype’s video chat to “meet” people for the first time. With the same sentiment, Heather Whaling (@prtini) wrote a post on her blog, asking her SM-friends to bridge the gap and schedule a Skype session with her.

I dare say that my SM friends are more willing to answer my questions and help me than my non-SM friends. I think this is because social media attracts a niche market: people who want to SHARE. Do you consider your social media friends to be real friends?

(Special thank you to Christine Perkett for allowing me permission to use her Facebook status in this post- Thanks!)

In Review: FriendorFollow.com

I follow 544 people on twitter that do not follow me back.

No, I didn’t go through over 1,000 Twitter users I was following to figure this out. I used FriendorFollow.com, a site that tells you who out of those you are following, are not following you back.

I used friendorfollow.com for the first time today after Brian Cousins @reply to me. Being a novice tech-geek and twitter-fiend, I immediately went to the site to see how many people I followed weren’t following me back. Did I care? Not really, but there was a part of me that needed to know.

As I skimmed across the profile pictures, I became deeply distressed. There were people who weren’t following me who I had tweeted with and a few I had even met in real life! Even though it sounds silly, I considered unfollowing all 544 unfollowers. I even whined via tweets about how I was discouraged by my unfollowers, and began to populate the #onetweetstand hashtag I had created earlier in the week.

Then it hit me: this isn’t a popularity contest. Will I cry myself to sleep if these 544 unfollowers never follow me back on twitter? Most likely, no. Then why the hell do I care? Bottom line: I don’t.

The people that follow me have their reasons, as do those who decide not to follow me. As long as I continue to share in the mutually beneficial relationships derived from my twitter community, I really don’t give a flip about those who decide not to partake (unless your name is Chris Brogan *wink*).

I promptly exited out of friendorfollow.com and do not plan on returning anytime soon.