I was like many people thinking Twitter was another social media tool that was going to suck the life out of all personal face to face communications (i.e. what some believe Facebook has become). When I decided to join Twitter, it was for a personal experiment and I gave it a month to determine if it was going to be useful to me either personally or professionally.

In May 2010, I joined Twitter and started to follow friends and celebrities for two reasons; one to get an idea of how others used Twitter and secondly, to learn the unwritten rules and etiquette. I also followed professionals in the event industry to tap into what they were doing on Twitter. I quickly discovered a wealth of knowledge on Twitter when I clicked on various links and started to follow other event professionals that were being followed by event professionals I was already following. A world was unfolding in front of my computer with the use of only one tool!

I was slowly being converted into a Twitter user. I continued to observe my Twitter feed as the months went by and continued to follow people as I met them either online or in person. After a Special Event Boot Camp meeting at the Windsor Arms Hotel I came home and added @windsorarms to my followers list and thanked them for hosting our meeting and showing us the hotel. After adding @windsorarms I didn’t think too much about it until I discovered a tweet that stated that the spa at Windsor Arms had a position that was available. I quickly “DM” (Direct Messaged) and asked for more information. After this, the possibilities continued to unfold. I handed in my resume via mail, received a phone interview then an in-person interview, which then lead to a phone call stating that I got the job!! Within a week and a half of reading the tweet about the job posting I was working at the Spa at the Windsor Arms and taking steps towards my new future.

Through a personal meet up and adding that connection onto Twitter I was able to access a door of opportunities. I am now officially converted; I see the potential and possibilities that Twitter has to connect with a world of people from various industries. I am not saying Twitter is the only tool you should use to find a job or that it is the best tool to find a job but it is a tool that allows you to connect with people who work for companies that you want to work for someday. So get onto Twitter, follow the professionals that inspire you and listen to what they have to say and offer, because you never know what they might tweet next.

Blog Post Written by: 

Katie Paterson is an Event and Meeting Management student at George Brown. She is currently in her second semester of classes and is looking forward to a career in event management in Toronto. She has been interning at Special Event Boot Camp since May 2009.    katie@specialeventbootcamp.com, @katiepaterson

This entry was posted on Monday, February 15th, 2010 at 10:27 pm and is filed under Special Event Boot Camp Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.