Twitter is quickly becoming an interesting channel to connect with and recruit talent. Twitter is a real time micro-blog where users can post ”Tweets” in 140 characters or less. Employers, job boards, recruiting agencies and job seekers can connect, listen, share and ask each other questions in a new, non-traditional forum.

To search and track jobs users in Sweden utilize the hashtags ”#nyttjobb” and ”jobb”. A hashtag makes it easier for users to search and track specific terms, keywords, events etc. So job seekers can track these two terms and receive the latest jobs on Twitter and hopefully be one of the first candidates to apply immediately when the ad is posted.

After following the hashtag ”nyttjobb” and ”jobb” I realized that most of the job boards and recruitment companies using Twitter are not using it correctly. Twitter is a social media site which means broadcasting (1-way communication) information is not an effective way of using the channel. Most of the job boards and agencies are only posting jobs through a RSS feed. Some of the job boards even sell the fact that they get their client’s jobs out onto Twitter. The challenge is, if you don’t have followers and are not using the correct hashtags you are not adding value to the customer and therefore it should not be apart of the product offer. We recommend all job boards to get a solid following before they start to sell a ”Twitter product” to their customers.

After researching how the job boards and recruiting agencies are using Twitter in Sweden, it reassures me that the importance of having a social recruiting strategy before you enter the space is key to your long-term success and brand reputation. Below is a list of job boards and agencies and their associated Twitter numbers. I only found 5 agencies, some new to Twitter (@propellcareers, @safemind, @hammerhanborg, @jobbadecco and @andreMploy) actually starting to use Twitter to it’s best potential. There are probably more but these are the ones I found:

GOOD

@propellcareers
Followers: 24
Following: 11
Updates: 13

@safemind
Followers: 12
Following: 4
Updates: 9

@hammerhanborg
Followers: 385
Following: 398
Updates: 367

@jobbadecco
Followers: 449
Following: 465
Updates: 653

@andreMploy
Followers: 121
Following: 316
Updates: 552

NEEDS IMPROVEMENT

@stepstone_se
Followers: 59
Following: 3
Updates: 2,574

@careerbuilderse
Followers: 157
Following: 1
Updates: 8,177

@workey_se
Followers: 99
Following: 0
Updates: 29

@projledarjobb
Followers: 47
Following: 0
Updates: 1,131

@elan_sweden
Followers:42
Following: 2
Updates 310

@lediga_jobb (Manpower Professional)
Followers: 428
Following: 7
Updates: 1,482

@ingenjorjobb
Followers: 6
Following: 0
Updates: 748

@csjobb
Followers: 144
Following: 0
Updates: 1,465

@hotelljobb
Followers: 9
Following: 0
Updates: 1,323

@restaurangjobb
Followers: 10
Following: 0
Updates: 1,316

@ElanIT
Followers: 42
Following: 2
Updates: 310

@itkarriar_gbg
Followers: 18
Following: 0
Updates: 529

Is your recruitment agency or job board using Twitter? Have you had success in filling jobs with the right candidates? Share your story!