How many of you knew what Twitter was in 2007? 2008? I would guess not many.  Clearly, over the past year alone, the service has grown exponentially, is becoming a branding platform for businesses small and large alike, and will continue to change the way we communicate to one another.  So what does this have to do with employment. It sounds like more and more recruiters, employers and job seekers are using the service to find one another.

Jobs and employment are becoming one of the latest trends on Twitter.  In fact, Joe Turner of The Ladders writes: “You can’t deny it. Job seekers and recruiters have a love affair with Twitter.”

Jane over at the Let’s Talk Turkey Blog has written a great piece on why you should consider Twitter as a means for finding your next job. the Let’s Talk Turkey blog is a blog dedicated to from the point of view of a professional recruiter.  A few excerpts:

“Joe also goes on to say that recruiters use Twitter — not only to post jobs — but to search through resumes.  Therefore, you, as the job seeker, should be promoting your resume on Twitter. He goes on to say, “Recruiters constantly use hashtags to locate potential candidates by searching words like ‘resume,’ certain skill sets, locations and so forth.  …you’ll want to incorporate hastags on your Twitter resume so you’ll be found when recruiters perform their searches.”

So how do you actually get your resume on Twitter with 140 characters? Well, you don’t. You link to it, according to Jane:

“Thankfully, Joe does a bang-up job explaining all of this.  I’ll paraphrase and you can read his article for additional info.  Basically, he says your Twitter job search post should have a link to your resume (using TinyURL or another short-link application) and should include key words, or hashtags (preceded by the # sign) that will attract recruiters.  He then goes on to say that your tweet should mention your desired job title and geographic location. “RT,” which means re-tweet,  should start off the entire posting as it will encourage your “followers” to forward your information on.”

Resources:

• Check out the post on Let’s Talk Turkey here
• Check out the original post by Joe from The Ladders here

1. Do nothing. I mean nothing.

My favorite.  Wake up. Pick up the Wii remote. Order some Pizza (or ask mom to).  Such is the life of luxury for the unemployed.  No effort, no responsibilities, and no pressure.  Clearly, you should take advantage of the fact that a job, career or your own business is not just going to magically appear in your lap. I should also warn you that no, you aren’t Neo, and you are not in the Matrix.   So go ahead, sit there on the computer, Facebook all day, work on your Farmville farm,  “tweet” about how you don’t have a job, and join your unemployed peers in mass despair over your unemployment. Wake up at noon everyday. Don’t brush off your resume. Don’t sign up for job sites. Don’t talk with friends. Don’t try to network. Just do nothing.

2. Don’t let anyone know you are looking for a job

Your friends, they should all think you are still working at your last job.  They don’t have to know, do they? Don’t update your LinkedIn profile, and the world will never know you are sitting at home enjoying Curbed Your Enthusiasm. No one is going to hire you if they don’t know you are looking.  So it goes without saying that if you don’t let anyone know you are in the market, you probably won’t receive any interviews or offers. Better yet, if you don’t use your network of family, friends and ex-colleagues, you’ll have no way of your network for potential job leads.  Sure, most jobs don’t even make it to job boards like Monster or Hotjobs, because, just like you look to friends, families and people you are familiar with to, so do potential employers.  But you don’t care about that.  So don’t even think about brushing off that business card, breaking out that suit, and working on that handshake.  You should be working on your form for Guitar hero.

Check out 3 – 5 , after the jump.

3. “The world is falling, woe is me.”

The Apocalypse might as well be occurring tomorrow, and you might as well just make sure the world knows.  While your at it, wear black wherever you go, smell like cigarettes, and carry around your flask of the scotch you’ve taken from your father’s   Another great way to ensure you , is sulk in your own despair, constantly.  It’s a no brainer that will love your attitude , so by constantly, they will be first in line to help.  Don’t carry a bright, positive attitude, and people won’t to recommend you or help you in your search.

4. “To Whom It May Concern…”

To whom it may concern.  Dear recruiter.   I am highly interested in your organization.   I would love to work with such great people.  I’m a business person.  My qualifications are ideal for your company. Blah. Blah. Blah.  So, if you think this sounds great now, try reading the same generic wording over and over again.   Your average recruiter or HR representative will probably go through hundreds of resume to fill a single position.  So why stand out?  Why separate yourself from the pack with a unique resume, a catchy introduction or non-generic words?  Why stop the reader from placing your resume where all the other went?  Just go with the pack.  Don’t stand out.  I guarantee you will also be getting a generic letter back from said HR department that goes something like this: “while your credentials impressive, we unfortunately cannot offer you a position at the moment.”  Frame it. You have just succeeded in not getting hired.

5. After your done reading this article, go read more articles.

Yeah, you read that. That’s right.  Keep reading more articles. Because we all know, reading more articles will fill your brain to the tipping point, at which point it will either (a) force your body to actually act out on the words you just read and do something or (b) cause you to hibernate.  Most likely (b).  So go ahead, hibernate, I’ll see you back here when you wake up.

That light blue line somewhere between red and green, yeah, that's us.

The light blue line is where we stand, our rate is noticabely faster and more pronounced than any of the other six recessions. But hopefully, that also means the rate of recovery will be just as fast. If it’s not, it looks like we are in it for the long haul: a slow, steady recovery from the recession. What does that mean for you? It’s time to plan accordingly. Maybe find ways to create your own source of income? Something else I’m learning, jobs start to rebound a number of months after the market tends to rebound, and after businesses start to get comfortable with their growth outlook.

Any thoughts?