Job Searching with Social Media For Dummies
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Choose your Twitter username carefully if you want to be seen by recruiters during your job search. Your name appears only in your Twitter profile, but your username (what you go by on Twitter; also called a handle) is attached to every tweet. Your username is also the domain name for your profile.

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When picking a username, remember that its length eats away at your 140-character message. The longer your username is, the less space you have for your messages.

If your name is long, consider abbreviating it, or use a keyword or description of your profession in a short and memorable way. Here are some examples of different name/@[username] combinations:

  • Twit Johnson (@TwitJohnson): Your full name for both your name and username.

  • Twit Johnson (@TwitJPMP): Your full name and then your abbreviated name plus a professional keyword. (PMP is a highly coveted project management certification.)

  • Twit Johnson (@SanFranPMP): Your full name and an abbreviated, differentiating professional keyword.

  • San Francisco Project Manager (@TwitJohnson): A differentiating professional keyword or phrase and then your full name.

To set your name and username for the first time, simply head to Twitter, click on the Sign Up button on the right-hand side of the screen, and fill in the required fields. If you already have a Twitter account and want to change your username, head to the top-right portion of the page, click on your current username, and then click on Settings to make any desired changes.

Changing your username often isn’t wise because you want people to instantly recognize you, and your username helps accomplish that. Pick a username you can live with for a while; it’s going to become a strong part of your personal brand.

Your name and username form a title tag on your Twitter profile page. This title tag appears in the Internet browser’s window. Google uses title tags as part of its search algorithm, which is a good reason to use your full name combined with your best keyword when choosing your Twitter name and username if you want to rank on Google’s first page.

About This Article

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About the book author:

Joshua Waldman, MBA, is an authority on leveraging social media to find employment. His writing has appeared in Forbes, Huffington Post, Mashable, and the International Business Times. Joshua's career blog, CareerEnlightenment.com, won the About.com Readers' Choice Award for Best Career Blog 2013. Joshua presents keynotes, trainings, and breakout sessions around the world for students, career advisors, and professional organizations.

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