125 LinkedIn Job Search Tips. Copyright 2013 Position Ignition 125 LinkedIn Job Search Tips

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1 125 LinkedIn Job Search Tips 1

2 LinkedIn is the world s biggest social networking website for professionals. Founded in 2002 and launched in 2003, the site currently has in excess of 100 million members in more than 200 countries and territories. People use LinkedIn to make connections with potential hires, discuss and find out more about the present state of their profession, sector and industry, impart knowledge and information to others and seek out opportunities for freelance/portfolio work and employment. This ebook will look at the latter use for LinkedIn, giving you practical, expert tips for a successful job search using the network. Although many of us are on LinkedIn, few of us truly know how to make the most of it, especially for job search. There s so much more to seeking work on LinkedIn than browsing the job listings. Now, with this ebook packed full of advice from our Career Guides, you can tap into LinkedIn as the vital job search resource it is. In the following pages, you ll build upon your knowledge of: Filling in your profile to attract employers attention Using the applications to enhance your profile Connecting with people who will be of value to you in your job search Getting recommendations as useful as any traditional reference Using groups and group discussions to your advantage Showcasing your areas of knowledge and expertise in the Q&A Picking out the right opportunities from the job listings Researching potential employers 2

3 Creating Your LinkedIn Profile The first and most important thing to do upon joining LinkedIn is to fill in your profile in as much and as relevant detail as you can. Your profile page is the go-to place for people who want to find out more about you, having seen you comment on a discussion in a group, or answer a question in the Q&A. It s the first impression you make on people who are browsing LinkedIn profiles or Googling certain terms. The profile offers a marvellous opportunity to tell the world about your experience, skills and accomplishments it s an opportunity not to be wasted. 1. Before even creating your profile, get clear on what you re looking for. What is your target job? Instead of aimlessly considering lots of different types of role or even career, take time to choose just one type of position that aligns with your strengths, passions, preferences and constraints. 2. Think about what you want your LinkedIn profile for and who precisely you want to be seeing it. Is it for recruiters, future employers, headhunters, HR personnel or potential business partners or someone else? 3

4 3. What do you want to happen when people have seen your profile? Do you want them to contact you personally or via LinkedIn itself? Think about what is best for what you are after. If you want them to contact you directly, make sure your address is easy to remember and make sure that it is professional. If you want them to contact you via LinkedIn, make sure that it s easy for them to connect with you. 4. Add a picture: Networking is personal; you are making a personal connection with another human being. Part of that is being able to see who you are connecting with. With so many spammers and fake profiles on LinkedIn and other social media sites, why not show people who you are and make that personal networking connection. 5. Don t just upload any old picture of yourself, but preferably a position headshot. You wouldn t rock up to a job interview in your track-suit, so present yourself smartly on LinkedIn too. 6. Instead of having the standard URL that LinkedIn automatically assigns you, customize your URL to you! Position Ignition co-founder Nisa Chitakasem s URL is If someone searches for Nisa s name they find her right at the top. Make sure you re as easy to locate, because you never know when someone might be looking specifically for you to offer you work. 7. Spend time on your tagline: You may think the tagline is just one line and indeed it is, but it is a significant line. As you travel around LinkedIn, you ll see people s taglines in several places, such as the Answers function, whenever someone asks or answers a question. A tagline is designed for immediate impact and to give you an instant idea of what someone or something is all about. Think carefully about how to introduce what you re about in your tagline. 4

5 8. Make sure that it s easy to find you. Think about the words you use across your profile and make sure that certain keywords are included so that you show up when people search for something that might be relevant to you. 9. If you can, include the job you want rather than the job you have in your tagline employers often search by job title when searching for potential candidates. 10. Include both current and previous roles in your profile. Treat it as a CV or an application form put down the particular positions relevant to the type of work you re looking for now. 11. Also add any board, advisory, consulting or voluntary positions you ve held. The experience you gained in these roles can be just as valuable as that gained through conventional jobs. 12. Add detail to each role listed by explaining what the organisation did and what you did within the organisation. 13. Don t overload your profile with too much information. Keep it clear, concise and to the point. Highlight your main achievements and what you want to be known and recognised for. 14. Fill in your education details so that people can see what and where you studied, what you may have enjoyed doing and what skills you have gained from your studies. Highlight any achievements, awards or top grades you have. If future employers have studied at the same University as you or have enjoyed similar hobbies, they may relate to you better than if they hadn t known these things about you. 5

