Most professionals have a LinkedIn profile—except those few types that always go against the grain or are too lazy or not sufficiently career-oriented enough to start one. Many people create a basic profile, get their 500 contacts to show everyone that they actually have friends and then leave it on autopilot. The attitude is, “Here I am world! Come and find me because I am so awesome!”
Just so you know, I am not a LinkedIn fanboy; rather, I am a reasonably intelligent, practical businessperson and recruiter who accepted the reality that I need to utilize this social media platform to the fullest to remain competitive. In fact, truth be told, LinkedIn crushed a good deal of my business. I had been recruiting for many years before LinkedIn started. During that time period, my extensive database of candidates and corporate hiring clients were private and not open for public display. Now, with LinkedIn, this competitive edge is gone as anyone can easily find the same job seekers and hiring managers. So, my advice is not based on any allegiance to the king of professional social networks; it’s just part of my goal to help you manage and grow your career.
If you are interested in finding a new job, LinkedIn—compared to all other social sites—is a perfect platform to catch the attention of recruiters, in-house corporate human resources recruiters and potential hiring managers. Creating a profile is only the first step and just a small part of the overall picture. If you build and forget about it, the odds are that nothing will happen and you then become disenchanted with the experience.
The key to success is presenting yourself in an attractive manner to highlight your relevant skills, experience, education and positive attributes. Then, by actively engaging on the site, you will get noticed by people who can help you with your career.
Please allow me to show you some simple and easy things to do on a regular basis that will get you noticed and, ultimately, find your next job.
- Strive for getting at least 500 connections. After you reach that goal, LinkedIn doesn’t display the amount of your connections. If you have only a handful or 200 or so connections, it reflects to others that you either don’t have many people who desire to interact with you or are too disinterested to network with others. I am not implying that you should go after people just for the sake of having connections. Seek out relevant people who can assist you in your job search and career development as well as being a useful resource when you need help. It is a two-way street and you should also be open to sharing your advice and counsel to others. Just like in the real world, if you only take and don’t give, people will stop interacting with you. When you add content to your LinkedIn profile, it will be broadcast to your connections. Additionally, when you add comments and contribute to group discussions, it will be displayed on the group discussion section and also appear on your status updates. Make it a practice to update your profile to reflect a recent promotion, new skills or certifications acquired. Did you go back to school at night and just received an advanced degree? If you have, immediately add it on your LinkedIn profile. These postings reflect that you are career-oriented and focused on self-improvement and advancement. These simple, small actions keep your name in front of a large audience of people who can help you in your job search.
- Continually invite people to join your network. LinkedIn is similar to a video game; when you add a new connection, it unlocks that person’s connections and takes you to the next level. The more connections you have, the greater your visibility becomes. If you are unsure of what to do next, consider that everyone loves a motivational quote once in a while. Help promote upcoming events, conferences and seminars that will be of interest to people in your field. Click “Like” on someone else’s update. Offer a pleasant comment to someone’s posting. “Share” articles, content and job listings from people in your network, as well as ones that pop up in your feed. These simple tips will help you get noticed, which increases the chances of people recognizing your awesomeness and, ultimately, getting a great new job.
- There is more flexibility with LinkedIn than with a static résumé. Think of how you conduct a Google search, then update your profile with the words, terminology, corporate buzzwords, insider jargon and industry-anachronisms that recruiters would likely search. The goal is to design an SEO-friendly bio that will attract hiring managers and recruiters to your profile when they conduct searches for candidates in your field of expertise.
- Request to join up to 100 groups. The larger the number of groups that you are a member of, the more you dramatically increase your reach. Become an active participant by sharing useful and relevant articles to the groups. If you are an accountant, for example, you may want to share an article about a new change in accounting rules or an interesting story about addition and subtraction (if that exists). This action demonstrates your passion for the field. Recipients of the information will be appreciative, as you are providing a useful service to them. Also, contribute to conversations in your groups. If you read something interesting on one of your groups, feel free to join the discussion. If someone posts a question, then I advise you to offer an answer. Start your own conversation—positioning yourself as a thought leader.
- Specifically seek out and connect with recruiters, in-house corporate recruiters and hiring professionals that can assist you in your job search. Reach out to former co-workers, managers, college alumni or people you met at an industry-related conference to remind them that you still exist. Discreetly, inquire if they know of any open jobs that may be a fit for you. If you know people who are looking for a new job, offer leads to recruiters of qualified candidates that match the jobs they post. A good recruiter always appreciates someone who helps them and would be apt to return the favor.
- LinkedIn recognized that people are too self-absorbed to write actual recommendations and developed an “endorsement” feature. Just click on the endorsement icon for a person’s listed skill and it will show up on their profile page. The recipient will appreciate the gesture, check out your profile and most likely endorse you in return. Offer congratulations on a connection’s new job, anniversary or birthday. Yes, it’s a little corny, but the recipient will notice the kind thought.
- Write articles and other types of original content with the LinkedIn publisher option. The article will be pushed out to the entire LinkedIn community, in addition to your own network. It shows that you are a serious, intelligent and motivated professional. If you do this frequently and the content is strong, you could position yourself as a thought leader, which is highly attractive to hiring managers.
The idea is to think of yourself as a brand and enthusiastically market this product (you) to your target audience. Yes, it sounds crass, but it is what it is. It is simply the law of large numbers. The more relevant people that you can get in front of, or who can easily find you, the odds are in your favor that you will be sought out for new opportunities.
