3 Strong Signs LinkedIn Is Right for You

Almost every day, there seems to be a tug of war between those who believe that LinkedIn is helpful and those who haven't found what they're searching for on this platform.

While the majority of users haven't received any job offer through LinkedIn, others get a ton of value from this platform. Check out this post:

If you feel that you haven't found your "luck" on LinkedIn, maybe it's time to rethink how you use this platform and decide if LinkedIn is right for you.

But first, you might need to change your mindset about LinkedIn:

Clarity of purpose and consistency―not merely "luck"―can help you find your dream job or land your ideal customers or clients on LinkedIn.

Here are three strong signs that LinkedIn is right for you:

1. You're willing to invest your time in optimizing your profile.

To optimize means to use relevant keywords throughout your profile to help recruiters find you.

If you're willing to spend time optimizing your profile and to make your profile 'come alive' by using rich media and other social proof, instead of treating it like a boring resume, then LinkedIn is right for you.

LinkedIn has 500 million users, and you're competing for attention and a chance to appear in search results, so do your homework in optimizing your profile. Most users don't do this, so if you do, you'll enjoy a competitive advantage.

Related ??? How to be Found on LinkedIn for Your Key Skills

As of the second week of June, I've already received seven career opportunities. I didn't look for them. They found me. But it doesn't mean that I was doing nothing.

Before I started receiving a stream of career opportunities on LinkedIn, I've spent so much of my time trying to figure out how this platform worked. Nobody taught me how things worked, but I educated myself.

I listened to audiobooks, read ebooks, articles and blog posts from other LinkedIn power users, watched a lot of videos, and enrolled in LinkedIn Learning or Lynda.com courses. And then I tested on my own profile what I've learned from them.

It was a lot of work and frustrations for me at the beginning, but when I finally learned how to use this platform, LinkedIn started to "do the work" for me, including finding opportunities that I never thought exist.

2. Your overall goal is to grow professionally, not merely to find a job.

If you compare LinkedIn with job portals such as JobStreet, then it means you haven't really explored what LinkedIn can do for you.

A job portal can match you with employers, but LinkedIn does more than getting you hired.

LinkedIn enables you to invest in yourself and grow as a professional so that you eventually get your dream job or attract your ideal customers or clients.

Whether you're looking for a job or not, LinkedIn can be extremely useful -- but only if you know how to use it the right way.

Through LinkedIn, you can establish your professional brand, find the right people who can open up career opportunities for you, engage others through insights, and build professional relationships.

LinkedIn measures these through its Social Selling Index (SSI):

LinkedIn uses SSI to measure sales performance, but these are also helpful in helping non-sales users in creating and finding career opportunities for themselves.

Though you're currently employed, you can let recruiters know that you're open to career opportunities. Here's how to do it:

Go to 'Jobs,' then go to 'Update career interests.' Just turn on that button on the right side beside "Let recruiters know you're open," and you're all set!

You can also choose titles you're considering, locations you'd like to work in and the types of jobs you're open to. 

Related ???3 Key Steps in Building Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn

3. You're willing to grow your connections and build relationships.

Your network is the people who want to help you, and you want to help them, and that's really powerful. - Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn Co-Founder

Sharing useful content or referring your connections to opportunities that fit their skills is a big part of helping your network grow while you build relationships with them.

If you constantly use LinkedIn solely for self-promotion, other users might eventually 'unfollow' you, which technically removes your access to their own networks.

Self-promotion is fine, but don't overdo it. If you're willing to give value to your connections, which can open up more opportunities, then LinkedIn is right for you.

To create your own content, simply go to 'Home,' and click 'Write an article.' If writing is quite challenging for you, you can use apps like Grammarly, Hemingway Editor or CoSchedule's Headline Analyzer.

It takes time to do the right thing and do things right on LinkedIn, but once you learned the tricks, it's all worth it. If you have those three signs, then LinkedIn must be for you and before you know it, you could be up for your next big career move.

How's your LinkedIn experience, so far? Please share with us in the comment box.

If you find this article useful, please share with your connections. Have a great day!

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About Virginia Bautista

A freelance writer and editor for 10 years, Virginia is currently the only independent LinkedIn Trainer & Consultant based in the Philippines. She helps professionals, freelancers, consultants, and executives leverage LinkedIn in building a powerful personal brand that accelerates career success and generates leads for businesses. Virginia was recently featured on Forbes and Entrepreneur Philippines.

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