5 Easy Ways to Boost Your Job Search with LinkedIn Now

According to LinkedIn 85% of US companies plan to recruit on their site. As a job seeker here is your opportunity to connect and attract essential supporters in your search. Gone are the days of simply applying to hundreds of postings on job boards hoping for a response. LinkedIn has created more tangible opportunities for job seekers, recruiters and hiring managers to connect with one another before an application is ever submitted and in some cases before a job is ever posted.

Right now more than 20,000 companies in the US recruit via LinkedIn (Source: The Economic Graph). I rarely apply for jobs on company websites and typically learn of new opportunities through my network of recruiters right here on LinkedIn. Here I’ll share the steps I’ve taken to attract and connect with recruiters and career champions to advance my career. 

First Impressions

If the goal is to land your dream job, then putting your best foot forward is a must. First impressions are everything and what better way to showcase your awesomeness than with a buttoned-up profile. I see so many job seekers with incomplete profiles that wonder why recruiters aren’t connecting with them.

You can start by choosing a nice professional profile image…not the low res cropped image from your cousin’s wedding ten years ago. If you don’t have a professional image you may want to hire a photographer to capture that perfect headshot.

LinkedIn users who include a profile photo receive 21x more profile views and up to 36x more messages. (Source: LinkedIn)

Don’t just cut and paste your resume into the careers sections, you want to highlight your greatness. The idea is to draw them in and make them want to connect with you. Provide a clear understanding of your skills and capabilities. 

Make sure your headline clearly states what you do or the position you are searching for. The vague “Open to New Opportunities” headline doesn’t define what type of opportunities you’re searching for, whether it be industry or job title. Remember, the goal is to attract people to your profile and vague headlines won’t accomplish that. 

Make sure you list at least 5 of your top skills on your profile. Those skills should be relevant to the type of role you’re most interested in. Each month LinkedIn provides a list of the top skills searched. Use that list as a starting point for your profile and stay current on the latest trends.

Listing 5 or more skills on your LinkedIn profile can lead to up to 17x more views. (Source: LinkedIn)

Keywords Are Everything

Once your profile is complete you must make sure you’re using the appropriate language to describe your background and skills. Fifteen years ago marketing operations and sales enablement weren’t the buzzwords they are now so I’ve updated my information to reflect that. An easy way to identify keywords is to look at positions you’re interested in and make sure your descriptions are similar. DO NOT copy and paste though, be original.  

Think of keywords as salt when you’re cooking – too much and it becomes overpowering, while not enough salt makes your meal too bland. You have to find the perfect balance of keywords. Your descriptions should read naturally so make sure they aren’t stuffed with buzzwords. You’ll also want to humanize your profile so viewers get a sense of you and your personality.

The average user spends 17 minutes on LinkedIn in a month. (Source: Omnicore)

Turn on Career Interests and Career Advice

The quickest and easiest way to gain traction is to turn on your career interests. Under Career Interests in the Jobs section, you can indicate where you are in your search, desired job titles and even preferred commute. Recruiters and job posters searching LinkedIn for someone with your skillset will see that you’re open to opportunities and reach out to you if they feel you’re a good fit. Before you take this step you’ll want to have an optimized profile. Imagine turning on Career Interests only to have a recruiter land on your incomplete profile…YIKES! 

Seeking career advice can also benefit you in your search. LinkedIn will match you with potential mentors based on certain areas of expertise. Imagine the knowledge you could gain by fostering a connection with an executive or well-connected influencer in your preferred industry.

Get Engaged!

For an introvert like me engagement can be a little scary, but it is necessary to build your network.  Engagement is as simple as sharing and commenting on posts, even sending a kudos or congrats when big news is shared. Engagement shouldn’t be self-serving and by that I mean don’t send a congrats and immediately follow up with a request for help. Be genuine. Another way to engage is to reach out to current and former employees at your dream companies and simply ask if they’d be open to a 15 – 20 minute chat about what it’s like to work for that company. You can also do this with people who have a skillset, background, or position you’re interested in. I’ve had a few people reach out to me about my Marketing Strategy Certificate from Cornell University wanting to learn more about the program from an actual student. Engagement can be that simple.

Flex your subject matter expertise!

Join the converstion. Each week nearly 30,000 long-form posts are added to Linkedin on a wide variety of topics so why not join the conversation? If you have deep knowledge on a topic you can start a blog or post articles or videos discussing different aspects of the subject. Though LinkedIn groups aren’t as popular as they used to be, there is still value in joining groups where you can contribute your ideas and knowledge. 

These are just few methods you can use for your job search on Linkedin that are easy to implement. I’ve optimized my LinkedIn profile to the point where recruiters are reaching out to me with solid opportunities before I ever have a chance to open my job search alerts. If you’d like to do the same, join me as I partner with Talia Mejia of the MarketinGurus to host an online workshop on Saturday, August 3 where we teach you  how to turn these five tips into a complete job search strategy. We’ll teach you everything you need to know to get recruiters filling your inbox. Learn more about the online workshop here.