LinkedIn.com is one of the fastest growing recruiting tools currently used by Headhunters and professionals alike. If you’re used to networking and taking advantage of business meet and greets, then you can expand your networks and professional name using LinkedIn. If you’re still learning how to network or even what it is, then LinkedIn provides a great foundation on which to build for your “offline” world. If you become adept at using LinkedIn as a career advancement tool, then your opportunities are exponential.
Why use LinkedIn to get recruited?
Headhunters now use LinkedIn as one of their main tools to source new talent for employers. Business owners and employers have also realized how helpful LinkedIn is in finding talented professionals to fill positions, cutting out middlemen and major advertising costs. More than 130,000 recruiting agents, including representatives from every Fortune 500 company, use LinkedIn to search for their future employees and contractors.
Professionals who have built their LinkedIn profiles and are working on their connections report receiving at least one contact a week from Headhunters or from employers who have found them through LinkedIn. This is a great tool for advertising your skills to a much larger audience and also provides networking opportunities with the company of your choice. As you become more familiar with LinkedIn, you’ll begin to realize how this site and its connections can provide a personal introduction to the right person at the right time.
How does LinkedIn work?
Have you heard of the six degrees of separation? LinkedIn works on the principle that by inviting your contacts to join you on LinkedIn, you also gain access to your contacts, and so on. First, this is increasing membership at a rapid rate (over 25 million users currently). Second, this creates a great community of people who can help each other professionally. LinkedIn is a social networking site powered by professionals, so no late night opinion videos or family photos uploaded, just professionals linking to each other.
How do I get started using LinkedIn for career advancement?
A basic membership on LinkedIn.com is free. You just need to join and complete your profile. If you’re serious about using LinkedIn to get recruited and then take the time to set up your profile correctly, you’d just as well offer your resume to a recruiting agent.
The next step is to start connecting! LinkedIn operates interactive tools that can load your address book from various email programs, including Outlook and web-based mail programs. These tools automatically identify any member of your address book who is already a member of LinkedIn. Review and choose carefully who you want to invite to become a connection. Note: Your connections will be visible to the rest of your connections.
You can also reconnect with old classmates and colleagues using the peer reconnection Y Classmate Reconnection instruments. This is a great way to expand your connections and you never know who may be working for which potential employer. Profiles with more than 20 connections have a better chance of success.
TIPS: Don’t just put someone’s email address or business card into your contact manager, see if they’re on LinkedIn too. A few minutes a month can give you a huge network of connections that can access your profile.
How can I use LinkedIn to get recruited?
Here are some quick tips on how to optimize your chances of getting hired through LinkedIn. They are relevant both for people who want to advance their careers, freelancers or consultants, and for business owners who want to expand their reach:
1. Don’t just sit on your profile – work with your colleagues, former employers, clients, and professional contacts to get recommendations. Having recommendations on your LinkedIn profile is gold in terms of recruiting. You can also use your LinkedIn profile as a central repository for recommendations instead of having to re-contact your references every time you apply for a job. Businesses can also use this as a tool to centralize their testimonials for prospective clients. You can then refer potential employers to your LinkedIn profile to see recommendations.
2. Use keywords when preparing your profile, take advantage of search engine optimization whenever possible, while making sure your profile looks professional. For example, a systems analyst familiar with business intelligence software: work to get the attention of your target audience. If you have a professional or promotional blog, you can connect your blog URL to your LinkedIn profile. Again, keywords, professional. You can also personalize your LinkedIn profile by customizing the URL to reflect your name and ensure that you allow public users to view your full profile. LinkedIn is friends with the major search engines, giving you the opportunity to get a higher return from search results.
3. You can download the JobInsider Toolbar from LinkedIn. If you’re searching for open positions on many of the popular job sites, the JobInsider toolbar gives you an inside track. When you view a listing, JobInsider will search for your internal connections at the prospective company. Using your connections you can get insider information, tips, and maybe even a helpful recommendation.
4. Join Relevant Groups – You can join professional, alumni, industry, and corporate alumni groups listed on LinkedIn. This is a great way to showcase your profile and increase your connections. You can also create groups, bringing together your own core network of like-minded professionals.
5. People have gotten amazing results just by asking and answering questions using LinkedIn’s Q&A tool. Try credibility instead of self-promotion.
6. Take a few milliseconds to keep an eye out for LinkedIn notices arriving in your inbox. It’s useful insider intelligence to see who’s connecting with whom and what your friends, colleagues, and former bosses are doing. Pretty soon, with a big enough network, you can start building your connections in the right direction.
7. There are also mega sites that increase connection, like http://www.toplinked.com. Offering to help you expand your connections exponentially as long as you agree to some basic conditions, like never turning down an invitation to connect with someone referred by the site. Remember the more connections, the better opportunities for career advancement and the chance of being recruited.
8. Know your “network statistics” under the People section of your LinkedIn profile. This will give you a summary of the industries your connections are related to. By clicking on an industry of interest, you can see the connections and how many degrees of separation there are between you and them. Using your common connections as a base, you can introduce yourself to relevant people.
9. You can also choose to upgrade your account to Premium for a cost. This offers more features for recruiting on LinkedIn. Note: if you downgrade later, you will lose all your connections and profile and have to start over.
10. Last word on profiles: It’s not just about who you’re currently working for or what you’re currently doing. Every time you update your profile with a previous employer or qualification, LinkedIn will automatically search for other people who worked or attended classes during the same time period. Your ancient history could open the door to tomorrow’s dream job!