5 Tips to Get a Job Through LinkedIn

Those are my personal tips and the template I have been using for years and so far has helped me a lot to get a job contract using LinkedIn.

I occasionally go for only 1 or 2 interviews and I get selected.

I’m a consultant and I work on a contractual basis, also called 'contractor', so the turn over is quite frequently. I work on a project basis, still, I believe it does apply to permanent job seekers too.

I believe if you follow these tips, it will help you succeed in the job hunting and get hired or at least a good impression to recruiters searching for people with your set of skills, anywhere in the world.

First - Review your CV

Let's start with the obvious first. Make sure is up to date. Save a copy in Word and a copy in PDF. Most recruiters ask for PDF but there are some who asks for Word format.

There are services out there you can use to review your CV for you. I’m pretty confident with my CV format, but if you are up to have someone professionally reviewed for you and you are in the budget, get a freelance service from Fiveer.com, services are pretty good for the prices asked here, access this page and search for the keyword ‘CV Review’ and look for the ones that have better reviewsand positive responses.

Second - Review you LinkedIn

Believe it or not, there are people out there who still have not got a LinkedIn profile. Or have one but with no information or outdated.

If you are not there yet make sure you have a profile, there's the free version, which is good enough.

There are more than 150 million peoplein the US alone and over 384 million peopleworldwide (Source: Statista) and numbers are growing, meaning, here is where the recruiters search for people skill set, like yours for this instance, so, go ahead and...

• Make sure is up to date.
• Use all the options available and make sure you add keywords related to your skills. The algorithm of LinkedIn search engine uses that to display you for recruiters premium users.
• Don’tplace in your Title “Looking for a job/opportunity”, that does not help. You best placing your job title as this is part of the search lookup search engines use to find you and display to premium recruiters looking for your skills.

If you already have LinkedIn and want to take to the next level, there are good training that you can use to take advantage of the platform and expose your profile, make yourself more marketable to offer your services or products, like ‘Improve Your LinkedIn Profile in 2018’, connect with like-minded people.

Or if you want to become a more effective influencer in LinkedIn there’s an advanced course here, ideal if you are selling services or if you are a recruiter.

Third - Make sure your CV and LinkedIn dates and experience are mirrored

Recruiters look at those details. Keep it nice and tidy.

Fourth - Login to this Snap.hr website and fill in your details

Register yourself in Snap.hr website and fill in your details. There are jobsfrom all over the world plus there are some that you can even work remotely.

Fifth - Practice thinking about general questions most recruiters will ask

Recruiters, in my experience, focus on two areas, in your technical skills, how much capable you are to solve a problem and in your soft skills, is how well you deal with problems around people, and to me, the second one is the most important part as this is how you are going to show that you are capable to deal with trick and difficult situations as you go by your everyday work.

How you overcome challenge people, how you go by procrastination, how well you communicate and how well you understand instructions and those can be covered in how well you can answer questions similar to those down here.

• Tell me about your self. How did you get into this business? Keep it simple and straightforward. 1-2 minutes is enough.
• Tell me about a challenge situation you’ve encountered in the past and how did you overcome it. Use facts and try to be as positive as possible, even though it was challenging but you managed to overcome. Try not to be personal, and not talk negatively about a colleague or a manager. That shows maturity.
• What are you looking for in your new role? Talk about your goals, and what you want to do and what you think this job may offer you. Don’t be too ambitious, in most cases, simplicity is better as you don’t want to commit too much and don’t deliver down the line for whatever reason.
• Your technical skills. Stick to what you know best. Give some examples in situations you’ve been before that is aligned with what they may expect you to do.
• While you are talking, think about and position your self as you are adding value, you are a problem solver and you are here to help, individually and as a team. Be a team player and appreciate the opportunity. At the end of the day, all the recruiter wants is someone to help solve a problem.

Don't neglect those questions as I have had talks with recruiters and managers and some or most of them prefer to focus much more on questions like this than the technical skills ones. And I believe and agree with them.

At the end of the day, we are in to help solve a problem and not to become part of the problem.

Bonus tip: Sixth - Don’t burn the bridges

It is important that you do leave the place you’ve been working on a project in such a way that you can always return at a later point when another project comes along.

Yes, you do come across challenge people and challenging situations, it depends on how well you handle it and come out alive that counts.

Besides, in this world of IT consultancy, I say this from an analyst perspective, if you are a Test Analyst, Business Analyst, Developer, Project Manager, Product Owner or Architect, you do come across people you have worked in the past or know someone in common, so be aware of when doing something you will always be remembered, good or bad.

Ok, so those are my tips. I hope you enjoyed the reading and let me know how you are getting on and if there’s something I need to add to this list leave me a comment below.