Impressing your interviewer and landing that dream job

Stuck in a rut? In an unfulfilling role and not sure how to get out of it? Applying for jobs but getting nowhere?

In this post, I’ll show you an introduction to using LinkedIn to up your game to get yourself noticed and how to increase your online brand so you stand out from the crowd to become irresistible to employers.

First things first. Let’s be clear: employers will ALWAYS check your LinkedIn profile. If you haven’t got one, or it is not really active, it doesn’t say much about you. This is a huge missed opportunity! Forget the “endorsements” and “recommendations” (okay, don’t forget them, but go with me for a bit here); the value of your brand on LinkedIn is defined by how you portray yourself and the content you share.

The aim is to grow the number of connections in your network right? WRONG. You may have many thousands of connections, but if your profile and the content you share is not insightful, eye-catching and innovative, then a prospective employer will not care. Think about it – your profile will just show that you have 500+ connections, or you have X thousand followers. Without anything tangible to back that up, a prospective employer may not even notice that and even if they do, it certainly won’t impress them. If you use LinkedIn correctly, your network will grow anyway.

So what will impress them?

1.     Your headline. Take note here – this should be engaging and offer up something tangible. Include key words which you want to be found via a search. If you are out of work, don’t be tempted to put “Actively seeking work” or anything like that. Employers will NEVER search for those words – instead, tell them what makes you different. Austin Belcak has a great article here on this very subject - link in the comments below.

2.     The look and style of your profile – professional headshot, use the background picture for something relevant to what you do, make good use of the “About” section and the “Featured” sections.

3.     Content, content, content. Write well thought through content which offers something different. If you write content which is obvious and everyone agrees with, you will not get anywhere. Your goal here is threefold:

a.  Spark a conversation in the comments. You need this to be a discussion, not “Yes I agree”. Everyone who comments on your post opens it up to a wider audience on the platform. This is a great way to grow your connections in the right way – by sharing well informed content.

b.     Showcase your skills and abilities. You need to offer something up – LinkedIn is about giving – sharing useful information, hints and tips. Check out who in your network has the largest network of their own, then check out their content: they all give. So dig deep into your knowledge and share it with others.

c.     Once you have established some really insightful content on your profile, make sure to add it to your “Featured” section. Prospective employers will not read all your content, so you must show the best version of you by “featuring” your best content.

d.     Sharing others’ content has its place, but should not be the only thing you do. Yes, you can grow your network on LinkedIn by doing only this, but is that your goal and if so, why? Remember you are defined by employers by what you do, not how many connections you have.

4.     Endorsements and recommendations. I’m not a huge fan of these as they are easy-come-easy-go. Again, you are defined by what you do, not by what others say about you. Having said that, they don’t hurt and can be the icing on the cake.

Once you have done all this, put yourself in your prospective employers’ shoes. Your CV has just landed on their desk, applying for a position in their organization. They are interested, but they also have 50 other CV's too. What do they do? Quick scan of LinkedIn. Your profile leaps out.

Without it, you’re just another one of the 50 also-rans.

And one more thing…most jobs these days are not even advertised. The employer may not even know that they need you! But just imagine, if they come across some content you have shared and their interest is piqued…they open up your profile and are blown away by it. Immediately they say that you can help with the specific issues they have. Suddenly, you have a job opening and you are the prime candidate. And all without an application in sight!