How To Use LinkedIn for Job Searching

The world of job hunting is changing dramatically right now, primarily because of social media. If you haven’t been paying attention to social media, and particularly to LinkedIn, you have some catching up to do. You cannot afford to ignore LinkedIn today.

I find many job seekers confuse the intelligent use of social media with a loss of privacy. This is a serious mistake:

An “invisible” job seeker today is one often viewed by recruiters and potential employers with some suspicion. It is rare to find no signs of online activity for someone, and lack of visibility is particularly concerning when a job seeker is not present online. Often such invisibility is a bad sign: are you out of touch, behind the times, or using a false name?
In addition, you can be mistaken for someone else with the same name who has done something bad that is visible when a recruiter or potential employer researches your name online.

People often reveal far to much in sites like Facebook and Twitter. It is even possible with LinkedIn if you try hard enough, getting carried away with the fun of meeting new people, sharing your opinion with your peers, and making jokes.

A growing number of recruiters indicate that they are likely to look at a candidate’s social profile, and most of the recruiters would reconsider a candidate based on what they found – both positive and negative.
With over 500 million members in over 200 countries (in Q3, 2017), LinkedIn is the most “grown-up” and professional of the social media network venues currently available. In comparison with Facebook, LinkedIn is also the most respectful of member privacy.

The use of social media for recruiting has been expanding, and the trend is expected to continue.

LinkedIn is clearly in the lead in many ways.

Hiring: When it comes to hiring, 78% of recruiters have hired through a social network, and the leading network for hiring is LinkedIn by a very wide margin (see the image on the left). While 92% of recruiters have hired through LinkedIn, only 24% have hired through Facebook, and 14% have hired through Twitter.

Recruiting: Most of the 94% of recruiters who use (or will use) social networks for recruiting will be using LinkedIn, and the preference for LinkedIn is significant with 94% of the “social” recruiters using it vs. 65% of social recruiters using Facebook and 55% of social recruiters using Twitter.
Globally, LinkedIn is the most popular site for recruiters by far, as the data below reveals and that trend is spreading to Kenya. Of the social recruiters, LinkedIn clearly dominates in key uses, according to a recent JobVite survey:

95% of recruiters use LinkedIn to search for candidates.
95% use LinkedIn to contact candidates
93% use LinkedIn to “keep tabs on” potential candidates.
93% use LinkedIn to “vet candidates pre-interview” (vs. 32% on Facebook and 18% on Twitter).
92% posted jobs on LinkedIn (vs. 48% on Facebook and 39% on Twitter).

Recruiters indicated that they checked a candidates LinkedIn Profile for:

Professional experience
Length of professional tenure
Specific hard skills

So, investing time in learning how to leverage social media for your job search, and to leverage LinkedIn, in particular, will be time well spent for you.

Do remember that social networks are only another method for people to connect. You will need more than a LinkedIn Profile. You will need to participate intelligently and carefully in LinkedIn Groups to establish a business-like online presence for yourself. Then, you’ll need to connect with other human beings, off-line, usually to close the deal and land the job.
As with all the social media, technology and the best methods of leveraging technology changes often. This section of Job-Hunt will help you stay current with LinkedIn.

Your Solid Base: An All-Star LinkedIn Profile

An “All-Star Profile” (a.k.a. “complete Profile”) is unavoidable for successful visibility and credibility on LinkedIn. A complete LinkedIn Profile gives you the capability to include the keywords that are essential for your job search.
An All-Star Profile has these elements:

