Linkedin: Don't Underestimate its Value to the Job Search

Updating and improving your LinkedIn profile should be at the top of your career improvement resolution list. So should learning to use LinkedIns useful features. Let me explain.

• Do you want recruiters to find you? They will find you if you have a stand-out LinkedIn profile. Recruiters are spending millions of dollars on LinkedIn.

• What about impressing a hiring manager to a great job? It’s standard process for hiring managers to look at your LinkedIn profile once they see your resume. Sometimes they will see your LinkedIn profile first.

  
  

Need more reasons to optimize your LinkedIn profile? How about identifying and getting a meeting with a red-hot job lead?

As the largest professional network LinkedIn is a natural place to look for industry connections. Before you start that search, take some time to make the most of your LinkedIn profile. When you contact someone through the site, your profile is the first place they’ll look.

LinkedIn does not treat all your contacts the same. You can easily message people with whom you are directly connected, called 1st-degree connections in the LinkedIn taxonomy.

People who are connected to those connections are your 2nd-degree connections, and you can invite them to connect. Your 3rd-degree connections are connected to that 2nd-degree group, and the availability of opportunities for you to invite them to connect varies.  

The bottom line is that not everyone is instantly available for you to contact, but there are two options that can help. First, LinkedIn provides a system of groups that its members can join, including industry-specific, corporate, alumni, and trade groups.

Members of any group you join automatically become part of your LinkedIn network. This can be a key first step in landing some of your most important informational interviews.

So, this is the time to make sure that your LinkedIn profile is targeting the next step in your career. More on this next time!

Ready to get strategic about your career? Let’s talk.