Twitter have produced a great tool to help recruiters and sourcers alike - Twitter Lists - and they will quickly form part of your social recruiting strategy. If you are an active Twitterer then you will not have failed to notice the extra text on your Twitter page:
A Twitter user can create a list and add anyone that tweets (publicly) to it. Once you create and name a list you can simply search for people to add to it (I recommend you use Tweetdeck for this, as it is so easy to do). Outside of Tweetdeck, use sites like WeFollow or Listorious to find people to include in your lists. (Note: you don't have to be following people to add them to your list).
Why are Twitter Lists great for recruiters?
1. People create lists of common interests to them. For example I have created a list for UK Recruitment Bloggers, as that is what I enjoy doing. So if you are looking for a specific skill or industry knowledge, then you will find that it is likely that a person in that sector will have created a list of other people in that sector. Has the light bulb gone on yet?
2. Twitter Lists are dynamic and stream the latest tweets from the users on a list. You get a very focused view of like minded people (as a twitter list will likely be on a specific subject/interest/group of people)
3. Twitter Lists give you the opportunity find new groups of targeted people and follow them in one go - you can follow the whole list!
4. Each Twitter list has a list page where you can get a snapshot of the Twitter list users tweets which are included in a complete tweet stream for everyone on the list.
5. Searching for people on Twitter with similar interests is so much easier using the twitter list feature, and using the sites I have mentioned - WeFollow and Listorious - you can get to targeted groups very quickly.
An interesting question for you?
If you were recruiting for a position (assuming skills are approximately the same), would you want to recruit someone that is 'well-listed' or someone that isn't?
Would you lean towards a 'well-listed' person as it infers a recognition from their peers? Please share your opinion in the comments because this, for me, is a very interesting social recruiting question going forward.