6 15. Adding what subjects you studied to the education fields can give people a sense of what your areas of expertise are or can help them to see you as a rounded individual with your various fields of interest and knowledge. 16. Get clear about what you want and make sure your profile supports this. Think about your target and mould your profile so it is focused on this and that there is a clear structure and shape to it. 17. Think about the people who will be reading and coming across your profile. What type of language do they use? What types of words and phrases will they relate well to? Construct your profile with these in mind. 18. You can also list the extra-curricular activities and societies you were involved in at school and university. By doing so, you re showing that you re rounded as a person and that you took an interest in these areas before looking for your first job. Being involved in societies can show commitment, initiative and exploration outside of your main studies. 19. You have the option to include three links on your profile. These can be, but not limited to, to your personal website, current employer s website, your blog, a RSS feed or your portfolio. By directing people to any of these, you re giving them the opportunity to find out more about you, your current work and projects, the type of organisation you work for or your work experiences and achievements. Think about which of these if any may be helpful to your job search. 20. Take the time to think of names for your links, instead of leaving them as my company or my website. For instance, if you currently work for Allen & Overy, replace my company with Allen & Overy when you link to its site. 6

7 21. When you click through to the page for editing your website links, you can also add some other additional information about yourself. Don t disregard these fields as anything you put about yourself could be relevant to the right browsing employer. 22. The first of these fields, underneath websites, is interests. If you re looking for a job related to one of your interests, it makes sense to mention this interest. For instance, if you re looking to break into the tourism industry because you enjoy travel and exploration of other cultures, put Travel as an interest. 23. The next field is Groups and Associations. If you re a member of a group, club or association that s related to the field you re seeking a job in, type in the group so people can see how involved and devoted in your target field you already are. 24. The last field in this section is for honours & awards. There is real benefit to showcasing achievements you ve been formally rewarded for. There s no need to list every single honour you ve received since you were at nursery school, but honours that may seem obscure could actually turn out to be relevant. If you have a Grade 8 in violin for example, this shows that you have managed to learn this instrument to a very high standard implying dedication, determination, discipline and creativity amongst many other qualities. These are all positive traits to a future employer. 25. Back on the main profile, you can link to your Twitter page if you think this is relevant. Allowing people to see your Twitter activity means that 7

8 they get to find out even more about you, as Twitter status updates, or tweets, tend to be more frequent than LinkedIn status updates and touch on a broader array of subjects. 26. If you do link to Twitter from LinkedIn, be sure to start keeping your Twitter presence as professional as your LinkedIn presence. 27. You can also keep your LinkedIn profile consistent with your Twitter presence by using the same avatar (picture) on both. 28. In your summary, put your industry so employers from that industry will find you when they search using those words or search terms. 29. Think of the summary as your elevator pitch. Keep it concise, clear and focused. 30. Don t know what an elevator pitch consists of? Talk about the ways in which you ll add value to an employer/ organisation. 31. Use the second paragraph specialties, to list your specialist areas of expertise and experience as this is great opportunity to include keywords. Recruiters often search on this section. 32. Use other keywords connected with your area of work and your interests throughout your profile. 33. You can choose whether or not to make the list of your LinkedIn group memberships visible or not. The advantage of making them visible is that people will see if you re already a member of a group that they are or they know which groups to join if they want to interact with you. It s also another indication of your areas of 8

9 interest. However if you have joined several groups you may not want to appear unfocused so you might prefer to hide them. 34. Remember to update your profile regularly, even when you re not looking for a job. This prevents you having to spend ages updating it with years of new information when you do reach a stage in life when you have to find a new job. 35. Double check your spelling and grammar. You won t make a good impression as a potential employee if your profile, your landing page, is littered with typos. 36. Check that your profile is set to public so anyone can see it. 37. Look at other people profiles who are in similar roles as you or who are looking for similar types of jobs. Notice the language that they use how they ve highlighted different skills, strengths and expertise. See what works for you and what doesn t. 38. Think about the type of impression you want to give people from your profile. What do you want people to think about you when they have read your profile? What do you want to be known for? What is your uniqueness? 9

