The Influencers: Five to Follow on Twitter for Hiring Attracting and retaining top-flight workers is a constant challenge for small businesses. Here's who to follow on Twitter for advice and hiring help.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Finding top-notch talent is one of the biggest challenges entrepreneurs face. No one knows this better than Rick Myers. He's the founder and CEO of TalentZoo.com, a popular niche job board for employers and job seekers in the world of new-age communications, including advertising, marketing, digital and social media -- there's even a "Geek Jobs" section.
Myers launched the career-matching site in 1996 out of the spare bedroom of his Atlanta condo. Today, TalentZoo has more than 250,000 registered industry professionals and more than 12,000 employer clients. Recognizing the potential of Twitter during the employee recruitment process, @RickM has become quite the tweeter. His loyal following -- which now tops 82,000 -- regularly receives advice and links about the best hiring practices and general business news.
But, whom does Myers follow? Here's his list of the top Twitter feeds to follow for advice on how to attract and retain superior talent.
1. @CincyRecruiter
Followers: 10,546
Tweets: 15,206
Jennifer McClure is president of Unbridled Talent, a Cincinnati-based employee recruiting firm that specializes in helping businesses improve their "people strategies." Her Twitter feed is a no-nonsense approach to attracting and retaining key talent.
Sample Tweet: Top performing Employee Referral Programs are manually administered. It's the only way to deliver level of cust service required. #ereexpo
2. @sexythinker
Followers: 26,453
Tweets: 15,492
Amanda Hite is the founder and CEO of Talent Revolution, an organization that helps small businesses shape their social media and recruiting strategies. A self-proclaimed, "change agent," Hite primarily tweets tips about how to attract cutting-edge talent, inspirational quotes for entrepreneurs and play-by-plays of her busy public speaking schedule. She also provides a fair share of interesting music and political commentary.
Sample Tweet: Being the authentic, unapologetic you is totally on trend. #BeYou
3. @jimstroud
Followers: 10,047
Tweets: 11,233
Through his blog, recruiting expert Jim Stroud offers training guides, research tools and a regular podcast for small-business owners looking to hire the best employees. His Twitter feed is chock full of links to articles about hiring and other HR issues.
Sample Tweet: No One Answers the Phone Anymore - So What's a Recruiter to Do? http://ht.ly/4lbBb
4. @TheRecruiterGuy
Followers: 6,639
Tweets: 11,060
Chris Hoyt is the talent engagement and marketing leader at PepsiCo and writes a hiring blog called The Recruiter Guy. His snarky tweets range from industry conference updates to what's for dinner.
Sample Tweet: Intel recruiter talking about being human and yourself... But promotes multiple twitter accounts for work/play? #IDontGetIt #ereexpo
5. @lruettimann
Followers: 12,580
Tweets: 21,467
Laurie Ruettimann is a Raleigh, N.C.,-based career advisor and writes an HR and hiring blog called The Cynical Girl. Along with tweeting about her blog posts, she also offers up her opinion on such topics as job boards, referral hiring and office gossip.
Sample Tweet: Are Employee Referrals A Good Source Of Hire? As a career advisor and HR chick, I talk up employee referrals: http://bit.ly/hJhvZf
Corrections & Amplifications: An earlier version of this post had misspelled Rick Myers' last name.
Related Links:
Five to Follow on Twitter for Crowdsourcing
Five to Follow on Twitter for Independent Thinkers
Five to Follow on Twitter for Ecommerce
