Making The Most Out Of Job Hunting On LinkedIn Today

Making the Most out of Job Hunting on LinkedIn Today

Searching for a job is not the easiest task and is so important by nature that it can be very nerve racking. Social media can make your job search easier. Conversely, it can also hurt your chances of being hired if you are posting things on any of your social media profiles that might make you appear less than credible or irresponsible.

Today, we will be talking about LinkedIn, the professional social network; but you should take care with all of your social channels and the profiles on each of the social networks. Your LinkedIn profile is pretty much a public online resume and is an important tool that can be instrumental in helping your find your next career move.

How to Optimize Your LinkedIn Experience for Job Seeking Success

Did you know that LinkedIn has over 200 million users? It is an excellent source for connecting you to professionals and potential employers. Today we will cover 5 ways to optimize your activities on LinkedIn to give you a better chance to make connections and make an excellent and professional impression on those connections.

Expert Tips for Building a Polished and Professional LinkedIn Profile

Treat your LinkedIn Profile as if it is a public resume. Make it as thorough as possible so that potential employers searching for someone with your skills and expertise will easily find your profile. However, it is important to find the right balance to also make it concise and to the point so that potential employers viewing your profile can immediately determine if they are interested in you. Use these 10 pointers to fill out your profile on LinkedIn:

• Establish a vanity URL. Customize the web address of your LinkedIn profile to include your name. This will help people searching for your name find you in the search engines.
• If you are looking to connect with new people, LinkedIn requires them to have your email address in order to connect with someone you do not know if you do not have any other connection to them such as a common group or if you haven’t already done business together. If you want to make the maximum number of connections, put your email address in your name. This will allow new connections interesting in connecting with you to send you a connection request.
• Get creative with your title. It should be descriptive and you should test out to see what looks best with the preview option. So, if you are looking for a new job, it is good to indicate that, but think of something more interesting, like “Looking for my next great adventure in [your field].”
• It is easy to customize the names of your social links and website links. Instead of “my website” put in a title that is descriptive.
• If you do not have your own website, fill out an About.Me profile for free. It helps build out your LinkedIn profile and also increases your social quotient.
• Include a link to your professional blog. Show that you are using your time wisely and blog about your job search and show your expertise in field.
• Adding a video to your profile can add some great personality that is a great addition to all of the text. It can also show your creativity and expertise with video. If you happen to be in the field, show off your skills with YouTube, Vine, or Instagram.
• Be thorough with your profile. Fill in every field available; it does not have to be a great deal of information, just something informative about each field. Use LinkedIn’s guide to fill your profile to as close to 100% complete as possible.
• Blend personal dialog with the professional aspects of LinkedIn. Your resume should be written in the third person, but LinkedIn is still social at heart, so make the information personal; it is fine to speak in the first person on LinkedIn. Your profile should read well so ask a friend or colleague to proof read it and edit it for you.
• Sprinkle in a variety of keywords related to your field and your skills. Do not use the same words over and over again. Not only is it repetitive to someone reading it, but the more variety of keywords you use the more searches you will show up in.

Seek Out LinkedIn Groups

Join up to 50 groups. Groups can greatly enhance your LinkedIn experience while also expanding your reach exponentially. You can send connection requests to fellow members of each group. Now, 50 groups is the maximum amount of groups that you can join, it does not mean you have to join that many; do not overwhelm yourself. You still want to have a good social experience with your LinkedIn connections. Strategically find the right groups for your needs. There might be local meet up groups that are great for networking with local businesses and colleagues that can help you connect with the right people to find your perfect career placement. There are also common interest groups on LinkedIn that might be about your skills, hobbies, school alumni, or location. Be sure to take advantage of all the connections that groups can lead you to and learn all that you can from the messages posted in groups.

Customize Connection Messages

Make sure to change the default connection message when sending an invitation to connect on LinkedIn. Just a quick sentence or two about why you want to connect or how you know that person is sufficient. It only takes a few seconds but really shows that you value the connection.

Visit LinkedIn at Least Twice a Day

The best way to take advantage of the great tool that LinkedIn is, make sure to visit the site often. As with anything, the more you put into it, the more you get out. While you are there, update your profile details at least once a week. When you update your profile details with added skills or a new job, your profile might be included in the weekly or daily email sent out to your connections. Post relevant articles to your profile; the more you post and interact with your connections, the more you will be remembered when one of them is hiring or knows of a company that has an open position. Keeping top of mind is a very important aspect of networking on LinkedIn.

Respect the Community

All social networks need the same respect. It might sound silly, but if you follow the Golden Rule and treat your connections the same way you would like to be treated, you will have a lot of success on LinkedIn. By the Golden Rule, we do not just mean being polite, but behaving the same way you would like to see other LinkedIn members behaving. Posting relevant information and opportunities to your network and give recommendations and endorsements for those connections that you are familiar enough with to do so. Remain ever present and positive with your updates and your posts.

Posted by Melanie Mendoza on Monday October 28 2013, 5:52 AM EST. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Finance. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0