Caroline Radaj published a family newspaper as a child with an engagement rate that bloggers of today (like me) would drool over. Her audience—Mom, Dad and Grandparents—were solidly loyal readers. Fittingly, she went on to a double major at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin and graduated in May 2012.
Mobile technology and Twitter have created a sea change in journalism since Caroline’s “independent” publishing days. While still a student, her instructors and friends urged Caroline to jump aboard the social-media bandwagon and start using Twitter. An active user of Facebook, LinkedIn and Pinterest, Caroline, like a lot of people, believed that Twitter was little more than a platform for narcissism, and just didn’t see the point. Her friends kept up the pressure and even created a Twitter handle for her. Reluctantly, she tried it. What Caroline discovered was that Twitter was a great way to get news and ironically, it was the dynamic nature of that feed that would lead Caroline to her first internship and job after college.
Through graduation, Caroline had been following several hashtags on Twitter including #jobs and #communications, as well as searching for internships. In June of 2012 she came across a tweet about an internship program at The Creative Company.
They were holding an “open internship call” at their company and all those who showed would be considered. One of eleven candidates, Caroline was the only one hired. That three-month internship morphed into a four-month part-time job where she commuted from her parents’ house to save money and then became a full-time permanent position as a Junior Account Executive.
If Caroline had not been using Twitter, she would have never learned of the internship in time to be considered. “Social media is where you’re allowed to show off your personal brand,” said Caroline. “If you spend the time to follow and interact with people, companies or brands you admire, those timely tweets can pay off.”
A year later and living in her own apartment, Caroline left the firm to return to her alma mater as a Marketing Coordinator for Wisconsin’s Alumni Association. An avid user of Twitter today for her personal and professional life, Caroline is a textbook case of how Twitter can lead to jobs.
What hashtags do you follow?
This is another in CareerFuel’s series on how to use Twitter for your job search. For our intro to using Twitter, click here. To meet SEO professional Emma Still and learn how she landed a great job with Twitter, click here.