DEAR JOYCE: My girlfriend is pushing me to use Twitter to job-hunt. That's fluffy kid stuff in my opinion. Waste of time. Who's right? -- K.A.
Who knows? "Whether Twitter is useful or not (in the employment chase) has been hotly debated," says job-search coach Jorgen Sundberg. He recognizes that many recruiting professionals consider Twitter a supplemental job-search tool, but the London-based coach makes a don't-miss point:
"One thing Twitter is very good at is shooting out snippets of information to a lot of people very quickly. In today's job market, speed is of the essence and announcing new openings on Twitter is a fast-growing phenomenon among employers and recruiters."
In pre-recession days, it could be smart strategy to wait a few days or a week before applying, until after the initial crush of job seekers. But in this brutal environment where every opening attracts unbelievable numbers of resumes, employers usually get plenty of candidates within the first 24-48 hours. Sundberg says job seekers can now get new openings sent to them before (most) recruiters get them by following the right tweeters.
He posts a regularly updated list of major employers that tweet their new job openings -- the only such one I've seen. The list is sorted by industries and includes hyperlinks to each company's Twitter career page. Find the list on Sundberg's Web site, The Undercover Recruiter (theundercoverrecruiter.com; "List of Employers Posting Jobs on Twitter").
DEAR JOYCE: An attractive single man I'd like to date sits somewhat near me. I'd love to send him an e-mail valentine and perhaps stir up interest. I, too, am single. Any problems with that? -- W.B.
The upside to office romances is that some people meet their true love that way. But the downside to office relationships is that they can turn sour, and then you have to continue to see or work with the person, warns business etiquette expert Barbara Pachter (pachter.com).
As for e-mail valentines, Pachter reminds you that e-mail is not private. "And don't mail an unsigned Valentine Day's card to a coworker -- especially an X-rated card," Pachter counsels. "Being a secret admirer is not a corporate concept."
DEAR JOYCE: I can't sleep -- I'm so worried about my son's junior year in college this fall. I just don't see how I, a single mother, can come up with the money to help pay for it, and I already work two jobs. Any thoughts? -- R.R.
