It’s no secret that Twitter is an information search engine.  With more than 155 million tweets per day, it is now the place for breaking news.  Even the raid on Osama bin Laden was accidentally live tweeted by someone who was complaining about loud helicopter noises in a remote area of Pakistan.  He later realized via Twitter once the news broke of the raid, how exactly he had been involved.

Utilizing Twitter for Recruiting: Strategies

Recruiters and hiring managers can also leverage twitter for recruiting a number of different ways.

• Social Media Job Board.  Using sites like Tweet My Jobs, you can pay to post jobs to their extensive network.  For the price of $9.99, the Twitter job board takes care of posting to a variety of networks.

• Taking Advantage of Job Search SEO.  In addition to using Twitter job boards, you can also post jobs from individual or corporate accounts at no cost.  Even if your network is very small, you can leverage keywords and hash tags to increase your reach and reach those on the twitter job search  Common hash tags for job seekers include #jobadvice, #jobhuntchat, and #hirefriday.

• Sourcing with SEO.  In the same manner, you can search and source directly for job seekers, using keyword search.  Free sites like Search.Twitter.com allow you to search by hash tag, keyword, and with their advanced search, even by zip code radius.  Create a RSS feed of your favorite keyword combination and add it to your Google Reader.  A paid tool which allows for exporting via CSV file is called Tweet Adder (affiliate link) and allows you the option to save your spread sheet lists for later use or allow them to be added to your network slowly over periods of time.  You have your choice to search the Twitter stream or Twitter profiles by keyword creating a targeted connection strategyfor recruiting on twitter.

• Engaging Savy Job Seekers. Twitter allows you to engage super influencers using social media.  By keyword searching their profiles as well as tweets, you can learn about events, other keywords, niche social networks, and blogs your target candidate audience frequent.  Many of these niche sites and blogs allow for free entrance and provide you a wealth of information about candidate pools and areas of expertise.

The secret to using twitter for recruiting is using create ways to engage an audience, patience, and a strategy focused on quality yet targeted engagements –but social media is not easy.  It’s a process just like building any other network, community, or relationship, but with hard word and a solid effort you can use Twitter to maximize your recruitment efforts by engaging your intended candidate audience.

I just happen to have written a book about how to use Twitter for business called Tweet This!  It’s available online, on e-book readers, and at most bookstores.