Are you Using LinkedIn Effectively for Your Job Search?

First of all, if you’re not using LinkedIn, why not? LinkedIn is social media dedicated to employers. The person looking to offer you a job may well be sitting on there at this current moment. If you’re not using it set up a profile right now!

Now we have got that out of the way, let’s get on to it.

Your Profile

Make sure that your profile tells a potential employer exactly who you are and what you do. First, you need to make it clear you are open to new opportunities and actively looking for work (if you’re not already employed). The easiest way to do this is to make it clear on the first line of your profile, the headline. LinkedIn has now also introduced a ‘looking for work’ border for your image, so feel free to add that too. 

From here you need to update your profile (and keep it up to date). Think of your profile as your online CV, add all of your work and education achievements here, as well as any additional courses you have undertaken. Try and make your profile as interesting as possible, linking directly to any key examples of your experience.

Connections 

Are you connected to the relevant people? Fill your feed with content you want to see and with people you are interested in hearing from, by connecting with people in your industry. This is a great way to hear from people that you usually wouldn’t get to speak to and keep informed on topics within the areas you are interested in.

Get Noticed 

Post relevant content and engage! In the competitive job market, we have found ourselves in, it’s now more important than ever to get noticed. Some of the easiest ways to do this are to post regularly and engage with your connection’s posts. This will help you get noticed by those who you may not get a chance to communicate with outside of LinkedIn.

Take Insight 

LinkedIn can be used as a tool to gain insight on different businesses where you didn’t have access before, this makes it so unique. Here you can search company structure and job titles, but also individual interests and work history. It makes it easier than ever before to truly understand companies that you are applying to. This unique insight makes it a key tool in the modern-day job search.