You may not think of Twitter as an effective HR tool capable of streamlining the recruitment and hiring process, but we’ve already seen the emerging trend of social recruiting popping up in unexpected places. With Twitter, recruiters and HR professionals are finding it easier than ever to raise awareness about job postings, networking has never been more effective, and gathering helpful tips from high profile industry figures keeps recruiters educated and up to date. The social media giant is also a perfect tool for engaging the huge pool of Millennials, who are more engaged with social platforms than any other demographic.

As valuable as Twitter is to recruiters, there are some crucial mistakes recruiters can make that could actually hurt their reputation. Check out our list of Twitter faux pas all recruiters should avoid.

Having an Incomplete Profile

Is there anything worse than stumbling on to a social profile lacking all the good bits of information that make it valuable in the first place? It looks unprofessional, uninteresting, and just plain lazy. Having an aesthetically pleasing layout and profile is important on Twitter, and nothing will send a potential candidate or client running for the hills faster than an incomplete and ugly profile. This incomplete appearance will also come about if tweets are listed as private. As Jennifer McClure artfully illustrates in her incredibly helpful blog post, "I don’t follow accounts with protected tweets and they typically have very few Followers. Why? Because they’re doin’ it wrong." Recruiters should use their pages to express information, not hide it. As a community built on the back of 140 character posts, Twitter users don't waste time before moving on. Aim to make your profile difficult to overlook.

Lacking Diversity in Followers

A key aspect of Twitter's success is engaging and interacting with others on the site, you know, the ‘social’ part of social media. Within the web-savvy tech scene, consistently building networks with social media is a pillar of industry success and hiring managers everywhere should take note. If a recruiter creates an account that only interacts with other recruiters, the results will be less than ideal. Searching through relevant #hashtags and profiles, and then engaging those you find is crucial for social media prominence. It takes hard work and dedication to find success online, but these are the same convictions recruiters have been hitting the pavement with for years.

Profile Without Personality

The great thing about a personal Twitter page is that it's just that: personal. Users like to follow an account with depth and character, and will be more enticed to check out listings and content if they feel they ‘know’ the person behind the keyboard (just check out Laurie Ruettimann's Twitter profile for a great example.) A Twitter feed with job opening after job opening is as monotonous and bland as a newspaper’s classified section, so add a little color! The best tweeters out there have their own personal flavor and mix together an eye-catching blend of content and personality.

Twitter is a hugely powerful social recruiting tool that, with a bit of perseverance and know-how, can yield huge results.

Are you actively using Twitter as part of your recruiting strategy? Share your Twitter successes and failures in the comments below!