The microblogging site Twitter is today a worldwide phenomenon and is increasingly becoming an important and effective job search tool. Once you know how to get the most out of Twitter you can use the social network to open the door to an array of work opportunities. To help first-time job seekers, the long-term unemployed, career changers and everyone in between, Position Ignition has created the eBook 125 Twitter Job Search Tips, which is packed full of practical and easy-to-read advice, hints and tricks.

The eBook covers Twitter basics, sending the right ‘tweets’, the art of ‘following’ and being ‘followed’, using the site to find real jobs of interest, dealing with spam, showcasing your talent and learning the Twitter lingo. Here’s a quick taste of some of the tips:

Post regular tweets –Aim to tweet at least several times a day. If you tweet more infrequently than this, you’ll find it harder to build up relationships with your followers and will lose the momentum of Twitter as a job search tool.

Follow employers –By following employers in your chosen field, you get to find out about jobs that wouldn’t otherwise be advertised. Certain organizations will quickly tweet out a job vacancy that they need to fill at short notice, instead of formally advertising the position. Keep your eyes open and check companies’ streams regularly.

Tweet professionally –When job hunting, the bulk of your tweets should be business related. They don’t all have to be job search related but they should be professional. Tweet about your area of work, fields of interest and what you’re looking for in your next role.

Be willing to learn – Don’t just put yourself forward on Twitter for paid opportunities, but demonstrate your commitment to landing your ideal your job by tweeting that you’re also willing to undertake voluntary work or do a short course on your chosen field.

Link to your blog –If you have your own blog, it can be a useful tool in your job search. You can demonstrate your expertise and passion for your chosen career area by writing about news, opinions and developments within the field. You might think that the URL link to each of your blog posts is too long for Twitter’s 140 character limit, but you can get round this by using a URL ‘shortener’ such as bit.ly—so link away!

Create Twitter lists – The Twitter list function lets you build your own user directories by category. With one click you can view all the tweets from the accounts in each particular list. Use the lists to group together employers, job sites, employment agencies, career guides, industry experts and so on.

Keep your focus – Everything that you spend your time doing on Twitter, whether it’s searching for vacancies, following different companies, tweeting about your job search or starting conversations, be sure to link it back to and stay focused on the role that you want. Make sure that all your Twitter activity relates to your career goal in some way.

For 118 more Twitter tips check out 125 Twitter Job Search Tips today!

By Nisa Chitakasem, Founder of Position Ignition, the UK’s leading Career Consulting Company, and co-author of their suite of eBooks and eGuides. Nisa co-founded Position Ignition.com to provide career consulting to people looking for guidance and support through their career change, new career direction, job search and career development.