Using LinkedIn to Land Jobs

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The Basics of Setting Up a LinkedIn Profile

So it’s that time. Time to create your LinkedIn profile. For the most part LinkedIn has done a fantastic job streamlining the process and have made the profile creation process a simple one. However, there is always room for improvement so below we have outlined the main components to a LinkedIn profile and tips on how to maximize the section’s worth.

Name/Position/Location:
Your LinkedIn profile is no time to be discreet. It is best to stick with your professional name (if this includes your middle name then include here), no nicknames or abbreviations. Your position should be the most recent one you held, if you are currently unemployed it is best to keep this blank rather then have outdated information visible. When filling in your location, stick to your professional location. If you work in multiple cities (traveling job for example) we suggest sticking with the city your headquarters or office is located in. This gives you a location hub to work with when connecting with other people on LinkedIn.

Photo:
It is entirely up to you as to whether you wish to have a photo available or not. If using LinkedIn as a job search tool, you may feel more comfortable omitting the photo to keep the employment process based solely on qualifications, however keep in mine that LinkedIn is meant to be a professional social network and often social networks aren’t viewed as complete without full customization.

Summary:
LinkedIn is kind enough to guide you through the summary section with a few suggestion questions. Things to keep in mind when writing your summary:

  1. Keep it concise

  2. Keep it appropriate/professional

  3. Highlight your strengths & the experience behind them

  4. End with your professional goals & aspirations

When writing your summary you need to remember that recruiters are looking for the buzzwords that are appropriate for your industry. This is not a place to run through your entire resume, that is found in the “Experience” section. Use the words in a more conversational/summary manner. Let your voice be heard, but stray from repetition, misleading statements, and slang.

Specialties:
I think this may be one of the more important sections. This would be equivalent to the more traditional “Skills” section of a hardcopy resume. Anything you proficient in, certified in, or highly experienced with—should be listed here. Make sure you list the more credible and eye-catching skills first. Many recruiters head here first to see if you match up with an open position’s criteria only to return to your summary if you have the main skills that are required.

Expertise:
This is as simple as uploading or copying over your resume. For tips on what to include in a resume be sure to check out the best resume checklist ever.  It’s important to keep this readable and accessible. Definitely do not skip the expertise section or only partially complete this section. LinkedIn also incorporates your recommendations into your expertise section, so the more complete it is now, the better set-up it will be to help you put your best foot forward.

Additional Information:
LinkedIn allows you to list websites you are affiliated with, write for, or company sites in this section. Be sure to change the default “My Website” to more description title. Under the “Interests” tab we suggest keeping the interests somewhat professionally-affiliated. Mention a few hobbies, networks, or community committees you are a part of. Stray from rambling in this section, LinkedIn isn’t the place for that. The Groups and Association section is another place to spotlight your networking capabilities and highlight the groups you participate in.

Contact Settings:
This section needs to accurately reflect your LinkedIn intentions. If you are using it as a job search tool be sure to list “career opportunities” and “job inquiries” under this section. Also make sure there is at least one was for them to contact you whether it be listing an email address or phone number. Its highly suggested to offer at least one alternative to the “Get Introduced” button, for a more personal outreach approach. 

 

Netiquette: How to Stay Classy when Connecting

When connecting with someone on LinkedIn there is a lot that could go wrong. After finding the people you want to link up with, there are a lot of ways you could sabotage the chances of connecting. It would be nice if you could just send out a template “Hello, I think you are great, lets be friends” but the truth is, that is not as successful on LinkedIn as it may be on other platforms.

LinkedIn raised the bar when it came to reaching out & connecting. Although you will still find mass invite lists and strangers connecting based solely on peripheral information, its far more likely that anyone sending an unsubstantial invite to another LinkedIn member will be met with nothing. No response, no acceptance, just a “pending” status in their outgoing invite box. Sad scene, I know.

Don't worry people, we got ya covered. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when composing your invite message. Just a few pointers on how to increase your chances of an accepted invite and the world domination that comes with “500+ Connections.”

1.)    Be selective. Turn your nose up high people. Yeah you read that right. Now is not the time to “link up” with every Tom, Dick and Harry. Instead do some research on who you really should be connecting with. Look up companies you have worked for in the past, check your graduating classes, and current social circles. Remember—your connections define you. They are the link juice of your organic LinkedIn ranking. If you accept an invite from someone with shady business practices, then every time another user see’s their name—you will then be associated with shady business practices. So go ahead, stick your nose up in the air, jump on that soapbox, and spotlight that chip on your shoulder…be selective.

2.)    Okay so you found a few people you would like to link up with, now what? Clearly if it’s a friend or past colleague then an informal/casual invite will do. A simple, “Hi, how are you? I know it’s been a while, but I thought we could LinkUp on here. Would love to hear an update on how things are going, when you have time,” will do. However, what about that speaker you shook hands with at last month’s conference? What about that person you collaborated with via a webinar last quarter? These are the difficult ones, the ones where too often people go with a casual approach when they should be keeping it professional. Your invite should include these three things—

  • A formal greeting. Use their first name but never a nickname, never skip it entirely, and never try to be too cute with the greeting.
  • A professional introduction. Include, “I’m Joanna, CMO of TheOnlineBeat.com, we met last month at….” Do not expect or assume they will remember you. This comes across as cocky and is often met with resistance.
  • A promise of value. Don’t just say “I’d like to link up.” Instead offer more. Say something like, “I see we are part of the same groups and I’d love to bounce ideas back and forth with you on ______.” Or something like, “Its rare to come across an expert like yourself on _____ and would love to chat with you and learn more, looking forward to collaborating.” Make it clear you want to establish a relationship beyond the connection.