10 39. Tell people why you re on LinkedIn. At the bottom of the profile page is a field where you can list what you re interested in. You essentially have a choice of options for what you re on LinkedIn for. You can choose all or none of them. Of course, most job seekers will select career opportunities, but also picking: consulting offers expertise requests reference requests getting back in touch will show that you re open to engaging and giving on LinkedIn. 10

11 Understanding LinkedIn Applications LinkedIn offers a myriad of applications that you can use to enhance your profile, such as Amazon reading lists, Blog Link, Portfolio Display, E-Bookshelf, Slideshare Presentations, My Travel and Company Buzz. 40. The applications can be as distracting as they are useful. Make an effort to stay focused whenever you re on LinkedIn, instead of playing around with applications excessively or with ones that won t be of any value to you. 41. You can create an Amazon reading list consisting of books you ve read, are reading and want to read. Include on it books that are to do with your career area or the career you want to get into, as this will show people what your field is or what field you want to be in. 42. Blog Link allows you to link your blog to your profile. As soon as people visit your profile they can see your blog and click through to it, getting an even better idea of whom you are. Maximise this opportunity by remembering to blog regularly about what you re doing in your job search, which roles and employers you re interested in, what your areas of expertise are and what you re doing to increase your value to your next organisation. 11

12 43. Use company buzz to monitor the buzz on both LinkedIn and Twitter about the organisations you want to work for. Monitoring what people are saying about a particular business might give you some useful information that you can use to find a way into the company. 44. Want browsing recruiters to be able to view your CV from your profile? Use Box.net Files to upload documents online and share them on your profile. 45. If it s a slide show you want to share, SlideShare Presentations is also an option. Consider using it to share presentations you ve done that highlight your field of work. 46. Portfolio Display if you re in, or targeting a creative industry, such as journalism, graphic design or filmmaking, use this app to showcase your creative work, both paid and unpaid. It supports unlimited multimedia content. 47. E-Bookshelf need some career advice to inspire you in your job quest? Use this app to get succinct, takeaway career lessons from leading experts. In order to read content, you have to buy credits, but you get 3 credits when you first access the application. 48. My Travel lets you share upcoming trips, present location and travel statistics with your Connections. If you re looking for a job connected to a particular country, region or culture and you travel a lot to the relevant place, the information you give on My Travel will show relevant employers your passion for and involvement in that particular location. 12

13 49. My Travel also shows you where your Connections are. If networking face-to-face with someone could give you a lead into a job and they re in town, get in touch with them and arrange to meet up. 50. Even if you don t think meeting up with someone will do anything for you at the moment, just invite Connections checking in near you to go for a coffee, especially if they live on the other side of the world you never know when you ll get the chance to meet them in the flesh again. 13

14 LinkedIn Connections Connections on LinkedIn are the people you choose to add to your own sub-network. When you request to connect with another member and they accept, you are able to see one another s status updates, Q&A activity and so on. And of course, once you ve connected with someone, they ll be aware of you. The first thing they ll probably do is look at your profile and, if you re the one who was approached for the connection, you should look at their profile, preferably before you accept the request. Just as offline networking isn t about collecting as many business cards as you can, job searching on LinkedIn isn t about amassing as many connections as you can. Connect with employers, recruiters, professionals and experts within your chosen career area who you have or can build a relationship with. If you ve met someone offline who you had a genuine connection with, look them up on LinkedIn you never know where it might lead. 51. Build up your connections initially through contacts you already know very well. Look up friends from school, university and colleagues from your previous roles and work positions. Build up a network of strong connections all of whom know you, trust you and value you. 52. Look at your connections profiles and get to know who is doing what in which industries, in which roles 14

