As 2014 comes to a close and we look forward to 2015, I’ve been doing a lot of personal reflecting about my life as an HR blogger, thought leader and contributor to this industry. Although I started blogging in 2007, it was Twitter in 2008 changed everything for me. It opened my eyes and connected me to new friends, influencers and persons who just inspired while also educated me. Twitter was a fundamental reason I started my consulting business, wrote my book and connected with friends, clients and hired using my favorite 140 character social network.
Having written a book on how to use Twitter called Tweet This! Twitter for Business, I wanted to take a look back at the first tweets of fifty professionals in the HR and recruitment industry. You can find out your own first tweet by clicking here to see for yourself.
50 First Tweets in #HR & #Recruiting
1) China Gorman, @chinagorman
At the SHRM Legislative Conference. Met lots of great members!
— China Gorman (@ChinaGorman) March 10, 2009
2) Gerry Crispin, @gerrycrispin
Sitting in Chalotte Airport after 3 days golf along Trent jones Trail in Al. 24 hrs to get home…so far.
— GerryCrispin (@GerryCrispin) March 8, 2008
3) Kevin W. Grossman, @kevinwgrossman
I’m setting up my Twitter account and have no idea what to do next.
— Kevin W. Grossman (@KevinWGrossman) May 12, 2008
4) Craig Fisher, @fishdogs
Hanging out with the kids and getting greared up for the Cowboys game.
— Craig Fisher (@Fishdogs) September 21, 2008
5) John Sumser, @johnsumser
getting the full twit — John Sumser (@JohnSumser) January 2, 2008
6) Lou Adler, @loua
using twitter search to follow other conversations that are job related
— Lou Adler (@LouA) January 16, 2009
7) Bill Boorman, @billboorman
please message me if you can read this
— Bill Boorman (@BillBoorman) March 12, 2009
8) Shannon Smedstadt, @shannonsmedstad
rejoining twitter, been gone long enough.
— Shannon Smedstad (@shannonsmedstad) October 16, 2009
9) Lars Schmidt, @thisislars
watching the Suns get destroyed
— Lars Schmidt (@ThisIsLars) April 5, 2009
10) Josh Bersin, @josh_bersin
working
— Josh Bersin (@Josh_Bersin) March 24, 2008
11) John Sullivan, @drjohnsullivan
My Kansas State SHRM presentation:Strategic Talent Mgmt can be found at http://tinyurl.com/4fhvy5 — Dr John Sullivan (@DrJohnSullivan) September 23, 2008
12) Mervyn Dinnen, @mervyndinnen
looking for sightings of andrei, hoping he soon becomes AA13 but doubting it
— MervynDinnen (@MervynDinnen) February 2, 2009
13) Steve Boese, @steveboese
Gina hopefully you see this — Steve Boese (@SteveBoese) March 12, 2008
14) Trish McFarland, @trishmcfarland
Sitting in a webinar — Trish McFarlane (@TrishMcFarlane) March 18, 2008
15) Rayanne Thorn, @ray_anne
hey, anyone out there? — Rayanne (@Ray_anne) June 23, 2008
16) Tim Sackett, @timsackett
How does LeBron not get the highest votes for the All Star team? — Tim Sackett, SPHR (@TimSackett) January 23, 2009
17) Kris Dunn, @kris_dunn
watching my kid almost fly over the hbars on his bike from the window.. guess i should be out there… — Kris Dunn (@kris_dunn) April 13, 2008
18) Meghan M. Biro, @meghanmbiro
Phone chat w/industry leader -inspiring me to make certain connections>this coaching role reversal is downright refreshing! — Meghan M. Biro (@MeghanMBiro) March 16, 2009
19) William Tincup, @williamtincup
www.starrtincup.com Check it out. — William Tincup (@williamtincup) May 23, 2008
20) Carrie Corbin, @thecarriecorbin
Making my first “tweet” and trying to decide if should do it again… thinking recruiter guy needs to hook me up on the mass ping thingy… — Carrie Corbin, MBA (@TheCarrieCorbin) December 23, 2008
21) Stacy Zapar, @stacyzapar
We just finished converting our hall closet into my new cube / office. It’s kind of a rig, but it makes me smile! — Stacy Donovan Zapar (@StacyZapar) April 3, 2009
22) Blake McCammon, @rblake
is in the housing office, waiting for class to start! — Blake McCammon (@rblake) February 3, 2009
23) Jason Buss, @jjbuss
trying to find connections on twitter — Jason Buss (@jjbuss) April 3, 2008
24) Laurie Ruettimann, @lruettimann
I’m loving Elizabeth Edwards. — LFR (@lruettimann) June 27, 2007
