Stand Out on LinkedIn

One of the most common questions that we’re asked by job seekers is “What can I do to stand out to employers and recruiters?”

The answer is quite obvious, make sure your Linkedin profile is optimized to make you easier to locate for recruiters and hiring managers.?

The first and most important step for those looking for work online is to increase your exposure to new opportunities. The best way to do this is by optimizing your LinkedIn profile. This means utilizing key words and skill sets to align your profile closer to the jobs you are seeking.

Visium’s recruiters, like many others, utilize LinkedIn to find candidates using keyword searches based on important skills. These searches use the skill set definitions you list in the “Skills & Endorsements” section of your LinkedIn profile.

Initially, recruiter searches are basic in order to gather a large pool of potential candidates. Then, to narrow that pool, recruiters will hone in on a few of the key skills or technologies that are “must-haves” for the opportunity, add the location, and then let LinkedIn’s search technology go through and find all the candidates who match their search terms. LinkedIn then ranks these candidates based on location and number of keyword matches in their profiles.

LinkedIn’s search algorithm takes a few other things into consideration as well, such as how much traffic your profile gets (how many people are already visiting your profile) and how many followers or connections you have. These factors are important to consider; however, your listed skill sets and their relevance to the search will be most crucial.

Figuring out what the top skill sets recruiters are using to search for the type of position you want, and how to include these in your profile, are the first steps to finding a great opportunity. One way to find this information is to look at colleague’s profiles to get a sense of what recruiters may be looking for, and perhaps most importantly look for job descriptions at companies that are hiring for the kinds of jobs you would like to have. If you don’t, you may be overlooked by recruiters because your profile is not being included in their search results.

Optimizing your profile with the right keywords is the secret to getting discovered by recruiters. If you want to be found, you must promote your strengths and give recruiters the right data to locate you!