15 and who are experts in which areas. This will help you become aware of who you already have in your network and therefore who might be helpful to you as you look for your next role 53. Think about what you want, what you are looking for and what you are seeking from a connection. If you are looking to find out about a particular company or industry, see who is already in your network to find out if they can help you learn about the areas you need to or connect you to others who could be helpful to you. 54. If you want to grow your connections, think carefully about who you want to add to your network and why. How will they add value to you? How will you add value to them? Make sure you know the answers to these questions before reaching out to them. 55. You don t have to jump in with a connection request straight away - send a comment or question to anyone whose profile looks relevant to your job search. Getting to know someone s potential value to you first will help prevent you adding too many connections willy-nilly. 56. Although it s not a good idea to spam-connect don t stand on ceremony and wait for a connection request because you re shy. If you see someone who might genuinely be of value to your job search, make the first move in engaging with them and sending a connection request. 57. LinkedIn connections isn t a numbers game. This is about having quality connections not quantity. You want to build a network of contacts who will know you and be helpful to you. Simply having many connections does not mean that any of them will respect you or help you when you crucially need it. So choose carefully before you add people to your network 15

16 58. Take your time to check out a potential new connection before adding them to your network. Check out their public profile, see if anyone you know is already connected to them, and make sure they will be a good addition to your connections list before either reaching out to them or accepting their invitation to connect. 59. Search for people you re already known to on Twitter and Facebook. Whilst they may not know much of your professional value from those sites, connecting with them on LinkedIn gives them a chance to get to know this side of you. 60. Check which members have viewed your profile and take a look at theirs to see if they re worth connecting with. 61. People you know from elsewhere will be joining LinkedIn all the time. Scroll down to the end of your home page and click on the links under Just Joined LinkedIn to see which of your former colleagues or classmates has signed up. LinkedIn will only know to tell you about these people if you ve listed the companies and schools you met them at in your profile and they, of course, do the same. 62. Also look up and add people from your past. You never know, an old school acquaintance may now be in a position to help you get the job you want. 63. When you send an invitation to connect with someone, you have the chance to add a personal message to the invite. This is worth doing as someone is more likely to respond to a personalized request than one with just the default text. 64. InMail is LinkedIn s private messaging system. If you don t know someone but would like to connect with them, then InMail is one way to send them a direct message. If you think that you could be helpful to a 16

17 connection you don t know, you may be able to get to them via asking them to add you as a connection or through a connection you already have. Otherwise, upgrading your account and using InMail may be the only way to message someone who might be crucial to your job hunt. 65. Make use of InMail to interact with your connections, be it to ask about job vacancies outright, tap them for information on their organisation, or arrange a voluntary/shadow placement. 66. When you re composing the message, be clear about why you're contacting the connection and what you're asking for. 67. Remember to give as well as take in your message. Ask the connection if they need help with anything. Try to be helpful rather than coming across as though it s all about you. 68. When you look at anyone s profile, LinkedIn tells you if you have a 1 st, 2 nd or 3 rd degree connection with that contact. I.e. if one of your Connections is in a person X s network, you have a 1 st degree connection with person X. If person X could be helpful to you, ask your mutual Connection for an introduction. 69. Use the fact that connections automatically see your status updates to your advantage, by making your updates relevant and interesting. For instance, if you ve started voluntary work at an afterschool play club because you want to get into working with children, post this as your update as it will show that you re passionate enough about your target career to get some unpaid work experience. 70. Also try asking targeted questions in your updates, specifically requesting help around your job search. For example, Marcus is searching for a senior sports reporter role at a local Lancashire newspaper. Who do you know who s currently recruiting? 17

18 71. You can share links through your updates. Providing links to interesting content appropriate to your field will draw the right people s attention to you and will make you appear as a useful member of the LinkedIn community. 72. Keep your updates professional and semi-formal. Unlike tweets and Facebook updates, LinkedIn updates tend to be about members work, business, travel, projects and sometimes sports interests. People rarely post about a celebrity they spotted, a fun night clubbing or a soap opera storyline, so save it for the other social networks. 73. Update regularly to show that you re active and so that your connections don t forget you exist. 74. If you want to combine LinkedIn with offline networking, check out events that your Connections are organising, attending or interested in. On the home page, roll your pointer over the More tab and select Events from the drop down menu. In Events Home, you can then see which events your Connections have created or replied to. 75. If your Connections aren t involved in any events at the moment, you can also browse events shared by the rest of the LinkedIn membership. Finding people who are involved in events that would also be of interest to you is another way to source potential Connections. Search for events by clicking on the 'Find Events' tab for a keyword search filtered by date, location and type. 76. Once you have some Connections, don t just leave at that and only make them aware of your presence with blanket updates and when you want to go to an event they re attending. Send them private messages from time to time just asking how they re getting on. 18

