Editor’s note: Lauriana and Gary Zukowski are the founders of TweetMyJobs. Lauriana and I have communicated through Twitter throughout the last 2 years and witness that her kindness and wisdom transcends 140 characters daily. She is very passionate about helping job seekers, and frequently tweets information and inspiration for them. Her mission reaches beyond connecting job seekers with jobs. Lauriana is influencing and equipping job seekers through content sharing , and inspiring them with hope. Both of us share an affection in supporting U.S. Veterans re-entering the workforce.

 

Lauriana’s bio: Lauriana Zukowski, co-founder of TweetMyJobs, is a big advocate of social media and job search.  She regularly tweets information that is related to careers, work place concerns and jobseeker tips.  She is also a strong supporter of our Veterans who are entering the workforce. She is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with a Bachelors of Science and has a Masters degree from Northeastern University.  Lauriana is the mother of five children.  You can find and follow her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/laurianaZ.

How did you and Gary come up with the idea?

Unemployment was (and still is) sky high.  Back then it was close to 10% yet there were millions of jobs available on hundreds of different job boards.  Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter were relatively young but their power in changing the way companies could do business online was obvious.  We instinctively knew that leveraging this new technology was a smart way to help job seekers connect with employers.  We focused on Twitter initially because of the real time nature of the service.  Real time is crucial for both seekers and employers because they want their problem solved fast.  Twitter enables this better than any other platform and has grown into an incredible ecosystem.

What need then did you see that was missing from job seekers connecting with recruiters/employers?

Two needs really – matching and distribution.  It’s difficult for employers to distribute their open positions to job seekers because the old model relies on seekers finding them.  We are disrupting this by pushing jobs to seekers where they are and not relying on them coming to us.  We then match them – not just based on the preferences of the 2 parties but also on their social graph.  There’s a reason you are more likely (20x) to get a job when you are introduced to a company.  By leveraging a seekers social graph we can now enable better matches than any of the traditional online models can.

What need is missing now?

There’s still plenty of work to be done.  Social recruiting is real but now we have to enable small and medium size businesses who employ the majority of Americans to have access to these tools.  We are trying to do this through our work with government.  Today the City of Atlanta is using TweetMyJobs as their platform to help local businesses distribute their jobs and get matched with local Atlanta citizens.

Is this form of recruiting driving down the cost of hiring?

Absolutely.  Our customers are seeing incredibly low costs per hire by using our system because social recruiting enhances 3 things (1) speed, (2) yield and (3) reach – more quality candidates faster.

Are there parts of the hiring process that has become easier for hiring companies while using TMJ?

For sure.  There are a few things I would point to.  First, our solution is as easy as pushing a button – no effort needed on the part of the hiring company as our technology takes care of everything. Second, the recruiter no longer needs to worry about what sites to post their jobs to as we do the hard work for them.  We take the jobs directly from their site and post them not only to social networks like Twitter and Facebook but also to job aggregators like Simply Hired and Juju.  Finally, we cut out the middle man job board and send candidates directly to the hiring company.  So if you see a job on Twitter and click a link, you will go directly to our customers ATS system.  That means you get more candidates to build your talent community.

What can a typical job seeker expect to experience using TMJobs?

We provide job seekers with great job matches, where they want them, when they want them.  A job seeker only need visit TweetMyJobs once, tell us what role they desire, in what industry and what location and where they want us to deliver job matches that fit their preferences – Twitter, Facebook, email or mobile.  If they give us access to their Facebook social graph by activating the Who? button application we will not just send them jobs that match their preferences but also let them know when one of their friends can help them get referred.  That’s what moves a relevant job match to a great job match.  Everyone knows you are more likely to get a job when you are introduced to the hiring company and we now facilitate that through TweetMyJobs.

How long does it take to sign up and how long does it take to see jobs?

It takes 2-3 minutes to sign up and, at the end of the process the seeker will be presented with relevant job matches.  As soon as new jobs are posted on the system, we instantly notify (if that’s what the seeker wants) them of new jobs.  Any new job posted on the system is literally instantly distributed to Twitter and Facebook.

Now that you are partnered with the Atlanta Development Authority, how will your partnership function?

One quick clarification, we are powering the City of Atlanta jobs platform.  This is a platform to help facilitate the City and Mayor Reed’s Hire Atlanta initiative by enabling any job seeker in Atlanta to be matched with any employer hiring in Atlanta.  In the same way as TweetMyJobs works seekers get job matches, where they want them, when they want them.  Businesses are able to distribute their jobs for free.  This is a platform specifically for the City and citizens – so it is very much a public-private partnership.  The platform also will also provide powerful employment analytics to help facilitate executive decisions by the City.

Can you talk about the new Facebook initiative and joint venture with Job.com?

We are very excited about our partnership with Job.com which is one of the largest career sites online today with more than 33 million members.  Job.com has integrated our Who? button across its site to enable its members to have a competitive edge when applying to jobs.  The “Who?” button utilizes a user’s Facebook  friends to alert a job seeker when they have a connection at a hiring company.  The button lets the job seeker instantly see if they have any first or second degree Facebook connections at the hiring company and then to directly request a referral through Facebook. Once on the Facebook app, job seekers can tap into their contacts to request introductions at the hiring company, gain tips on how to apply, or to simply build their professional network.  The Who? button is also integrated on TweetMyJobs, Internships.com and a number of other job sites.