25) Matt Charney, @mattcharney
Why do hours in a day get progressively longer the closer it gets to 6 PM? Tick, damn you, tick. Albeit that digital clocks don’t tick… — Matt Charney (@mattcharney) April 2, 2008
26) Recruiting Animal, @animal
30boxes.com used my email address to locate my picture and blog. Automatically loaded pic and a link to blog to my account. Scary. — Recruiting Animal (@animal) April 17, 2007
27) Maren Hogan, @marenhogan
Okay, freakin freak. I am FINALLY ON TWITTER — Maren Hogan (@marenhogan) March 30, 2008
28) Chris Fields, @new_resource
playing around — Chris Fields, MLHR (@new_resource) February 5, 2009
29) Steve Browne, @sbrownehr
Kelly – I’m doing HR work at LaRosa’s and keeping the HR Net growing !! How about you? — Steve Browne (@sbrownehr) July 17, 2008
30) Jason Averbook, @jasonaberbook
in office all day in Minneapolis — jasonaverbook (@jasonaverbook) March 25, 2008
31) Glen Cathey, @GlenCathey
Creating Boolean searches to find flash memory microcontroller design engineers — Glen Cathey (@GlenCathey) July 14, 2008
32) Bryan Chaney, @bryanchaney
preparing for a recruiting metrics webinar on Tuesday – https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/813193122 — Bryan Chaney (@bryanchaney) November 6, 2008
33) Will Staney, @willstaney
is in class learning about twitter and other social networking sites. — Will Staney (@willstaney) February 12, 2009
34) Andi Deavers, @thegirlinhr
@poll 5360 — Andrea (@thegirlinhr) July 13, 2010
35) Robin Schooling, @robinschooling
enjoying the last few days of 2008 — Robin Schooling (@RobinSchooling) December 30, 2008
36) Rachelle Falls, @corporatehrgirl
I’m back! — Rachelle Falls (@CorporateHRGirl) March 7, 2012
37) Steve Levy, @levyrecruits
looking at Smitty’s face as he’s apprising us what he’s doing — Steve Levy (@LevyRecruits) April 11, 2007
38) Liz Ryan, @humanworkplace
moderating Ask Liz Ryan yahoogroup
— Liz Ryan (@humanworkplace) August 23, 2007
39) Bill Kutik, @billkutik
@jasonaverbook Are you running a conference? Why then ask except to depress those who are? Ask if budgets might loosen by September.
— Bill Kutik (@billkutik) February 6, 2009
40) Matthew Stollock,@akabruno
Grading papers and catching up from 4 weekends of travel. — Matthew Stollak (@akaBruno) April 15, 2009
41) Will Thompson, @willrecruits
Exciting things about to happen at American Achievement Corporation! — Will Thomson (@WillRecruits) July 7, 2010
42) Jeff Waldman, @jeffhwaldmanHR
Infusing Life Into Employer Brands… — Jeff Waldman (@JeffWaldmanHR) October 6, 2009
43) Geoff Webb, @socialhrguy
Looking for a new gig. — Geoff Webb (@SocialHRGuy) September 28, 2007
44) Mike Vandervort, @mikevandervort
Getting set to drive home and to ponder the use of social networking tools to leverage superior talent acquisition management — Michael VanDervort (@MikeVanDervort) August 16, 2007
45) Mike Haberman, @mikehaberman
Learning how to twitter.. read Brazen Careerist. — Mike Haberman (@MikeHaberman) April 17, 2008
46) Suzanne Lucas, @realevilhrlady
Just created a Twitter Account. Now what? — Suzanne Lucas (@RealEvilHRLady) March 10, 2010
47) Eric Winegardner, @ewmonster
Seriously. 320 emails in one day?!? What would happen if I deleted my entire inbox? Would you care? Back to replies…it is only 10PM. — Eric Winegardner (@ewmonster) October 22, 2008
48) Crystal Miller, @theonecrystal
is back on wii fit. 🙂 Helloooooo balance exercises! — Crystal Miller (@TheOneCrystal) May 19, 2009
49) Perri Blake Gorman, @bethebutterfly
@ricksanchezcnn why would you report that the man in Mexico hosting the prez died of swine when it hasn’t been confirmed – unnecessary — Perri Blake Gorman (@bethebutterfly) April 27, 2009
50) Jessica Miller-Merrell, @jmillermerrell
Morning world’ — Jessica Merrell (@jmillermerrell) March 18, 2013
I love the first tweet functionality on Twitter. It amazes and excites me to see how Twitter has grown and its use has evolved from simply tweeting what we are doing to being a platform where news breaks. Not to mention how in our own industry Twitter has fundamentally changed how we recruit, source and engage employees.
