Saturday, February 8, 2014

How To Use LinkedIn

THIS GUY asked why he's not getting jobs out of LinkedIn since he's on there "daily" and has tons of connections and, in his opinion, a great profile.

On there daily doing what?  Has he researched how to create/tweak/use a LinkedIn profile on Google and get more objective input into how his profile needs to be structured and his time on LinkedIn optimized other than his own opinion?  Has he taken a look at those who recently got jobs or reached job anniversaries according to his LinkedIn news feed and really analyzed any differences between their LinkedIn profile and his?



LinkedIn helps you get jobs by showing you are not living under a rock and know how to position yourself with a professional online presence.  Some places expect you to have a LinkedIn and ask what is it/what name is it listed under, not IF you have one.   And that's the ones you may encounter either on another career site or offline in person/via phone.

LinkedIn helps you get jobs by allowing you to research the heck out of the people you are scheduled to phone interview or face to face interview with.  It's now considered de rigeur, a normal part of doing your homework for an interview to research whatever you can see of the interviewer's LinkedIn without adding them (although recruiters are fine to add before during or after the process).  Speaking of adding people, try not to add just everybody who sends you a request, because these people are going to be privy to your work history.  All college buddies and coworkers that you actually respected/liked back then and any recruiter who has been professional/pleasant in their dealings with you are great to add, any clients from a business or volunteer effort you were a part of or created are also great to have as connections.  Unless a random stranger who sent an add request has a title of "recruiter" or "HR something-or-other", I don't add them.  It's not personal like Facebook, but having a large pointless set of connections isn't how I do it.  Try to add with a purpose.

LinkedIn helps you get jobs by having jobs for you to apply to, and you can normally see the LinkedIn profile of the person that posted it, to address any cover letter sent, to them!



LinkedIn helps you give a subtle insight into your thought process on current events/issues in the business world when both recruiters/hiring managers and/or the strangers on LinkedIn who read your post and may not know you today but may know you tomorrow, come across your recent comments.  For people who aren't all over the Facebook/Twitter/Instagram type of life, having a business-related set of forums to post ideas is almost as great as having a blog to showcase them.

LinkedIn works as well in one most perfect way to help you get a job: RECOMMENDATIONS!  Standing recommendations posted by people you have worked with, worked for, or been taught by in school go a LONG way to solidifying you as a desirable candidate, so make it a point if you do nothing else to get 1or 2 coworkers, bosses, clients, even people or companies you volunteered with, to speak to their experience with your work and talent as it relates to whatever section of your resume they are connected to.  LinkedIn in is a nice living resume and the references standing right there with it are one of the best tools to use in it.

I have gotten interviews and callbacks off applying for LinkedIn jobs, and remembering a colleague may not have been sitting next to me at work but always got help from me resolving their problems and making their lives easier means if I can remember emails/conversations at work with that person helping them fix issues, I can request via LinkedIn that they send me a recommendation.  Some will, some won't, no hard feelings, but the ones that will make the resume shine that much brighter.  If you did volunteer work or even ran an entrepreneurial venture, get references for those areas and turn your resume from a semi-precious stone into a diamond.



And keep it current only if the current info helps you.  Because at the end of the day, a current resume and your discussion of your job history if the resume gets you an interview can fill in any gaps.  Don't treat it like an IRS transcript: it should match what's on your resume unless for space reasons you left some positions and volunteer work/achievements off your resume, but have them on LinkedIn and are fully prepared to discuss.

This part I need to do better with, but use it to check in even once a month or so with the "core" group as this article mentions, or if they are not online much, to remind you who was willing to be a reference offline or on the site, and shoot them an inbox message sometimes, or call them or text them sometimes, way before you need anything from them, and keep it up so when you do need something it's not coming across like you only talk to them when you need them.  Ask their professional advice once in a while (after keeping up semi-regular but not harassing contact) on an area they have shown themselves to be particularly savvy in.  I have a contact on my LinkedIn that I have not worked directly with much even though we did work at the same company, but we had excellent rapport while we worked at the same company and he was always interested in helping me think about what's best for my situation and my bottom line, just a serious interest in my wellbeing, so I run career updates by him at times and get help with certain decisions from him via inbox even though we worked at opposite corners of the office when at the same company.  He was someone who rose fast at a young age and I admired that he had earned himself a corner office and fully knew his worth, both on the job when dealing with customers and potential customers (he was in sales), and when interacting or advising personally.

The whole job search process including networking is like courting someone (the job or career goal) with the intention of getting from that first date impression to marriage (and the pre-nup aka salary negotiations). :)