My LinkedIn Love affair…

and how you can leverage it for your career too!

This week I reached 8k followers on LinkedIn ??

It took around 18 months to go from < 500 --> 8k.

You can read my 3 out-takes on this surprising journey ...! post here:

https://www.dhirubhai.net/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7204014197058195456/

My biggest regret was not leveraging LinkedIn more until I started my business.

The ONLY time I used it when I was in corporate was when I was looking for a new job or thinking about looking for a new job ??

If this is you too – Awesome news!

Because there is SO MUCH more to LinkedIn than meets the eye that I want to share with you, in the hopes that you can use it to your full career advantage.

1. For jobs

Ok, this is the obvious one. Yes, you can find jobs on there.

Yes, there are ‘easy apply’ functions and 'upload your CV here' options.

Yet, there is BIG competition for these roles.

I also have a sneaky suspicion they are screens for unknown buzz words by AI

Not necessarily a human, because let’s face it – who is going to read 1,000’s of CVs?

Still looking for a job?

Don’t let this deter you – here’s where the REAL magic of Linkedin comes in play. So keep reading ??

2. Homework and Research

Know the industry and / or the company you want to work?

You can search people who work there who you may already be connected with, or may want to reach out to.

You can also research the company – company size, background, recent roles they have hired for.

People who work there now, you can research their history and career trajectory to see if that’s something that fits with your background or aspirations too.

3. Learning and Education

Oh gosh – this is where LinkedIn is really powerful and I’m not sure how many people are leveraging this to their advantage.

There is a WEALTH of free information on this platform.

You can use the search function to read thought leadership posts, full of tips, hacks, advice, suggestions, things people have tried that you can learn from….

So many wonderful post of literally everything you’ll ever need to know about careers (and almost anything else for that matter!)

Not to mention, collaborative articles, which are smart people trying to share just how smart they are in order to earn a Top Voice Badge

(Errr. Yup, guilty of chasing that ego boost ??♀?).

These are snippets from the best in the biz of almost any questions you have.

Like: how to ask and negotiate a pay rise, what are the best questions to ask in an interview and what are the best ways to find and hire a coach…

(we all know the answer to that right!? ??)

4. Speaking of Thought Leadership…

If you start becoming active on LinkedIn when you are looking for a new role, you’ve already left it too late. ????

You don’t have to post every day. You don’t even have to post every week.

You can post infrequently when the mood or appropriate event arises that’s enough to make you want to share something.

But share you must, with your opinions and thought leadership on display.

I don’t know if you know this -

but when you type your name into google, 99.9% of the time, the first entry will be your LinkedIn profile. (I know, Mic drop)

This is your shop window for recruiters, headhunters and influential people with your CV (and career hopes) in their hands.

Get courageous, and start sharing occasionally about what you want to be known for? What’s your legacy? What impact do you wish to have?

I have a client whose passion is reading. Each month she posts about what Leadership Lessons she’s gleaned from the fiction books she’d read.

I have a friend whose newsletter is about recruiting lessons from films she’s watched.

Get creative, - the more so, the more memorable you will be.

5. Profile Optimisation

Last, but by means least. Your profile is your additional CV.

What do you want people to know about you that is an extension of your CV?

Update it regularly (not just when job seeking!)

Add details in about what you achieved in each of your roles, What you learnt, What skills and knowledge you acquired. You can even get creative and upload presentations.

Don’t neglect the testimonials and recommendations. Especially if you ARE job seeking, these will always be a great place to have a few sentences to show case how fabulous you are to work with.

Ask people who’s opinion you care about if you can do reciprocal recommendations. It doesn’t need to be long or tedious task – just a few sentences will do the trick.

Phew!

There’s my whistle stop tour of how to leverage LinkedIn.

Any questions – feel free to send me a DM and we can chat further!

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