Finding a job is tedious and requires a plan.  I would like to say in jest that you could go crazy looking, but there is some truth to it.

When it comes to the job hunt, you have to have a plan, and you have to stick to it.  You also will find it necessary to stay vigilant for that excellent opportunity that just might slip by if you do not recognize it.  No one wants to miss the “perfect” opportunity so I’m dedicating this post to important tips that may help your sourcing of job leads.

Instant Notice is the Best Notice

Twitter is turning into an important source of job information for all jobs, and especially for sales positions.  It is also an area that Black sales professionals do not use effectively.

One of the tips is that if you are not on Twitter, and you are searching for a sales job, you need to get with the program.  I am not saying that you need to tweet friends and associates, or follow Paris Hilton’s tweets and I am not talking about telling someone what you had for dinner on your vacation! I am saying that after you sign up, and with the understanding of a few important terms, you can follow sales positions and potential employers as they look to use social networking to find potential applicants.

Have you ever used Twitter to see what was in the job market?  Do you know how?  I did not either until I started using it to follow blogs and promote Black Sales Journal.  Some of you miss out on job offerings and some just end up getting them later.  The first notice of a job posting is often by Twitter.  It is a lightning fast broadcast which goes out using a hash tag to all who are following that hash tag.  An example of a hash tag is #sales, #NYJobs, #selling, and #chicagojobs.

A tweet is essentially a broadcast to all followers; it differs from an email because email goes directly to the selected recipient. A ‘tweet’ was once described to me as an outpouring of information, this “pouring out of information” can be to your benefit as you can receive updates about brand new opportunities as they become available.

Twitter is easy to sign up for, and easy to use.  You will need to practice with hash tags, as there is an amazing amount of information that you can come across with the correct tag.  Now if you are job hunting I would suggest that you consider a piece of software called TweetDeck (I use TweetDeckv38.1).  Here is the sales pitch… Both Twitter and Tweetdeck are FREE!  

You can follow job sources as they come from the following:

• Employers – many of them directly tweet their job openings to the public.  Increasingly employers of all types are doing this, and it is being effective for them to get a strong response.
• Job Web Sites – Many of the best job web sites are sending out tweets on the postings.  They want as many people to see these as early as they can in the process.  I would not doubt the effectiveness of this activity.
• Postings by Topic – I mentioned a few of them in the preceding paragraph.  This includes following #sales, #selling, #jobadvice, #interview, etc.  You will get all jobs, and you will have to pick out the jobs for sales professionals.
• Postings by city, region, or area – This would be exemplified by the tags such as #chicagojobs, #NYjobs, #sacramentojobs, #houstonjobs, etc.  Now this will get you all jobs, yet if you have Tweetdeck, you can follow your area, and the cities that you might consider selling in.

Get Rid of the Misconceptions

Yes, this is a way that some people spend needless time sending short inane messages back and forth.  Yes, anyone can do it from his or her cell phone, and they do to a fault.

But….this can be a powerful medium.  A broadcast blast that goes out to everyone “listening” informing him or her about the job you want.  You need to be in on the front end so that you can respond.

I described web sites that are online offering advice and also posting jobs.  If you will refer back to BlackSalesJournal 1/24/2011 5 Suggested Internet Sites for Finding That New Sales Job you will see these sites.  Note that they all are accessible by Twitter as well.

Wrap Up!

Tweetdeck is now part of twitter after having been developed separately.  You can access both Twitter and Tweetdeck by going to Twitter.com.  If you elect to try it, you may consider following Black Sales Journal’s posts on Twitter as well.  All posts are all posted onto Twitter and they will link directly to the site.  Our username is BlackSalesJrnl.

Get with the program and try some of the new tools.  As I said earlier, Twitter and TweetDeck are both available by going to Twitter.com.  You will be amazed at the activity on the screen based on what you are following.

In an upcoming post I am going to show some of the Twitter users you might want to consider following.

Your comments are welcome.