How to Use Buffer to Automate Your Job Search

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• September 24, 2014
• By Scott Balster
• 1 Comment

You know Buffer helps you manage social networks by providing a way to schedule posts to Twitter and Facebook. It allows you to be more productive, spend less time on social media and get improved results and engagement.

But what about using it for your job search? Looking for a new job can be time-consuming, but using Buffer to automate part of your job search can be powerful, allowing you to increase your chances of landing a job while decreasing time spent searching.

Here are five steps to using Buffer to automate your job search.

1. Use Buffer to automatically connect a potential customer with your target employer

Use Twitter’s search functions to locate potential customers for your target employer. For example, let’s say you wanted to work for Crocs. You could enter the terms “shoe recommendation” or “*can someone* crocs.”

That search is a good baseline of potential customers. Craft a tweet in Buffer. An example would be “@potentialcustomer You should check out @Crocs Yukon Flips. I have a pair and they’re amazing.”

Crocs will surely notice you’re already helping them sell and you’re not on the payroll. You show you can sell socially. Plus, you can leverage this action into further scaling your pursuit to work for them.

2.Use Buffer to introduce valuable potential partners to your target employer

Those introductions add value. Spend some time coming up with potential people in your network you could introduce to each other. Of course, you’d want to get permission from both sides through email. Twitter is more informal, and an introduction on the platform between parties is a widely accepted practice.

An example could be this: Your target employer is Storefront. You have some ideas on how they can work with Etsy or Shopify to make more money. Use Buffer to schedule this tweet, “@storefront You guys are awesome! You should connect with @marketingguy for @Etsy. I can see amazing things from this.”

Boom. A connection is made. Most likely these people or companies will thank you and interact with each other. There may be gold for those companies based on your introduction.

They’ll remember you for that. That gives you value because it’s a sign that if you worked for one of those companies, you have the savviness for business development and can help grow their business through ideas and partnerships. (Click here to tweet this thought.)

3. Use Buffer to share blog posts with analysis about specific aspect of your target employer’s business

Let’s say that your target employer was a company such as Breather (on demand relaxation spaces). Go through some pain spotting and write your ideas on your blog. You could write a blog post titled “3 Challenges that Breather May Have & How I Would Tackle Them.”

Start the blog post on a positive note and iterate everything the company is doing well and the reasons why you’re so bullish on their business. Then get into your pain spotting and talk about the challenges they may have and your solutions and ideas for them.

Use Buffer to schedule a tweet that looks something like this: “Will @Breather take over the world? My crazy analysis and ideas for them. (link here)”

Breather will most likely read your blog post and others in your network will share it. You can springboard this into further talks with them. Of course, this can be done for virtually any aspect of a business from sales or marketing to technical parts (like programming) of their operation.

4. Use Buffer to post a link about pain spotting on your target employer from Quora

This can be accomplished by either answering existing questions about a target employer on Quora or creating smart questions specific to a company. For example, you could ask, “What are three tactics that Otterbox should use to grow sales in North America?”

From this question, you can use that answer to give you further insight into a company. Oftentimes, you can get company employees or others in the industry to provide answers. You can use this as intelligence for future correspondence. Finally, you provide answers to the question you asked and use Buffer to schedule those on Twitter.

5. Use Buffer to schedule tweets that help people in your network

If one of your friends or Twitter connections is an amazing graphic designer, you can introduce him/her to someone who needs his/her services. Use Buffer to schedule these tweets to save time. Each day look for three people in your network who you may be able to help.

Over time, those people will begin retweeting your posts and introduce you to others in your network. These recommendations can get you hired or give you new freelance opportunities you may not have received previously.

By implementing these steps, you can take an advanced approach to your job search through automation and creativity. This saves time, makes you more productive and illustrates impressive skills to potential employers.

Scott Balster is founder of EmployTown and specializes in helping job seekers connect creatively with awesome employers.

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