19 77. You can also Like or comment on your Connections status updates. 78. If someone Likes one of your updates, say thank you. If they comment on it, reply to the comment. 19

20 Getting Good Recommendations The Recommendations feature allows people who've worked together in an organisation or on a project to endorse one another. Each recommendation only has to be 2 or 3 lines: sometimes 'Ms. Jobseeker is a very competent accountant and very easy to work with. She went out of her way to assist me' is enough to help a potential employer or client build up their picture of you. 79. Ask for recommendations by going to your profile page, clicking on the 'Get Recommended' link and filling in the form it takes you to. Again, don't be shy-if the feature's there, you might as well use it! 80. Only request recommendations from people who know you well and who you ve worked with recently. Vague recommendations from people who barely remember where they know you from are not going to make any lasting impressions on employers browsing your profile. 81. Think about what you would like recommendations for and what skills or areas of strengths and interest you would like them to highlight. Think about how your recommendations should fit in with your whole profile 82. Think about who you want recommendations from in 20

21 particular. People who are recognised as experts in their fields or who have good reputations within their firms are good people to get recommendations from and to be associated closely with. It shows that you are respected by top professionals and serious people. 83. Similarly to the number of connections you have, getting recommendations isn t about the number you have but the quality of them. It s about what they say, by whom and how good they are as a supporting piece about you as a professional. 84. Think of recommendations as an online equivalent of references. When you send in your CV you often get asked for references. This is people who an employer may ring up to ask about you or ask to write about your performance as an employee. Online LinkedIn recommendations are a way for a future employer to get a feel for what you are like and how others who know you and who have worked with you, view you. 85. Whenever you get a good recommendation, announce it in a status update so your other connections know to go and read it. 86. Give as well as get. By giving others recommendations, especially unprompted, you get into their good books and they might return the favour. You ll also become more memorable to them, which could help you later down the line if they think of something that could help you find a job. 87. One way to get recommendations whilst you re fresh in someone s mind is to ask them for one as soon as you ve finished working with them. That way, they ll write one whilst they still remember your good work and you ll build up a collection of detailed and accurate recommendations to aid you in future job searches. 21

22 88. When asking for a recommendation it can be helpful to tell the person you are requesting it from, the reason why you would like it and what you are trying to do. Spending a bit of time explaining what types of role you are looking to get into and what you are trying to achieve, may help them to be more focused in their recommendation making it relevant to your particular needs and goals. 89. Remember to thank your connections for any recommendations that they give you. You may need them again in the future to update their recommendation or to be out there in the market helping you find your next role so show your gratitude in them taking the time and thought to write a recommendation for you. 22

23 Getting Involved in LinkedIn Groups Groups are like the social lifeblood of LinkedIn. They are where you meet new people and where you discuss specific topics to do with your career, industry or your job search. Anyone can make a group to do with anything (within reason). Whatever your area of interest or whichever career you re trying to get into, there will most likely be a group for that. You might wonder how sitting around, virtually chatting is going to get you a job, but just as offline, you can find unexpected doors of opportunity just by getting into conversation with someone, the same applies to LinkedIn groups. Use them wisely. 90. Think about whether you want to engage in the groups or not. Once you have entered into them, you will be seen by others and potentially contactable by other members so make sure you are ready and in a position to create a good impression. 91. Remember you ll get more traffic to your profile when you join a group and post on the discussions, as group members can just click on your name to get taken to your profile page. So be sure to follow our above tips on profiles and fill yours out completely before starting to contribute to discussions. 23

24 92. Think about what you want to join groups for. Is it to network? Is it to show that you are interested in a certain field? Is it to find like-minded professionals or to exchange ideas about certain topics? Do you want a job search related group to help with your job hunting? Know what you want from each group you join and how it fits into your overall profile 93. Build up a rapport with people in the same groups as you. If you carefully choose just a few groups within your career field, the chances are you ll keep coming across the same people who are also members of all those groups. Make an effort to build up a relationship with these people, as it s clear they have the same interests as you and could be of value to your job search. Post on their discussions and address their posts on third party discussions. 94. If you can t find groups to join, look at your Connections profiles to see which groups they belong to. If you ve connected with people appropriate to your job hunt, they should be members of groups that are useful for you to join. 95. You can also search for groups by typing in keywords in the search field and setting it to Groups. 96. There are actually specific groups to do with job search, such as About.com Job Search and Careers This is now an open group, meaning you can join in without having to wait for the group administrators approval. Groups like these discuss job search strategies and are a gold mine for links to useful career articles to do with CVs, networking, job interviews and much more. As well as making use of the information already put out there, use these groups to ask your own questions specific to your own situation. This will also make people aware that you re seeking work including any employers, recruiters or company insiders who happen to be browsing that group. 24