3.)    After you have sent your invite, it's important to be patient. Never follow up an unanswered invite with a direct message, at least not for a few weeks. Remember that some people use LinkedIn less frequently then others, and some are still unsure how to accept invites. It’s a new platform and you need to be patient with those you have invited into your network.
4.)    Post-invite acceptance is where most people drop the ball. Once someone has accepted your invite, be sure to follow up with a sentiment. Either say thank you for connecting, or start the dialog. Either way you need to assure your connections that you have a value to them.

Those are just a few tips to keep in mind when reaching out to people on LinkedIn. There are plenty of different types of LinkedIn users. Some find more worth in the platform then others, but ultimately it comes down to how you reach out to people that determines whether or not you will be successful. Be selective, be appropriate, be patient, and offer value. All of these lead to a professional first impression between you and your next connection, and we all know how important those are.

 How to Use LinkedIn to Land Your Next Job

LinkedIn really does have a number of purposes beyond just connecting. Its main goal is to build your name professionally, but I believe the secondary purpose would be to connect you with potential employers. Maybe you love your job. Maybe you can’t even fathom changing positions, or industries, or geographical locations, but realistically—its best to be prepared.

So after you have built out your profile, and taken the initiative to connect to professionals in your industry—what now? Truth be told many people stop there. So if you push through the face value of LinkedIn and tap into its professional goldmine you are already ahead of your competitors. Below I have put together a few jewels of LinkedIn that most people don’t employ enough. Using these components to their potential can be the secret to success for you during your next job search and for building out your personal brand. Trust me—these are simple. We aren’t talking about hours of work here, we are talking about playing around in the platform and really experiencing the benefits of getting “Linked In.”

Groups.
Unlike Facebook’s groups, these groups really do stay focused on professions, industries, tools, etc. I am a member of a number of groups and never am I spammed with the latest viral video or personal picture of the moderator down in San Diego with his family for the weekend. Instead LinkedIn groups can be a wealth of knowledge. In their words, “LinkedIn’s Groups Directory allows you to find communities of professionals who share a common experience, passion, interest, affiliation or goal.”

There are a number of groups on LinkedIn full of member’s that share your passion for an industry. Just go to the Groups tab on your left well navigation (when signed in) and then hit the middle “Groups Directory” tab. You can search groups on the right side, filtering by categories and languages. Begin by putting in your occupation—Marketing? Teaching? Designing? Just click on a group that sounds interesting and “Join the Group.” Once the administrator approves your application to join, you can begin fruitful dialogs with other group members as well as post topic discussions. It’s a great tool, that is too often not used enough.

If for some reason there are no groups that match your requests, you can always “Create a Group,” which enables you to brand and begin your own group for others to join and benefit from. Be sure not to miss out on all of the networking and collaboration that can be found when taking advantage of the Groups function in LinkedIn.

Answers.
Think Yahoo Answers meets relevant audience. This is one of my favorite additions to the original LinkedIn platform. You can literally ask any question and control a number of filters and specifications to successfully get it answered. Start by clicking on Answers on the top navigation bar. Type in your question where it prompts you to enter it. Then hit next. You will be able to control if it just goes out to your connections or the entire LinkedIn community. You are also able to add details, categorize it, geographically specify it, and relate to your specific account’s interests. After hitting next you are then able to email it to specific connections for their input, as well as yourself for recording purposes. If you want you are able to skip that step and go straight to posting it. Your question will then show up under your personal Q & A topic center. The status of your question will remain open, until you choose to close it (after it has been answered).

If you are looking to just start dialog and connect you can also use the Answers function to assist others with their inquiries. As if that wasn’t enough, you can also “Search Answers” to see if your question has been asked/answered before in the community. This function is a great way to reach out to others with common interests and really grow your knowledge in a particular specialty—all of which, will of course, assist you in landing your next job or succeeding at your current one.

Companies.
This function is really more of a directory of companies. You can search a company by its name (flush right well) or by industry & keyword. When searching by industry you can also add geographical limitations, which guarantees any company that comes back is only a short commute away. Always nice. Here is the best part—when the results come back, it is listed in orange parenthesis how many (if any) jobs are open at the company. Talk about simplifying the job search process. You can also see if you know someone (are connected either directly or by one degree of separation) to someone who currently works for the company. Once you click through to a company you can see what jobs (titles & details) are open for application, not to mention you can see who has posted them, which really streamlines the application process.

Job-seekers cant afford to miss the value of the Companies tab on LinkedIn. Also if you are in charge of human resources or even marketing for a company, it would be worth it to make sure your company is listed under the tab. You can do this by searching, and if not found, you can use the “Add Company” function on the right well of the Companies page.

Jobs Tab.
Considering LinkedIn is all about having a place to present yourself professionally for possible future employers, I am always amazed with how few people really use the jobs search function on LinkedIn. Instead they are headed to job engines outside of the network that has given them the solid foundation (resume, recommendations, etc.). If you haven’t yet, sign into LinkedIn and click the Jobs tab on the top navigation. You are able to search for jobs by keywords and geographically. There is also an advanced job search function that ads filters such as, “job title, how long ago a job was posted, job functions and industry details. The Jobs page also offers you a list of the companies that currently fall in your network (because you are connected to someone who works there) and you are able to browse this list for possible job listings.

In addition to the search capabilities, LinkedIn has listed a number of tips on how to find a job through LinkedIn, and advice on updating your profile/resume, reaching out, etc. It really is a full service shop for Jobs, be sure to check it out.

These are just a few of the less known LinkedIn tools that can assist you when you are searching for your next job. For those of you serious about your job search, I suggest grabbing a cup of coffee and really exploring the interface. The critical parts are to get your profile up to date, and to really push your list of connections. With every connection you make you open a world of potential employment opportunities.