Why should you use LinkedIn for your job search?
It’s no secret that LinkedIn is the leading professional social networking site, with 133 million users in the US alone and a reach in 200 countries and territories around the world. According to the Jobvite Recruiter Nation Survey, 87 percent of recruiters use LinkedIn as part of their candidate search. As a professional or student, it’s the favorite place to network and search for job opportunities; Even former US President Barack Obama once joked during a TV press conference that he would join LinkedIn to help him get a job when his term ended!
The problem is that if you only update your profile every now and then, you’re not getting the most of what LinkedIn can do for you, including taking hours off your job search. Below are some tactical tips on how to make the most of LinkedIn to expand your professional network and land your next great job.
On CBS This Morning, the CEO of LinkedIn found the following three tips to maximize the potential of your LinkedIn profile:
Keep your profile up to date.
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Be comprehensive about current skills and goals.
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Highlight your recent experiences.
When asked what is most important about a candidate’s profile and how to get the most out of the platform, Weiner replied that “authenticity” is what matters most.
“Be yourself, represent who you are. It’s not just your experiences; this is not a resume… This is a more dynamic approach to presenting your experiences, skills, goals, knowledge and interests in a professional context,” explains Weiner. “It’s not just about completeness, it’s also about timeliness of information, and the more complete and up-to-date, the more up-to-date that information has been updated, the more opportunities there will be for our members.”
14 ways to use LinkedIn to get a job
In addition to Weiner’s advice, I’ve included 11 other actions you can take to use LinkedIn for maximum efficiency in securing your next position. For the sake of this article, let’s say your favorite company you can’t wait to work for is Gone Bananas. Follow these tips on how to use LinkedIn and you’ll soon be a Gone Bananas contributor:
- Keep your profile up to date. LinkedIn members with a profile picture are 14 times more likely to get page views, while those who post skills are 13 times more likely to have profile views than those who don’t, according to LinkedIn’s blog. LinkedIn has over 45,000 skills to choose from to boost your profile. So if you want Gone Bananas to notice you, update your profile regularly, add a profile photo and mention your remarkable skills.
- Be comprehensive about current skills and goals. To ensure you’re using LinkedIn for the right job search, don’t leave out anything about your current skills and goals. Use your headline to share your main goal when it makes sense and add all your skills to your page. You don’t want it to appear like you haven’t updated your page in a while, otherwise recruiters and companies could overlook you.
- Highlight recent experiences. You want your recent experiences to be visible to anyone who visits your site, especially if you’re actively reaching out to contacts and companies to find a job – and after all, that’s probably why you’re reading this post.
- Update your headline. Your photo, name, and headline (which is listed below your photo) are the only items people see when they perform a search. Your headline should stand out and highlight what you do or what type of position you are seeking. “HR Professional Connects Employees to Management” are examples of headlines that are clear and could command attention compared to plain headlines like “Public Sector Chemist”.
- Let people know you’re available. If you can announce the fact that you are looking for a job, do so. Use your headline to make the announcement. For example, “Writer is looking for companies in need of a friendly ghost (or ghostwriter)” and “Petroleum Engineer ready to hit oil and make you rich” might catch the attention of a recruiter or hiring manager.
- Build your network to the 1st degree. Your connections can exponentially increase your exposure and access to other connections. LinkedIn makes it easy to connect with people you know by importing your contact lists from sites like Gmail.
- Research and follow the companies you are interested in. LinkedIn makes it easy to find and follow companies when looking for a job. If you haven’t already, make a list of the companies you’d like to work for and follow them on LinkedIn. This will help you keep up to date with company news and updates
