Every working professional in the year 2020 should have a LinkedIn account. It’s the Facebook of the professional world with over 675+ million business professionals, organizations, and recruiters. But the biggest allure of the website is that it is home to thousands of job opportunities.
Bottom line: As a working individual, you should have a LinkedIn account.
There are hundreds of job search engines to choose from when looking for jobs but LinkedIn surpasses all of the others because it doubles as a social media website. Your LinkedIn profile allows organizations to not only see your career history but also interact with you and learn who you are as a person. So you have more ways of standing out to potential employers than just your resume or cover letter (though they are equally important!). Here are 5 tips that you can utilize to land that dream job using LinkedIn.
1. See if Your Desired Job has Alumni from Your College or High School
LinkedIn has a feature that shows you which individuals from the organization attended your school. This is a wonderful opportunity to send that person a connection request and introduce yourself. With something as simple as a LinkedIn connect, you are already making yourself stand out among the other candidates applying for the position because hiring managers can see that you know one of their employees. Who knows? Maybe the person you reached out to is an acquaintance of the hiring manager. Maybe they are the hiring manager. Or maybe they have no relation to your desired department at all. Either way, employers who see this connection on LinkedIn will be sure to take notice and it can likely have some influence on their decision.
2. Follow the Organizations You’re Interested in Working for and Engage With Their Posts
Companies will post organization updates, articles, human interest stories, job postings, etc. You should be liking and commenting on as many of them as you can. Everyone in the company will see these posts on their feed and that means that everyone in the company will see your name in the comment section. Now imagine if they see your name on a job application. You’ve effectively created a sense of familiarity that could help you land the job, or at least the interview.
3. Make Sure They Know You’re Looking for a Job
There is an option on LinkedIn to show others that you are open to new job opportunities. This feature is great because you can arrange it to only be visible to recruiters and not to your current employer. Now you can have the job offers come to you! Recruiters can help put your resume in front of a company that wouldn’t have given your CV a double glance. A recruiter helped me rewrite my resume to include all of the necessary keywords that my job was looking for. They coached me through questions that the employer would ask me and, with their help, I landed the job! More possibilities can come your way by having a profile that is open to recruiters.
4. Join Groups on LinkedIn
Joining a group on LinkedIn gains you access to more resources. There are thousands of groups to choose from and you have the ability to join up to 100 of them. Within these groups, you’ll find a range of posts detailing networking events, discussion panels, free courses, etc. You should definitely make use of them. Go to these free events and try to connect with as many people as you can. Make sure that after the event, you add the person or people you met on LinkedIn (as soon as you can so that your interaction is still fresh in their memory). Then, when a job opportunity arises in the person's organization, they might remember that eager young professional who is a member of their LinkedIn group and attended their seminar and possibly reach out for your resume. It's all about networking!
5. Post Frequently and Stay Professional
Hiring managers and recruiters like to know that you’re a real person behind the LinkedIn profile. You should make sure to post as much content as you can. The content should showcase your milestones or achievements or anything that shows you are making advancements in your career. You should also think about creating posts that inspire dialogue. This way you can be more interactive with potential employers and have meaningful discussions. They will see firsthand your ability to think critically (and not just take that for face value on your resume). You can even make a post about the kind of jobs you're looking for and perhaps one of your connections will see your post and reach out with a job opportunity. But it’s important that you remain professional. LinkedIn is technically a form of social media, but you should refrain from posting profanity, anything too political or religious, or anything that you wouldn’t want to be shared with a potential boss.
LinkedIn is an invaluable resource for all professionals, but it is especially for those planning their next career move. As you begin your search, think about these tips and see if they help!
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