Tweet Beat: Local job sites offer employment help through social media

By Michelle Hagopian/For CU-CitizenAccess -- Landing a job might not be the easiest task right now, but the advent of social media makes searching for one much less difficult.

A few CU Facebook and Twitter accounts offer job seekers a chance to broaden their horizons. On Twitter, @ChamBanaWork is the most notable because of its frequent tweets.

The account has 377* followers, but has already tweeted 12,792 times. With several tweets per day, ChamBanaWork keeps users updated on what’s available in the area. A typical tweet might read: “Help Wanted: CERTIFIED NURSE MIDWIFE, Urbana, IL http://bit.ly/uGtWeB #chambanawork.”

Also on Twitter are University of Illinois system career centers. The CU campus has a somewhat active account (@UofICareerCenter), but the University of Illinois-Chicago’s account has 1,705 followers and tweets more frequently. @UICCareerSrvcs provides “Personalized services for UIC students, recent grads, and employers who want to hire them,” according to its account.

Both of those websites tweet about job trends and openings, how to boost your resume and tips on how to network.

On Facebook, job sites are harder to come by. “Central Illinois Jobs with Justice” is a group that “works to mobilize community support for the labor movement and defend workers’ rights,” according to the website. Most of the members are based in CU. The group’s page hasn’t been updated since February, so it’s unclear how effective it really is.

“GE Careers – University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign” also has a presence on Facebook, though with only 55 “likes” it may not get the reach it wants. The page links mostly to the university’s engineering and business programs, but it hasn’t posted since September.

For CU job seekers, it seems Twitter is the social media medium to turn to for employment tips and inspiration.

*Numbers as of Thursday, Dec. 29.
 

About our Tweet Beat: 

Michelle Hagopian is a journalism graduate student in the College of Media working with the CU-CitizenAccess.org team and follows the social media scene in Champaign-Urbana.

She reports on how the community is using social media, specifically Twitter and Facebook, so that users can get an idea of what different groups are talking about.

She also looks at different software to collect and analyze tweets and ask for advice and ideas from the community.

Contact her at hagopian.michelle@gmail.com.