Just because you have created a LinkedIn profile doesn’t guarantee that recruiters are going to find you. In order to land your dream job, you need to actually do something with your LinkedIn account. Below are a few LinkedIn reminders for job seekers from YouTern:
- You never know who your friends know – The kid that cuts your grass? His dad is the CEO of XYZ Company. Your neighbor? He used to work at XYZ Company and knows lots of employees there. A business card won’t tell you any of this but LinkedIn can. Start connecting with people you know to begin building your network.
- Leverage keywords or get left behind – 93% of recruiters used LinkedIn to hire last year! They search for specific keywords to find resumes that contain the right combination of those words. If your resume doesn’t contain those specific terms then you won’t be found. Look at descriptions for your dream job and note which skills and keywords are used in the description. Make sure your LinkedIn resume contains those keywords and is varied in its language to incorporate each possible way of saying the same thing. For example, “recruiter” versus “talent acquisition”.
- Use LinkedIn to follow up – You can’t just apply for a job online and cross your fingers that you’ll here back. You must do something to stand out from the pack. After applying online, always follow up. LinkedIn is the perfect way to do this by searching for recruiters and hiring managers at that company. Reach out to them and let them know that you’ve applied online and wanted to state your interest in working for XYZ Company.
After you’ve spent some time optimizing your LinkedIn profile to land your dream job, connect with me on LinkedIn.
