LinkedIn Strategies for Job Seekers: 6 Ways to Improve Your Chances At Landing Your Dream Job
LinkedIn can be frustrating.
LinkedIn can be a place filled with spam messages and fake job posts.
LinkedIn is also the place where many of us spend our time on social media. We post updates about our professional life, get our news and connect with friends and co-workers.
When it comes time to look for a job though, LinkedIn can be a difficult place to be.
The problem is that job seekers want instant results when they’re looking for a job on LinkedIn. Sadly, that’s not how it works for a majority of people.
It would be great to just click on the jobs tab, find the job you want, apply and then get the interview. It would also be great to win the lttery.
What You Need to Know
Finding a job on LinkedIn TAKES TIME. It could take weeks, months or even…. YEARS
Before you fall out of your chair in terror, I’ve put together 6 LinkedIn Strategies for Job Seekers that should help you land your next job.
***REMEMBER**** This is not guaranteed to land you a job immediately. Anyone who makes that guarantee is full of sh***t so steer clear of those people.
6 LinkedIn Strategies for Job Seekers
LinkedIn Strategy #1: Clean Up Your Profile Section
Do you hate updating your resume? Your social media profiles? You probably filled it out when you first started because you had to and then forgot about it.
My Facebook page still says I’m working at the Movie Theater…somewhere I worked when I was in High School…. I haven’t been in High School in a long time.
The point is, don’t forget about your Profile page, it’s arguably the most important one.
Here’s How to Make It Great:
· Have a catchy and informative Headline.
· Make sure you mark that you are open for work.
· Make your About section show how valuable you are.
· Make sure your experiences are update to date, have targeted and concise bullets to show how you were of value to the companies you worked for.
· Make sure you list the maximum of 50 skills.
If all this seems overwhelming, it’s okay, it can be. Do a little at a time. Just make sure you don’t leave anything blank.
This is a prospective employers first impression of you so it should be as presentable as possible.
Also, you’re going to want to have a headshot that fits the type of role you’re looking to get. If you want to be a lawyer, then show a picture of you dressing how a lawyer would dress. If you want to be a News Producer, show something a little less formal.
Pro Tip:
Set time aside every couple of months to revisit your profile to make sure you’re showing your best self to the rest of LinkedIn.
LinkedIn Strategy #2: Create and Share Content
Whether it’s your own content or something you’ve found interesting, post it. Keep in mind it should be high quality content, and it should be focused in the field you’re looking to get into or advance in.
Besides posting bad content, the worst thing you can do is be someone who just lurks and looks at other people’s profiles with nothing to show on their own.
I’ve had people send me LinkedIn connection requests and their profile is completely bare. No profile picture, no content in their profile and no original or shared content by them. In my head, there’s absolutely no way it’s a real person so I immediately decline them.
If you’re a real, actual person, who has a profile that says you haven’t shared any content yet, start sharing, because it’ll make people feel more comfortable that you’re a real person and not a spammer.
Pro Tip for Success:
When posting content, you’ll need to make sure you use the right hashtags to get as many eyeballs on it as possible. If you don’t include hashtags, very few people will see any content that you post on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn Strategy #3: Join and Participate in Groups
I took a look before writing this and saw I’m in 22 LinkedIn groups. You might think that’s way too many or it’s not enough, but it’s a good number for me.
LinkedIn Groups are important because it’s a great way to develop connections.
What You Shouldn’t Do in a LinkedIn Group:
· Post unsolicited comments. Some groups say in the rules not to spam the group with your content or asking for a job. So be careful.
· Don’t send connection requests to everyone as soon as you join. You’ll come across as spammy.
· Comment just for the sake of commenting. Be valuable and say valuable things.
LinkedIn Groups are a slow burn. You aren’t going to join a group and then magically find a job posting and get a job. When you join a group, see what the conversation is about and if you can add to it, do it, and if not wait until someone posts something else or makes a thought out post yourself.
Another tip that will help you in your groups is to check out the size of the groups before you join.
I saw a group that was exactly what I was looking for, but then saw it only had 100 people. I didn’t want to waste time in a group with 100 people when there was a similar group with a couple thousand people. The more people in the group, the more of a chance to make meaningful connections.
LinkedIn Strategy #4: Connect Strategically:
Here’s a funny story from a college friend of mine who was looking to break into the sports industry after graduating college.
They got a LinkedIn message from someone with a profile that said they worked in HR at ESPN and was wondering if my friend was interested in a role there. He was excited and said yes and immediately connected with the person.
This person asked for my friend’s resume, which he sent immediately, and the next day, the profile vanished.
Sadly, my friend got “Catfished” as the kids say (tricked by a fake profile for you old people). He didn’t do much vetting of the random person that sent him a message and got his hopes up for no reason.
Long way of saying, when you’re dealing with people on LinkedIn, make sure you’re smart about who you’re connecting with.
Is their profile legit? You should always feel confident about this answer before connecting with anyone.
Pro Tips for Success:
1. Search for people to connect with by filtering on companies you are interested in working at.
2. Next, look to connect with 2nd connections first, because it might be easier to get a response.
3. When making a connection request, always include a personalized note. Always ask a question or make a comment that turns the conversation towards the person you want to connect with.
4. NEVER ASK FOR SOMETHING WHEN CONNECTING
Thinking of connecting with someone as dating. You aren’t going to ask a perspective mate for something before even saying hi and getting to know them.
Connections are potential relationships that need to be built. Take it slow.
LinkedIn Strategy #5 Request Reccomendations
Remember that saying “Don’t burn bridges”, well, this is where not burning bridges in your professional career comes in handy.
If you’ve made strong connections with co-workers, managers or clients along the way, don’t be afraid to ask them to write a recommendation on your profile.
The worst thing that could happen is they say no, and then you know they aren’t someone you can rely on down the road anyway.
Someone with a profile full of recommendations looks a lot better to prospective employers than someone with none. Even though it may not be something on the top of mind when on LinkedIn, a recommendation from someone with a strong presence on LinkedIn is extremely valuable.
Pro Tip for Success:
Offer to write a recommendation in return for a recommendation. There’s no harm in giving someone a little incentive for writing you a recommendation.
LinkedIn Strategy #6: Follow Companies and Influencers
Last but not least, make sure you’re following companies of interest. Just like with groups, following companies is important and can help you get noticed by places you’re interested in.
Be careful here though to not comment or post too often just to get noticed. You’ll really want to make sure that you post valuable content to a company’s page.
This goes for following Influencers as well. Since they have thousands of followers, it’ll be tough for you to get noticed. Commenting generic things won’t do you any good, so put some thought in before posting.
What To Do Next
Now that you’ve read through the strategies, start by taking one or two of them and testing them out to see how they work for you.
I would suggest cleaning up that profile before you do anything since that will really set the tone for your LinkedIn experience.
If you need help with cleaning up your profile or need to talk through your LinkedIn strategies with a professional, your friends and Career Coaches at Your Career Strategy are here to help. Click here to book an absolutely free 45 minute discovery call to come up with a plan that’s right for you.
Also, if you want to take a look at 10 strategies to help you find a job on LinkedIn, click here.
Now get out there and become a Master of LinkedIn!