25 97. If you don t see a discussion where you could ask the question you want, start your own discussion with the question as the title. You can give more information on what you want to know in your opening post. Being a discussion starter will also heighten your profile within the group. 98. A lot of people use group discussions to crowd source or just to get a straight answer to a straight question. When you see people starting discussions with a question or asking questions within an existing discussion, do your best to answer the question in order to both be visible to the group and to appear knowledgeable and helpful. 99. Just as with status updates, you can also share links in your groups. Choose links to content targeted towards topics you know your group is particularly interested in or has been discussing a lot recently If you can t find a group that you want to join or think that there is something missing you may want to start your own group. If you decide to do this, make sure that you invite relevant people to join it, welcome everyone who joins and instigate activity by starting targeted discussions and asking pertinent questions. 25

26 Q&A One of the most interesting and innovative functions on LinkedIn is Answers ; a Q&A section where members can both ask and answer questions. Anyone can see the answers to a particular question. It s the perfect platform to signal your areas of expertise and interest, whilst coming across as helpful, sociable and curious To answer a question on your particular speciality go to the Answers function and browse the latest questions for keywords relevant to your field If there s nothing suited to you in the latest questions, click on the categories that LinkedIn has recommended according to your profile and browse the questions in each category If a category you re interested isn t in your recommended categories, you can browse other categories by clicking on them in the right-hand side sidebar If you have language skills, you can showcase them by answering questions posed in German, Spanish, French, Italian or Portuguese. 26

27 Links to these are also in the right-hand sidebar. Nowadays, multi-linguist is seen as a great asset by employers, so make the most of it You can also do an advanced question search. Click on the relevant tab from the Answers home page, select a category and then a subcategory Use humour in your questions or answers. As well as questions on particular professions and industries, fun and light-hearted questions come up quite a lot. Show yourself in a different light by answering a funny question with humour or asking a fun question yourself. For instance, around the time of the 2010 Superbowl, someone asked Colts or Saints who s going to win? One of the answers was, I've got no idea about American football, but everyone I know in the USA seems to support Saints, so I'd better say Saints Be sure to answer questions not only correctly, but with as much detail as possible. If questioners pick your answer as the best one enough times, you get listed as a Top Export, heightening your visibility on LinkedIn When answering a question, you may list three web-links to support your answer. If you do include links, this can make your answer even more helpful and noticeable, provided the links are actually relevant to the question and answer If and only if it s relevant, you could even link to your own website or blog, which should give visitors more of an idea of who you are, what your strengths are and what you re interested in Even if you don t know the answer to a specific question within your field, you can still get involved and highlight it s a field you re interested in by suggesting an expert to answer the question. Clicking the relevant 27

28 button below the question allows you to put forward someone from your LinkedIn network to answer the question. This, of course, will also earn you brownie points with the selected expert! 111. When you answer a question or suggest an expert, you also have the opportunity to write a personal note to the question asker. By doing this, you can add a more personal touch to your answer and make it clear to the asker that you re interested in them as a person, not just as an opportunity to show off what you know As well as answering questions, it s also useful for the job searcher to ask them. You could ask something specifically about your job search or you could ask questions that will encourage people to engage with you and see you as eager to learn and eager to help. For example, one clever question posted was What social media questions do you want answered? The asker is obviously reaching out and telling people he wants to help but at the same time giving himself an opportunity to showcase his social media expertise. You can do this with any sector or interest area. If you re a chef, looking for a new position in a restaurant, the question would be What cookery questions do you want answered? If you re an English teacher, it might be What literature questions do you want answered? 113. Don t be disheartened if you only get one or two answers to a question. The couple of people who answered may be the only leads you need into a new job! 114. However many answers you get, be sure to examine the profiles of all the answer-givers to see which ones are worth building a connection with. You can reply for free to anyone who gives you an answer, so thank them for their answer, and if they could be relevant to your job search, engage with by exchanging several messages using the free reply system. If that goes well, add them as a connection. 28