A Profile photo —
This photo should be only you (no kids, friends, or pets), looking friendly, and dressed appropriately for your profession. Do NOT avoid including this photo! Without a photo on your Profile, it is invisible.
Your Professional Headline —
The Headline for your Profile should be accurate, descriptive, and more than simply your job title and employer name (the default). The Headline is an essential element of a successful LinkedIn Profile. Read Fast Formula for a Powerful LinkedIn Headline for more information.
Your location —
For LinkedIn, your location is a city and state or region, not your address!
An up-to-date current position —
LinkedIn gives you 2,000 spaces, so you can and should describe the position in as much detail as possible. Focus on your accomplishments, which are much more than a bulleted list of “responsible for” items. Also describe your employer unless it is an extremely well-known organization.
Two past positions —
Again, describe each position in detail. Like the current position, you have 2,000 spaces to use for each of your other jobs, too. Highlight your successes as well as those of your employer.
Your education —
Include college degrees (or years in college), certifications, and other relevant professional training. Read Hidden LinkedIn Networking Tool: Education to learn more about leveraging your schools for your job search.
Your skills (minimum of 3) —
Choose the ones most relevant to you and your profession.
At least 50 connections —
And more are better, of course, because you become more visible in LinkedIn search results based on the size of your LinkedIn network. If you are not in someone’s network (first, second, or third degree connection), you won’t be visible to them unless they have a premium/paid account.

Once your Profile is completed, focus on keeping it up-to-date. Tweak your keywords to be current, reflecting your accomplishments and focus on the job you want next.

Stay Active: Visible and Reachable

What you share is visible on your LinkedIn Profile in a section near the top of your Profile titled, “[your first name] Articles & Activity.” People who are considering hiring you may look to see what you are publishing and sharing on LinkedIn. Keep those folks in mind when you write an article and publish it on LinkedIn. Also, remember them when you hit the “Like” button on someone’s post.

Being active on LinkedIn tells recruiters that you are reachable and, probably, responsive if they do reach out. Hopefully, your activity also demonstrates your written communications skills and proves that you are a knowledgeable and intelligent person who is up-to-date in your field. For more information, read How to Leverage LinkedIn Status Updates for Your Job Search.

When you are visible, also be easily contacted. Carefully, make contact information visible on your Profile. This allows recruiters, who are always in a hurry, to quickly reach out to you, whether or not they pay LinkedIn for a premium account. Read Optimizing Your LinkedIn Contact Information for a way to be easier to reach without putting your job or your privacy at risk.

READ: How to Use Twitter for Job Searching

Searching for Jobs on LinkedIn

You can search and apply for job opportunities based on keyword, title, or location. You can also save your search and access it later.
To search for a job:

Click the Jobs icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage.
In the Search jobs field, type a job title, keyword, or company name.
You can use the Search location field to type a city name, state/province/territory name, or country name.
Click Search.
Use the filters at the top of the page to further refine your search by Date Posted, LinkedIn Features (including In Your Network, Under 10 Applicants, and Easy Apply), Company, Experience Level, and more. Click All filters to view additional filter options.
- You can click the Sort by dropdown at the top of the your search results to sort your search results by Relevance or Post Date.
- The number of days the job has been posted for is listed at the bottom of each job summary.
Click a job title to view the job details.
Click Easy Apply or Apply (options may vary).

Getting Email Alerts for New Job Postings

You can receive email alerts for new jobs posted on LinkedIn that match your general search criteria or that are recommended to you from the Jobs You May Be Interested In feature. An email alert can be created through the Job Alerts feature on the Jobs results page of LinkedIn.com:

Search for a job on LinkedIn.
To the right of LinkedIn’s job search results page, click Set a job alert.
Select how often you’d like to receive an email alert about new jobs on LinkedIn.com that fit those specific search parameters.
- Alerts can be sent daily or weekly.
- Check the boxes next to Email and Mobile and desktop, if you would also like to be notified of new jobs via LinkedIn.com and the LinkedIn Job Search app, if applicable.
Click Save.

You can also set up a Job Alert if you search for jobs through a search engine and land on a LinkedIn jobs page, even if you don’t have a LinkedIn profile.
To set up a Job Alert as a guest:

At the bottom of LinkedIn’s job search results page, enter your email address and click Create job alert. You can also enter your email address and click the Create job alert button in the upper left corner of the page.
Click Create job alert to save. Once activated, you’ll begin to receive daily emails for that job search.

Sources: Job-hunt.org

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