Social Media Butterfly

How Twitter Helped Me Get 3 Solid Job Offers

Posted by Nathania Johnson

In early February, I found out my contract at an online marketing firm was ending at the end of the month. I immediately Tweeted my availability for a new gig. Within 24 hours, I had 3 solid job leads, all of which eventually turned into fantastic offers.

I’m not used to this. I’ve been unemployed something like 4 times in my life. I was having fun living in the DC area when unemployment struck one year. I applied to 100 jobs, went to several interviews and a good number of second interviews. I made it into the top 2-3 candidates for many jobs, but never got the offer.

I ended up moving home to NC and living with my parents at the humbling age of 27. I took a job at a nonprofit, only to be caught up in layoffs yet again six months later.

Thankfully unemployment only lasted 1 month that time, as I found work at an SEO firm as a copywriter. I took a $5,000 a year salary cut, but I had wanted to be a web content writer for so long (I didn’t know anything about SEO until this job, so I wasn’t searching properly).

Something about writing for the staff blog caught hold of me. I had this undeniable knack for blogging and social media. I was doing social media efforts via volunteering my marketing skills for nonprofits - before I even knew it was called social media.

Blogging at the seo firm and subsequently at the online marketing firm started to help raise my profile. Things weren’t clicking for me at the online marketing place, and I often wondered if I was desirable to other companies.

When my contract was terminated, I had my chance to find out. Like I said, with just one tweet on a given Tuesday, I ended up with three job offers. What if I had tweeted more often? I’m glad I didn’t. Choosing among good job offers is hard enough and Twitter wasn’t my only source of job leads.

But let’s be clear - the only reason I ended up having such success with Twitter was because I used the tool to network and to try and offer something of value. If I only Tweeted what I was doing (i.e. “having coffee” or “petting my cat”), then I don’t think I would have had any interest.

I used Twitter in a way that showed that I understand SEO, social media, and online marketing. And because of that, others had confidence in me in a way where I became hire-worthy.

I hope this post didn’t come across as arrogant. I hope some of you are able to use this to help empower your networking and your Twittering. Get out of a crappy job or get more freelancing gigs! Whatever your goal is, I know that social media can help you do it. And Twitter is a great place to start.

Two New Job Boards Serving Social Media Professionals Launch

Posted by Nathania Johnson

This week, two job boards that provide solid job leads for professionals in social media have launched.

JobsInSocialMedia.com targets bloggers, podcasters, online community managers and social media professionals. The site also invites recruiters to participate. In addition to job listings, there’s news, forums, groups - you know, the regular social media stuff.

Brian Clark started a new job listing at Copyblogger. The site is targeted towards writers and there are some good blog jobs listed already. If you’re a company, sign up now for a free 30 day listing. The offer only lasts for the next two weeks.

Take a look and happy job hunting!