29 Jobs and Employers LinkedIn does actually have a dedicated jobs section. Employers post vacancies in the hope that a savvy jobseeker like you will come across them and turn out to be the ideal candidate. First, complete your profile in as much detail as you can so that LinkedIn will automatically show you jobs relevant to your experience and area of interest, when you click on the Jobs tab at the top of the homepage. There s also the opportunity to search for jobs yourself and sign up for alerts When you look at the listings and see a job you like the look of, don t just pump out an application to it without finding out specifically what the role s about and what they re really asking for. Search for the company on LinkedIn (see below for information on company profiles) to find an insider who you can realistically engage with and get information about the vacancy and organisation from If you do find an insider, see if they ll pass on your CV or expression of interest to their HR department. This will save the employer the recruitment fee that LinkedIn would otherwise charge them for brokering the deal. Although this shouldn t and probably won t give you the edge over the other candidates, it can t do any harm and shows that you can think laterally to make life easier for those around you. 29

30 117. In addition to the job listings, employers also post jobs in the groups. Check out the Jobs tab in groups appropriate to your career area Don t just stick to the job listings and jobs in groups on LinkedIn you can also explore companies without listed vacancies. This is because organisations can have LinkedIn profiles as well as individuals. Research companies you re interested in working for by searching for them, reading their profiles and clicking through to the profiles of their listed employees By looking at the job titles of the organisation s employees, you can tell if the business has roles that match up with the position you want New hires are also listed, allowing you to keep tabs on which business areas companies are currently recruiting in. You might also be able to connect with some of these new hires to find out how they got their job. Look at their backgrounds too to see what may have made them attractive to their employer You can continuously monitor a company and its updated information and hires by following it. Just click the button on its profile If you have a 1 st, 2 nd or 3 rd degree connection with a target organisation s employee, use your mutual Connections to get an introduction to this employee. Having an inside contact within your preferred company can help give you the edge over other job hunters interested in that employer. Use them to get real insight scoop about what the company is really looking for. Find out what the hiring manager is really seeking and what they are after. Job posting rarely outlines everything that is wanted so do your homework and gain that vital extra bit of knowledge that may make the difference. 30

31 123. Look at who has posted the job and see what you can learn from their profile and background. The more you can understand about the company, the role, who s hiring, what they are looking for and who s making the decisions, the better chance you will have of getting that job. See if you have a close connection to this hiring manager to get a better way in through them Be focused and targeted about the roles you go for on LinkedIn. If you are applying for a range of roles that seem to have no correlation or relevance to each other, you may appear as rather unfocused and unselective in your applications. Go for a focused approach rather than the scattergun approach 125. Make sure that the jobs you apply for match your profile or rather that your profile supports the jobs you are going for. 31

32 Position Ignition ebooks (/ebooks) o 100 Essential Career Change Tips o 85 Mid-Life Career Change Tips o 135 Networking Career Tips o 125 Twitter Job Search Tips o Sell Yourself with Confidence o 125 Personal Branding Tips o How to Get the Job You Want o How to Ace the Interview o Up Your Game, Up Your Pay! (85 Tips in Salary Negotiation) o Get Paid Right, From the Start (Salary Negotiation in a New Job) 32

33 Contact Us Position Ignition Ltd is one of the UK s leading career consulting and career management companies. Founded towards the end of 2009, Position Ignition helps working professionals to identify where they would like to go next, what roles they will find fulfilling and how to go about getting it. Their focus is on helping people to make successful career changes, establish smart job search strategies, find focus and direction in their careers and take control of their own career development. They provide support through one on one career support programmes, webinars, ebooks and through their popular Career Ignition Club () an online careers platform offering on-demand careers support and development through a wealth of career learning tools, webinars and resources. Visit Career Ignition Club for more information. For an initial no obligation free phone consultation contact enquiries@positionignition.com For regular career advice articles see our Career Advice Blog Follow us on Like our Facebook page: We hope that you have found this ebook useful! For comments, feedback or suggestions us at: enquiries@positionignition.com 33