‘Engagement’ Job Seeking

This is a special edition of LinkedInformed for Jobseekers.

This article has also been recorded as a podcast;

Linkedinformed on Google podcasts / LinkedInformed on Apple podcasts

This week I chat with Greete Eluri about how a more proactive approach to Linkedin helped her change career and get a new job. In my experience, very few job seekers do little more than update and optimise their profile and set up job alerts when looking for a job…but there is so much more you can do.

More of that later but first I just wanted to update you on a couple of things relating to the last LinkedInformed ‘Getting your cover story right’

Firstly, I referenced Gillian Whitneys’ post about a great new mobile app for creating captions on videos called Clipchamp. This looked a great option in her video but when I tried to find it in the app store, I came up with nothing! It seems the app is not easy to find on various countries app store so the workaround from Gillian is to click on this link https://clipchamp.com/en/products/mobile/

For Android users Gillian has now produced another video showcasing ‘Voicella’ available in the Google play store.

I also found out that the cover story feature has changed and now everyone is able to see your cover story, previously they had to have the feature themselves but this requirement (which never made any sense) is no longer the case. Provided you change your cover story visibility to ‘All members’ then everyone should be able to see it.

Engagement Job Seeking

Greete’s story is a fascinating insight into what can be achieved when a jobseeker really embraces LinkedIn and uses it as a platform to build strong connections and relationships, to consistently engage with others and post really helpful content.

Here are a few examples of the sort of feedback she has received on LinkedIn;

Greete made a decision in Spring 2019 to really commit to being active on LinkedIn, she had lost her job in marketing and despite the impact that had on her self esteem and confidence, she brushed herself off and dived into LinkedIn. She grew her network, reacted and commented on more posts and started to create her own content - mainly focused on helping Jobseekers. Below is a classic example of the sort of comments she makes (below first) and the kind of useful content she posts.

Initially her posts focussed more on practical tips for jobseekers but as her confidence grew she started to post more about mindset and sharing her experience of dealing with the loss of a job and the frustrations of trying to find a new role. This approach allowed her to demonstrate publicly that she had the experience and ability to become a jobs consultant…she had no formal experience in this area but it’s what she really wanted to do and her content on LinkedIn allowed her to show prospective employers that she could really add value to others.

The combination of her increased visibility through consistent engagement and content plus the quality of her content led to career opportunities…initially a couple of temp roles and eventually a permanent position.

During her job search she wasn’t afraid to approach target employers directly. She used LinkedIn to find someone in the company who was active and engaged with them, then she connected and built a relationship. In time she found these people were forwarding internal job posting to her!

She now feels completely fulfilled in her dream job and it wouldn’t have happened without LinkedIn. If all she had done was update and optimise her profile and patiently wait for the right job to be advertised, she could still be waiting now! As it was it took her 15 months of consistently turning up on LinkedIn to achieve what she did - it wasn’t an easy journey but in hindsight she appreciates the lessons that she learnt in that time which have helped to make her better at her current job.

Tips for Jobseekers who want to get more active

• Identify people to follow including relevant content creators and influencers as well as people who work for companies you are interested in working for. Bookmark their posts feed page and visit it at least once a week - don’t rely on the algorithm to place their posts in your feed!
• Engage engage engage…every day! Reactions are OK but try to comment as much as you can. Focus on those you have bookmarked but don’t ignore your feed either, in time the quality and relevance of your feed will improve.
• Once you have engaged with these people, connect and then DM them with a friendly introduction offering to help them in any way you can (be specific where possible).
• Once you understand the type of content that resonates with your audience you can start posting. Try to keep your content interesting and relatable and where possible, relate any advice to your specific experience - personalise everything you can.
• If you desire a career change, start posting about topics relevant to this and where possible try to demonstrate soft skills that are highly applicable to those roles.
• Be patient…enjoy the experience of engaging with people and set realistic expectations for a new role - it takes time to build visibility but when achieved, it doesn’t just help you get a job, it strengthens your appeal and marketability in your role - this makes you more valuable to your employer and more attractive to other employers!

That’s it for this week. I hope you found Greetes story inspiring and thought provoking.

We are currently experiencing very difficult times and there are many people who are finding themselves unexpectedly on the job market. Do your bit to help by forwarding this article to them. It might just be the lifeline that someone really needs.

Take care and good luck!

This article has also been recorded as a podcast;

Linkedinformed on Google podcasts / LinkedInformed on Apple podcasts

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