MightyRecruiterUsing Twitter for Successful Recruiting
Social media continues to be a tantalizing world full of possibilities for hunting new talent. Twitter and recruiting should go hand in hand. It is a wildly popular platform no doubt filled with people engaged in some part of a job process. It’s not possible to know how many of them are on there, but it’s a fair bet there are enough to make it worthwhile to target Twitter as a staffing tool. Unfortunately, while Twitter has some great advantages for HR professionals, recruiters and employers, its limitations make it very difficult to engage more than one or two Twitter users at once. Job seekers probably love the one-on-one connection this would force, but it’s not always practical for those seeking to hire. Additionally, it can be hard to locate active job seekers on Twitter. While it’s obviously important to engage passive job hunters, it’s considerably more valuable to connect with people who are actively looking for work. Some industrious recruiters have uncovered a potentially useful way to use Twitter to find talentïTwitter Chat.
Twitter Chat Explained
Twitter chat was developed to create a virtual hang out for people to gather, learn and network. It can be a bit daunting if you’re new to the concept, but once you’ve used it a time or two, it becomes far less intimidating. Chats are moderated, meaning there is essentially a host with special powers over what happens during the discussion. Moderators direct the conversation with questions for and from the chat’s participants. Questions may or may not closely follow a theme, and moderators may choose how strictly the chats will be run.
Twitter as recruiting tool can be very effective because chats may expose participants to a large number of people with whom they share no existing links, which could lead to many new connections. It is not uncommon to leave a chat with 20 or more new followers. Some moderators have reported chats producing over 1,000 tweets, though that number could be much lower or higher depending on many factors. Participating in chats can do no less than help to expand your network.
Using Twitter Chat
Every new Twitter Chat gets its own hash tag, which moderators and participants should include in every tweet in order to keep messages grouped together for a chat-like experience. There are some online apps to make it simpler to use Twitter Chat. For example, logging into TweetChat.com and providing the hash tag you want to follow will create a custom stream focused on your hash tag. TweetChat automatically appends the selected hash tag to any tweets you send.
Many moderators will begin to prepare for a chat around five minutes before it’s scheduled to start. Some moderators will ask everyone to introduce himself or herself to break the ice a bit. Asking for participants to email or tweet questions to the moderators directly well before the chat helps streamline questioning and helps generate pre-chat interest.
Getting the Most From Twitter Recruiting Chats
Chats can run in any manner the moderator chooses. Many Twitter Chats run for around an hour, but a moderator may choose to keep the chat going as long as he or she wants. Some will ask questions fairly rapid-fire, while others may give as much as 15 minutes for each question. Similarly, moderators get to decide on the frequency of the chats. Some may never occur again, though they usually do get scheduled so they can be a regular ïthing.ï Moderators typically retweet answers they deem particularly insightful to make sure the whole group sees them. At the chat’s conclusion, it is common for participants to be invited to network and connect, share blog posts, plan to chat offline or on another app, or more.
Declaring themes for your Twitter recruiting Chats and scheduling the chats for certain recurring times and days can help create habits that improve participation. The moderator of a chat has a great deal of control that can be leveraged to fine-tune who sees and takes part in your chats, allowing you to focus them on the kinds of candidates you desire. The tighter your focus, the more likely your initial turnout will be quite small, but you may see noticeable growth over time as long as the chat offers useful information and is on a schedule so participants can plan for it.
Now that you’ve learned how Twitter and recruiting combine to reach a new level, check out more insights from Mighty Recruiter’s extensive resource library.