The advantages of searching for a job in the comfort of your own home are obvious. This is one of the reasons why the number of people searching for a job online keeps growing every year.
In fact, according to getsafeonline.org “Job searching online has become the most popular method of finding employment, with an estimated 67% of job seekers now beginning their search online.”
And with Social media playing a leading role in recruitment, knowing how to use LinkedIn to get a job is a vital part of job seeking.
How To Use LinkedIn To Get A Job
Here’s a little background on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn was originally set up for professional networking in the digital age. Reid Hoffman, one of the co-founders, launched the site in May 2003 and his vision was to enable employers and professionals to connect worldwide.
The idea started in his living room in 2002. Hoffman had previously been on the board of some of the biggest technology giants, Google, eBay and PayPal.
Despite its humble beginnings, Reid Hoffman’s background lent itself well to take this idea from conception to fruition.
A high percentage of recruiters use social media every day to look for candidates. One of their biggest problem’s is lack of talent.
It’s a constant challenge to find people with the right skills to fill vacancies. This is good news for you if you are looking for a job.
Recruiters have to have a constant supply of talent and therefore, are searching for you every day.
However, if you’re not on LinkedIn or your profile hasn’t been set up properly, they won’t find you. In this article, we will show how to use linkedin to find a job.
We’ll go over the main sections on LinkedIn you need to focus on and some suggestions on how to network online. That includes the importance of your LinkedIn profile.
A Few LinkedIn Facts
LinkedIn has approximately 675 million members and growing by 2 new accounts per second. If you think LinkedIn doesn’t represent your sector or industry, then you may wish to re-consider.
It has 30 million companies across 200 countries and regions worldwide and there are more than 20 million open vacancies.
Compared to Facebook with 2.45 Billion users and Instagram with 1 Billion and TikTok closely following behind with ½ Billion, there’s still plenty of opportunities to get found on LinkedIn and build engaged connections.
However, it’s growing rapidly and this is the time to get onboard. It’s not about how many followers or contacts you have on LinkedIn, it’s all about the quality of the relationships.
Quality and engagement are key on LinkedIn. So, do not be tempted to randomly connect with anyone. LinkedIn is all about being true to your strategy, i.e. looking for a job in a specific sector.
- LinkedIn has 675 million members
- 200 countries and regions Worldwide
- 30 Million companies
- 20 Million open vacancies
Source: https://news.linkedin.com/about-us
Using LinkedIn To Find A Job
There are thousands of jobs listed on LinkedIn. Knowing how to access them will seriously improve your job search effectiveness.
Here are just 3 ways of using LinkedIn to find a job.
- Get a direct referral from someone already working at the company
Just as when carrying out a traditional job search, the most successful way to find a job on LinkedIn is through a referral from one of your connections who already works where you want to work.
Follow companies of interest and keep up to date on brand news and hiring announcements. You can choose to see the company’s posts in your news feed or get job alerts for that company.
Get involved in discussions. When you add comments about articles or topics make sure they are about your sector and subject. Particularly when you are looking for a job, you want to be seen as the subject matter expert.
- Turn on job alerts and get notified of new positions as soon as they’re posted
Use the search function and subscribe to job alerts, or keep an eye on status updates to follow new listings before they’re advertised.
You can choose to be notified of new job postings via email, mobile or desktop notifications.
How To Use LinkedIn To Get A Job
One of the most crucial things you need to know when using LinkedIn to get a job is the importance of your LinkedIn profile.
As we said before:
- LinkedIn is the largest professional networking site.
- Recruiters and hiring managers use LinkedIn to find people with the right skills to fill vacancies.
- Being on LinkedIn will dramatically increase your chances of being found by recruiters.
In essence using LinkedIn to get a job is like belonging to (probably) the largest online Recruitment Agency. Your profile needs to get their attention.
The many recruiters and hiring managers that use LinkedIn will be searching for specific key skills associated with the vacancies they are have.
In order to use the full power of LinkedIn to get a job, your profile needs to be professional and well constructed.
How to Network on LinkedIn
What do we mean by networking? You need to show up on LinkedIn to keep your account active and visible.
If you set up your profile and then walk away, it will disappear from your connections news feed and your ‘reach’ will be limited.
Here are some tips and methods you can use to network on LinkedIn
Profile and background photo
Branding isn’t just for big businesses. Your Personal Brand is important and this will be communicated throughout your profile. You decide whether your brand is by design or accident!
We all know the importance of making a good first impression and therefore, using professional profile photos and background photos positively contribute to your personal brand.
Write a compelling Headline
The headline will default to your current or last job title. Job titles are often fairly vague and don’t explain what you do or indeed what you are looking to do in the future.
When you use LinkedIn to look for a job, this headline is the ideal place to attract recruiters.
Here are some examples:
- Project Manager | Prince2 Qualified seeking opportunities in IT sector
- Health & Safety Consultant and Trainer | Experienced in risk assessments and auditing within Oil & Gas
- Experienced Executive Assistant & PA supporting Senior Directors with travel, diaries and meetings
About section
So, your Headline has caught the attention of the reader (hiring manager or recruiter) and they’ll go straight to the About Section.
The About Section allows you a lot more opportunity to demonstrate your value and what you can bring to the organisation.
This is your ‘shop window’ to display and present your skills, knowledge and experiences to anyone passing by.
It’s also your opportunity to provide the evidence of your skills, knowledge and experiences. It’s not just a text box to add a few keywords, that will only please the algorithms (or Boolean search in technical language!).
Update your status: You can regularly keep your status updated. Unlike some social media platforms, you don’t have to update your status every day to keep your account active.
Once or twice a week while you are actively looking for a job is good enough.
Keywords and Key skills
Everyone knows how important keywords are on social media. Keywords are used by recruiters every day on LinkedIn to find candidates.
Key skills are in a separate section on LinkedIn and these are the skills that can be endorsed by your contacts. There’s an option to add up to 50 key skills and we would highly recommend you add the maximum available. Again, recruiters will be searching for specific key skills associated with the vacancies they are looking after.
Customize your URL
Your LinkedIn profile is a public and visible resume. Therefore, the attention to detail will make you stand out as a professional that cares about appearances.
Comment on articles: If you want to network online with people of interest, then go onto their profile and find their articles and activity.
In this section, you’ll find all the activity for that person. You’ll find their recent comments and likes on other posts and the articles they’ve written and shared.
It’s an ideal place to directly and indirectly network online. Remember your strategy on LinkedIn is to network, get found and demonstrate your expertise.
Moving Forward – Take Action!
Making Social Media a part of your job search cannot be understated.
Now that you know how to use LinkedIn to get a job, we hope we have convinced you that LinkedIn is a great tool in your job search.
Being on LinkedIn and using it well, will dramatically increase your chances of being found by recruiters.
Recruiters use LinkedIn every day. If you have a LinkedIn account and it’s not working, contact Dawn for a free review.
