As Twitter becomes increasingly more popular, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that employers are looking toward the microblogging site to help them with finding qualified job candidates to fill open positions. In fact, a number of big companies are now sending out “tweets” regarding their open positions, including Verizon Communications Inc., Microsoft Corp., Viacom Inc.’s MTV Networks and Raytheon Corp.

For employers, seeking out new employees in this way is a cheaper alternative to posting job openings on the major job boards, which can be quite expensive. In addition, it is a great way to reach out to those job candidates who have displayed a genuine interest in the company. For job seekers, on the other hand, following a company on Twitter provides them with a great way to interact with the company’s employment recruiters. In addition, receiving announcements about job openings through Twitter is often far more convenient than scouring endlessly through online job boards.

Although every job opening “tweet” is not the same, many companies are briefly announcing openings and providing a link to where more information can be found. This way, they can stay within the 140 character limit that Twitter has imposed while also directing potential employees to an online application where they can learn more about the job and submit their resumes if they are interested.

Another perk to sending out tweets about job openings is the fact that interested candidates can also tweet questions about the job or even make comments about open positions. In many cases, employers tweet back, which helps everyone who might be interested learn more about the job opening and what the position entails.

Some employers are also purposely choosing to advertise their jobs through social media outlets in order to have a better chance of attracting the types of candidates they are looking for. When Mediasource Inc. was looking for a media-relations specialist, for example, it only advertised on LinkedIn, Twitter and two niche job boards.

“We needed someone that understood social media, so we thought, ‘Why not go to where these people go?’” said Lisa Arledge Powell, who is the president of MediaSource, in a Name of Newspaper article.

Yet other companies are choosing to post job leads on Twitter in order to solidify their image as being cutting edge. But, many employers are starting to favor Twitter over the major job boards simply because they feel the job boards have become saturated with job seekers and results in far too many job leads. Twitter, on the other hand, brings about just enough job leads while also resulting in a qualified pool of candidates.

Of course, as Twitter becomes more popular, this may stop being the case. Therefore, it is a good idea to get in on the Twitter phenomenon now while it is still relatively new to the job market. At the same time, remember to always be professional when inquiring about job openings. According to Asif Zulfiqar, who is a talent-management specialist with Verizon, he once received a tweet that said something like, “Hey dude, you got any jobs in California?”

“I want to see something more professional,” said Zulfiqar in the article. “You want to put your best foot forward.”

At the same time, it is important to remember that anything you tweet can be accessed by potential employers, even if you didn’t send the tweet specifically to the employer. So, you should exercise caution with Twitter in the same way you would with Facebook or other social media sites. If you wouldn’t want an employer to see it, it is probably best to keep it to yourself. At the same time, you can read the tweets from your potential employers in order to get to know them better and to prepare yourself for an interview. By mentioning something that you read on Twitter, you are demonstrating a genuine interest in the company, which will go a long way toward helping you land the job.