How to Hire on Twitter: Obtaining New Employees on Social Media

The first employee ever hired by Uber was a man named Ryan Graves, and he was hired when he saw a tweet by CEO Travis Kalanick. Graves responded to Kalanick’s call for a business developer/manager, and Graves ended up becoming a billionaire as a result. Now, not every Twitter hiring story will play out as perfectly as that one, but it is still an important tool to consider using in the recruitment process.

How Does Twitter Recruiting Work

The definition of Twitter recruiting is nothing more than attracting new talent via Twitter by posting information about your company as well as the role that you are recruiting for. When people see that information, they may choose to spread the word to those that they personally know who might be a good fit. Alternatively, they may respond to the information themselves if they believe that they can personally handle the role that you are recruiting for.

In either instance, you receive more information about people who can potentially step up and fulfill a vital role that you have within your company. Consider this as you think about if you should use Twitter recruiting as a potential avenue for attracting new talent.

How to do Twitter Recruiting

The typical process of Twitter recruiting is not nearly as simple as what Travis Kalanick did back in the early days of Uber. He simply threw a line out and hoped that someone would see it. He got very lucky that someone did who was able to do the job that he needed done. However, if you intend to use Twitter recruiting as a part of your overall recruiting strategy, you can take a more polished approach to get it done.

Here are some steps that you need to take:

  • Set Clear Goals –Why are you recruiting via Twitter anyway and what do you hope to get out of it? You must have clearly defined objectives for yourself so that you know what you are reaching for. There is no point in putting out recruiting pitches if you aren’t properly defining what the purpose of those pitches are and why you are using them anyway.
  • Provide Plenty of Information – Another thing that you can do to help set yourself apart from the competition is to create a profile that is full of information about who you are and what you are seeking to accomplish. Potential recruits want to know about the companies they might work for. If you lay out in the information in a way that they can see details about you more easily, then you stand a better chance of someone signing up to be a part of your company.
  • Follow and Engage with Relevant Accounts –Part of the overall experience of using Twitter is to follow and engage with others on the platform. You ought to seek out relevant and related accounts to follow so that you have additional clout and time spent on the platform. This will raise your profile and make it easier for people to find you.
  • Ask Other Employees to Engage on Twitter –You can certainly ask other employees that you have hired to engage on Twitter with your account. This will give you a little extra engagement on your account while also helping you to boost that account and make it potentially more interesting for others to check out.

You don’t want to go into the Twitter recruiting process without a plan. Use the steps outlined above to help make it easier on yourself to find and retain the recruits that you need to make a difference in your overall plan. Remember, you are ultimately going to want to use Twitter as a primary channel for recruiting, and these steps will help to get you there.