The #1 Way Job Seekers Find a New Position - and How To Adapt Your Job Search

In my last article I suggested using the ‘#Open to Work’ LinkedIn photo frame was not the best way to indicate you were available for new opportunities and I explained why and gave some alternative strategies. Here are some ways you can alert your network that you are open to work and get noticed in a way that positions you more effectively.

*The #1 way people discover a new job is via a referral.

Just having a complete LinkedIn profile and applying for jobs is not enough. Imagine how many people you are currently competing with. More than 50% of your job search should be devoted to networking.

Here are some basic suggestions for LinkedIn activity for job seeking, to increase your likelihood of being referred for a job.

First take care of the profile basics:

 o  Update your headline to include the key job titles and skills you want to be hired for.

o  Add an up-to-date and authentic looking headshot (it doesn’t need to be a professionally taken photo, but it should be clear, recent and reflect who you are). Adding a photo will ensure you receive more messages and connection requests. 

o  Let recruiters know what opportunities you are open to. (Do this in Privacy and Settings; you can include the phrase ‘open to work’ if you wish, but job titles and skills are most important).

o  Write a human-voiced, first person summary that clearly tells the reader why you do what you do, a bit about your key career milestones and your key value and expertise. (You’ll need to research on LinkedIn to see what makes you stand out your competitors).

o  Keep your employment section achievement and result focused so profile visitors can clearly see what you can deliver. Add rich media (photos, presentations and videos) to attract viewers to stay on your profile.

o  Update all sections of LinkedIn, get and give recommendations, add skills and get endorsements.

 Once your profile is complete and key word optimized, you can work on activity that will increase your chance of being referred for new opportunities:

 o  Be active! Share ‘on brand’ articles, comment on posts and consider sharing content that supports your area of expertise and adds value to your network. You will be more visible and viewed as proactive and credible. If your activity increases, so do your profile views.

o  Join LinkedIn Groups for your industry sector and functional expertise. Participate in the discussions - and use groups as a clever way to get extra searches and messages for non-connections.

o  Reach out to your network proactively. They can refer you to employers and hiring managers, who are likely to be relying more on employee referrals currently. They can also alert you to internal organisation changes, which means opportunities that are not yet advertised. Experiment with messages to send out to your network, make sure you are clearly communicating who you are, what you offer, why you are a fit for the organization and what you want them to do. More on this in the next article.

o  Make new connections with career influencers and hiring managers; these are people who can help you with your job search, for example by referring you for opportunities or introducing you to hiring managers. (Make sure to personalize your connection requests and keep them sincere, reference anything you have in common, how you know them or why you want to connect). Let them know you are available and be clear about the kinds of opportunities you want to be considered for, follow the tips above.

o  Connect with people at your target organisations – referencing a former employer gives you a 27% higher chance of getting an InMail response.

o  Follow company pages for updates and job postings.

o  Give and request value-based recommendations. By this, I mean those that clearly communicate the value and results you deliver, do the same for those in your network whom you want to endorse. Recommendations and skills endorsements make you more attractive to recruiters and hiring managers and increase your visibility.

o  Set job alerts and follow hashtags for job posts – but make sure that responding to job ads are only one part of your job search strategy for the reasons above. (The top job seeking hashtags currently include #jobs, #hiring, #jobvacancy, #hiring and #recruiting).

Of employees who refer candidates to their organization, *32% do it to help their company, regardless of friendship and employers and recruiting managers know that social networks are statistically their best source for quality hires.

Understanding this statistic means the best thing job seekers can do is make sure they are leveraging the power of LinkedIn to be the one that gets referred!

*Linked Hiring Solutions