In speaking with recruiters on a daily basis, I’m often asked about Twitter. What is it? How does it work? How can it help me as a recruiter? etc. In my opinion Twitter is a fantastic recruiting tool and also a great tool for people who are looking for a job.

If I were a recruiter I would have a link in my email signature that encourages job seekers to “follow me on Twitter“. Then I would offer to alert them every time I find out about a job opening. I would also tweet links to relevant information, articles, blog posts, events, etc. to help my followers with their job search. The bottom line is that if I keep providing value to my tweeple, I may ultimately make a great hire whether it is a job seeker who is following me or one of their friends who they shared my info with. Doug Berg of Jobs2web created a great video to further explain how recruiters can use Twitter in their recruiting.

If I were a job seeker I would find and follow as many recruiters as possible on Twitter. I think I’ll have a much better chance of connecting with a recruiter by responding to their tweet than by submitting my resume to Monster or Career Builder and waiting for someone to call me. Jason Buss of The Talent Buzz mentioned a great site to help people find recruiters, TweepSearch. He pointed out that you can find 350 HR professionals and 900 recruiters on Twitter using tweepsearch.

There are a lot of great tools out there to help job seekers and recruiters connect. If you are not using Twitter you are missing out.