LinkedIn is a goldmine for jobs, information about jobs, and people who can help you find your dream job.
LinkedIn is an absolute gold mine of information on jobs, and, as far as I am concerned, a real game changer in the business of online recruitment. Companies like Rio Tinto have signed deals with LinkedIn to directly target their passive pool of candidates. LinkedIn will promote Rio Tinto jobs through their network. I recently received something similar in my inbox from Hudson, a global recruiter, suggesting I might like a consulting job. While I wasn’t interested, I was interested enough in having a look at what they were offering.
LinkedIn is a game changer for job seekers as well. It can put the power back into the hands of candidates and out of the hands of recruitment consultants. There are plenty of ways you can be proactive, rather than reactive in your job search. Here are my 20 top LinkedIn job hunting tips, in no particular order.
1. Get a decent profile. There is no point being half-hearted. This point is my big bandwagon point for Australian professionals and job seekers.
2. Connect with people. Look up people from your past and find out where they work now. Use the connect email to invite people for coffee and find out what they are up to. Show some interest in them, and what you are looking for, job wise, will inevitably come up.
3. Join groups of interest and participate in discussions. I know of one person who did little more than this. He was approached by a recruiter about a job, based on the thoroughness of a question he answered.
4. Find a role model networker who is working in your desired area. Look to see which groups they belong to and join those.
5. Start a group around your area of interest and expertise. Invite people who can add value to join. Welcome them to the group and ask them a question directly. You can build up your knowledge of their organisation, any problems they may be facing, and approach them with a solution in mind (you).
6. Look to see who has viewed your profile, and add them to your network. If they are recruiters, see if they have jobs coming up in your area. As a carrot to see you, mention that you may have useful contacts for them.
7. Look to see where people with your background are working and what their responsibilities are. That way if you want to approach a company directly about jobs, you are making an informed and targeted approach.
8. Invite people out for coffee to find out what they do. This is a good tactic if you want to change careers. You can find out the good, bad and ugly about their jobs, and whether that might be an area of interest for you.
9. Add value to your network. Be known as someone helpful. You often have to build trust with people before you can ask them for favours. If you see someone asking a question, then answer it. Be proactive and send them an email with a link.
10. Update your status with recent information of use to your network. You’ll give people a reason to contact you if you do that.
11. Link your LinkedIn profile to your personal emails.
12. Read recruiter Stacy Donovan Zapar’s post on how to make it easy for people to connect with you.
13. Put your LinkedIn link to your Facebook profile. I have seen jobs come through friends, and Facebook is one place people tell their friends if they’re looking for staff. You want to make it easy for people to check you out.
14. Target people with big networks. That increases the pool of people you can search to make contact with if you are looking for jobs. Invite me to connect. I have over 8000 first degree connections.
15. Go along to social events that are organized via LinkedIn. There is only so much you can achieve online. Trust is better built face to face.
16. Ask a connection for an introduction. That’s kind of one of the big points of LinkedIn.
17. Ask for recommendations. A strong recommendation from a former manager carries a lot of weight. This is one big area recruiters and employers focus on when they look at your profile.
18. Find out what a job really requires. Job advertisements often have a lot of woolly wording. If you can, find a company insider to give you the insight into what the company is about, or even what the job requires. They may even pass on your resume, and save the company a recruitment fee.
19. If you’re actively looking and public about it, join the job seekers groups on LinkedIn. You’ll find heaps of great tips. Mine is InterviewIQ You can ask me a question there and I’ll answer it.
20. Hire me to optimize your profile to hit the top page of your profession when headhunters search.
by Karalyn on December 9, 201
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