The boom of social networking media is, indeed, useful for a huge number of individuals, business owners, suppliers, and executives. Through these social networking sites, one can build on their connection and increase the chances of obtaining new contacts and networks useful for their businesses. But did you know that you can use social networking sites such as LinkedIn in job search?
Various individuals have signed up for an account in LinkedIn; thus, increasing the number of its members to 500 million in over 200 countries worldwide. The number is continuously growing as it is estimated that a new client signs up with LinkedIn in every second. Various individuals have created their accounts in LinkedIn, from executives to recruiters. This only shows the diverse opportunities and chances for an individual to obtain information about their target companies and finding the right networks that can help them get to their target jobs.
Tips to Optimize LinkedIn in Job Search
Here are some tips that you can do in order to maximize your LinkedIn use and eventually, increase your job leads and interview requests:
Fill out your profile and make sure you do it well
Like in Facebook, it is important that you appear as professional and as competent in your LinkedIn account. Remember, your LinkedIn is a virtual representation of you. That said, it is, nonetheless, important that you give proper consideration to the content of your LinkedIn profile.
According to LinkedIn, there is a higher possibility to find opportunities in LinkedIn if the user has a complete profile. LinkedIn has a neat tool that gauges the “completeness” of a profile and makes suggestions on how it can be improved further.
Expand your network
Aside from creating an account on LinkedIn, it is also important that you pay attention to the reach of your network. Having a broader pool of contacts can help you gather more updates and leads to where the best jobs are.
Invite people to try LinkedIn in job search
It is worth inviting people whom you know reasonably well instead of resorting to spam invitations. If you think you know others who might not be connected through LinkedIn, send them email invitations and start getting instant connections. The worst thing that can happen is they’ll ignore your e-mail. Nonetheless, there is still that thinking that if you arrived at LinkedIn via an invitation, why not others?
Check on others who are already on LinkedIn
After creating an account and inviting friends and colleagues to your LinkedIn account, the next thing that you can do is to search for people you know who are already in LinkedIn. Conduct a search on your school, former employer or company, and other location where you can find people who you might know. Add them to your network as you will never know who will be a useful contact in the future.
Ask for introductions
Since you might find a professional out there who works at your dream company but would look at you as a total stranger and an unfortunate job seeker, then it is important to get yourself introduced to him. For this need, LinkedIn has a feature that enables you to request introductions through your existing network.
So how does this work? Once you gain enough connections in LinkedIn in job search, you can browse their contacts and find anyone useful to your career search. Once you found someone “ideal,” you can request an introduction. LinkedIn’s free account comes with five (5) introductions.
Edit your public
When you create an account at LinkedIn, you get two profiles: a regular one and a public one. The regular one can be seen by everyone who has a LinkedIn account and the public profile can be viewed publicly or by everyone whether they have an account or not.
Public profiles are good and can help you increase your online presence. It’s because it comes out on search engine results. Moreover, readers can get to look at it even if they don’t have LinkedIn accounts.
Gather recommendations for LinkedIn in job search
Getting or requesting for recommendations is essential to your LinkedIn account especially during job search. Having recommendations make you look and feel more reliable and trustworthy.
You can get a recommendation simply by asking for it. Ask people to join LinkedIn and find people who have worked for you. Ask for their testimonials, and in return, give them one too.
Promote, promote, promote!
Once you finished with LinkedIn in job search, the next thing that you have to do is to promote it. Promoting your LinkedIn will definitely help increase and build your network. You can use your web site or other social media to promote your profile.
Allan Shelton holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration and a regular magazine contributor on career development.
Image Source: isorepublic.com
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