With more than 830 million users, LinkedIn represents the top professional networking platform. LinkedIn is undoubtedly a great way for you to network, find people with similar interests, and exchange work-related information. But first and foremost, it is where people look for (and find) jobs!
There are over 100 million job openings posted on LinkedIn every single month. And here are some even more impressive numbers: every minute, three individuals are hired on the platform!
To be precise, LinkedIn is a powerful and highly effective platform for job seekers. It has advanced search capabilities, which make it easy for people to establish essential business relations.
Yet, you still want to optimize your LinkedIn profile if you wish to find your dream job on this platform.
With that in mind, we have put together an in-depth guide to help you use LinkedIn effectively in your job research.
Keep Your Profile Up to Date
Let’s start our guide with the first essential step you should take to improve your presence on LinkedIn: keeping your profile up to date. The profile page is the cornerstone of your professional branding, so take time to make it impressive and updated!
Here are some steps you should take:
- Choose a profile picture wisely : your profile picture will largely determine the first impression about you. Make sure that the profile picture you choose is recent and looks professional.
- Make your headline attractive - most people use the space below the profile picture to indicate only their job title. While that’s not bad, you can try to use the headline field to say a bit more about who you are and how you see your role. But keep it short!
- Don’t forget about the summary section - it’s surprisingly odd to see how many people leave this section blank. Here’s an easy piece of advice - have one! The summary section is your chance to tell your story in detail.
- Connect your LinkedIn account with your email address book - LinkedIn can access your email contact list if and only if you authorize it. LinkedIn offers this feature to build your network quickly and easily on the platform. This way you will be able to connect with people you already know on the platform, as well as invite those who aren't yet members to join you on the platform.
Broaden your Professional Network
You can have a strong profile, but without a proper network, you will never get noticed by recruiters and hiring managers. Many people think that they should only connect with people they already know, and This is not how LinkedIn works. You should connect with others to get to know them!
So, who should you connect with on the platform?
- Start with your former colleagues : connect with people you have previously worked or even studied with. They know who you are as a professional and a person. Therefore, they can be valuable references for your next job!
- Connect with people from the same industry : Yes, it is totally acceptable (and even desired) to connect with peers from your work area, even if you don’t know them in person! Their posts can be beneficial for you to find out about new opportunities and great deals in your industry. Plus, you can exchange information and experience with them regarding possible employees. To broaden your network of peers, do an Advanced Search to identify professional groups in your area and get involved.
- Connect with decision-makers of target companies : this is the most important step toward finding your next job! But you should only reach out to them when your profile is complete, and your network looks representable enough.
If you are not sure where to find those people, you can use LinkedIn’s Job tool. You can access the Job tool by clicking on the Jobs icon located at the top of your homepage, and then you’ll be able to search for jobs via location, industry, posting dates, etc.
When you find a suitable job opening, it’s time to look for a recruiter at that company. To do that: Start your LinkedIn search, type your query (in our case, the company name and/or recruiter and then choose to do a “People” search from the options offered. Voila! You just found the right person!)
Think about how you want to reach out to them. No idea?? In the next section, we will speak about exactly that!
Connect with Recruiters and Decision-Makers at Target Companies
After you make sure that you have the right person, it’s time to connect with them. But, how to reach out to a recruiter on LinkedIn in a professional yet impressive manner?
At first, this might seem super easy. You just need to click that blue “Connect” button. But what are you going to say afterwards?
You should add a personalized message to that request. Imagine you are a hiring manager and somebody you don’t know connects with you. You might accept the request, but without a personalized message, you won’t even remember the person after a couple of minutes!
When crafting the message for a recruiter, try to include something personal to grab their attention. Maybe, you and this person went to the same university, or you are both from the same city… Try to make the connection a bit personal and reminiscent!
Conclusion
Everything we have discussed above is essential to know if you want to use LinkedIn effectively in your job research.
We hope this guide was helpful and you will land a dream job very soon!
If it's about you, it's about you