Posts Tagged ‘Twitter’

Today brings us yet another example of how social networking can hurt your job hunt. Even a basic scan of Twitter can expose examples of job hunters making poor decisions when it comes to what they Tweet.

The latest slip-up:

Put yourself in an employer’s shoes. What if they had been impressed by your resume, blown away by your interview, but found this little gem while doing reference and background checks? I bet it would make them think twice about hiring you.

Don’t shoot yourself in the foot while social networking. Either make your accounts private or censor what you say. You never know what will come back to haunt you!

Read Write Web recently posted a short study which listed the Top 10 US Cities Where Twitter is Mentioned in Craigslist Jobs. It’s an interesting list. The results are below…

1. New York City, NY
2. San Francisco, CA
3. Boston, MA
4. Seattle, WA
5. Chicago, IL
6. Portland, OR
7. LA, CA
8. Austin, TX
9. Dallas, TX
10. Phoenix, AZ

I’m quite surprised that Portland is on the list. I would have expected places like San Jose or other Silicon Valley cities to rank a little higher.

But as the author suggests, jobs that ask for Twitter experience may not be any good. Many of these jobs appear to be either low paying hourly jobs or unpaid “experience” positions.

Check out the original article. It’s a good read.

A little while back, NFL running back Larry Johnson got in trouble for his comments on Twitter. Apparently, he used some homophobic language during an exchange with a fan and got himself suspended by the team (pending an investigation).

Now that the investigation is over, the results are in and Larry Johnson got released. Even though he is a Pro-Bowl caliber player, the Kansas City Chiefs let him go. This says a lot about how your activity online can negatively impact your career.

Eventually, Larry Johnson will land on his feet. Everybody does. But if you can take anything away from this, know that no matter how talented you are, no one is immune from issues stemming from online stupidity. Be careful about what you say on social networks lest it come back to haunt you!

Given Twitter’s incredible growth over the past year, it’s no surprise that everyone has some advice on how Twitter can be used to aid in your job search.

After reading hundreds of these types of articles and posts over the last several months, here are some of my favorites:

• How To Use Twitter To Job Search: Simple advice from The Job Bored.

• 5 Times To Use Twitter While Your Manager’s Talking – Without Losing Your Job…: An amusing post about when you shouldn’t Tweet.

• Career Gear: The TweetDeck, Your Job Search Dashboard: A guide for using TweetDeck in your job search.

• Twitter To Find A Job: Forbes finally caught on and posted their own Twitter job hunting advice. The old media has arrived (better late than never).

• 30 Ways to Lose a Job on Twitter: One of my favorite articles from all of 2009. It’s a collection of Tweets that might get you fired. Ouch!

• Tweeting for a job: A new grad’s guide to using Twitter to find a job.

Enjoy!