Leveraging the POWER of LinkedIn in Your Job Search

If you're in a job search or are planning to make a job change in the near future, LinkedIn should be a very integral part of your search.  You may have had a profile for a long time but maybe never actually used it or took the time to understand exactly how you can leverage LinkedIn - when you need it.  There is a LOT to LinkedIn and things are always changing and evolving, but being a recruiter and a heavy user of LinkedIn on a daily basis, I can tell you that I find most of the candidates that I recruit from LinkedIn.  If you are not on LinkedIn and / or not active, you are missing a great opportunity to network and be found.  Here are a few tips that I thought I would share that might help get the most out of your LinkedIn experience.

Do I really need a picture on my profile? Easy answer - YES! If you want to be taken seriously on LinkedIn, take the time to put a nice head shot on LinkedIn. First impressions DO mean a picture goes a long way for that (and can be a big negative with a bad one!). You don’t have to pay a professional for a head shot, but you also don’t want to just crop the last picture from your family vacation. There is a happy medium and it’s worth the extra effort for a good one.

Your name – only your name....Include only your first and last name in you name section of your headline. Anything else (certifications, titles etc), should be in your headline or summary. Keep it simple and clean!

 Headline – a very important part of your profile.....Your headline is the area right below your name and it could be the most important 120 characters of your profile. In addition to your name and picture, your headline is the first thing that someone sees when they do a general search, and your profile comes up. Entice me to click on your profile! Give me your best shot……try and stay away from being too general like “Sales Manager – Looking for a Job” to something like “Technical Sales Manager – TOP Performer - Open for New Opportunities”. Open for New Opportunities is a very common phrase on LinkedIn and if you are not looking to be secret about your search, I would highly recommend adding that to your profile. If you are currently working and your employer does not know that you are looking, I would of course not do that. Try and put catchy key words in your profile that will help you stand out!

 Summary – most people “swing and miss” here! I look at profiles all day and I see two types, profiles with no summary at all (not good), or profiles where people just cut and paste their summary from their resume (OK – but boring). Why not be different? Why not take advantage of this space and introduce yourself and give readers a quick snapshot into who you are, your passions and career dreams and what your ideal job / opportunity is? Why not? It’s also a GREAT place to let people know if you are open to travel, relocate, and the best way for someone to reach you – if they felt so inclined. If you are open to accepting all invitations, this is a great place to reiterate that too. I also recommend listing your “top 10” key skills (2-3 words each) at the bottom of your profile, because all the words in your summary is key word driven so try and be specific and list the things that separate you from everyone else. If you are a technical person, this is also a great place to list certifications and technical expertise.

Contact Information – should I or shouldn’t I? I always say, do what you feel is comfortable for you. If I was not working and was actively looking for my next job, I would put my email and cell phone very visible on your profile. If your resume is posted anywhere online – it’s already out there, why not make it easy for a recruiter (like me), or anyone that might want to connect with you, to get in touch with you. At the very least, I think an email address is a must on your profile – as it’s the key to allowing anyone to connect with you.

Profile Settings....If you haven’t ever checked – or haven’t checked in a while, your profile settings – you should! It’s just a good idea to check on occasion to make sure everything is visible that you want to be seen and if it’s not, to get it set up correctly. I’ve talked to a lot of people that had not idea that they had all their settings turned OFF, basically making their profile invisible. To get to your settings, go to the top of your profile and hit “Profile” then “Edit Profile”. Below your picture is your LinkedIn Link, click on the edit button and the next page will take you to where you can see what is visible on your profile. Anything checked is visible and you can make changes from there. I would also suggest updating / editing your LinkedIn profile link and just making the end of your link your first and last name, it makes your link easier to search and be found

The Body of You Profile.....I get asked a lot – “how much information do I put on my profile in the experience section?” My personal opinion is that putting all the good content (accomplishments) from your resume, is a good thing. If it’s good enough for your resume, why not put it on your profile? More people will probably see your profile than your resume anyway, you never know what might catch someone’s eye!

Personal Information – how much is too much? Again, I think it’s all personal preference – but you can also give too much information. I don’t think it’s important (or anyone’s business), if you are married, have kids etc. If you want to have something on there about that, do it – it does give a bit of a window into your world. I’m NOT a fan of putting your birthday on your resume or when you graduated from college (unless you are a new college grad), as it makes it too easy for someone to discriminate against you based on your age. But yes, I know they can do that based on your picture too, but they can’t ask your age – why give it them? I do think it’s not a bad idea to share a bit of personal information when it comes to personal interests and hobbies etc., as it might strike someone as very interesting or they might find that they have that interest in common with you – and that’s a good thing!

Attachments, Videos, Live Links – should I have them on my profile?I say go for it, as long as it’s relevant and makes sense. I’m NOT a fan of attaching your resume to your profile as I think it gives the impression of trying a bit too hard and if someone wants your resume – they will ask for it. But, if you are in a career where you can attached a project, a video, presentation etc. that will help “sell” you to a perspective employer of the type of work you can do – why not? I don’t really see this much and I think more people should try it – but doing a “video resume” and attaching it to your profile is really a good idea to try, basically a short introduction of yourself on video encouraging the viewer to reach out to them for a conversation. Being bold will set you apart!

Connections – I have them, now what?  Treat them like gold and don’t take advantage of your connections. What does that mean? That means, just because someone accepts your invite to connect, that doesn’t mean that they you to sell to them, hear about your latest business venture, receive your unsolicited resume or whatever else you want to send your network. You will find that most people will accept your invite, you just want to remember the golden rule….treat others the way you want to be treated, and you will be fine. If there is someone in your network that you are connected to that could be a good contact that would help you in your job search – there are several ways to approach them. Have a goal to eventually get to 501 direct connections? Why 501? Because LinkedIn only shows the max of 500+ direct connections on your profile and people like to be connected to those that are “well connected”. It will make you more attractive for those that like to network to connect to you! It takes some time, but worth it!!

What the heck is a LION? LION stands for “LInkedIn Open Networker.” If you are open to accepting all invites from everyone and want to drive more traffic to your profile to quickly grow your global network, add “LION” to your headline and make sure your email is very visible in your summary and watch your requests to connect go WAY WAY UP! LinkedIn will tell you that you should only connect with people that you personally know, but I don’t work for LinkedIn – so I don’t have to tell you that. ?

Accept all connections? My personal opinion is YES! But, do whatever makes sense for you and is comfortable for your own situation. Some people like to be very private and protective of their network and they want to personally KNOW everyone they are connected to, and that’s fine. My response to that, this isn’t Facebook and my goal is not to know everyone in my network, my personal goal is to have the largest network I can so that I can leverage it now or later when I need it. That doesn’t mean sending a SPAM email to my entire network to share about my new business or asking for a job or selling a product (I get all of these). It just means that if and when I need to be about to make a “personal touch” to someone either for myself or on behalf of a client or friend, I have the ability to do that!

I hope this is helpful!  Feel free to email me [email protected] if you have any questions about LinkedIn, or if I can do anything else for you.  And, please send me a request to connect, as I ALWAYS accept!