Are you open to work?

Have you started using LinkedIn’s open to work feature?

Over the last 12 months, I have successfully grown a LinkedIn following of over 400,000. As a recruiter, I sourced many fantastic candidates through LinkedIn and placed them into excellent organisations. Needless to say, I am a big believer in the power of LinkedIn and the tools and features that it continues to offer job-seekers and professionals. 

One recently added feature that you may have noticed is the ‘open to work’ feature. It’s designed to let recruiters, hiring managers and anyone and everyone in your network know that you are looking for a job.

 It’s a simple addition that puts a green circle around your profile picture with the words ‘open to work’ around it.

 This feature can be added to your profile by clicking on the blue ‘add profile section’ button on your profile and selecting ‘intro’ and then ‘looking for a job’. You will then need to specify that you want to share this news with all LinkedIn members.

 Then it’s there for the whole world to see.

Important Disclosure: We are affiliates for some of these products and services, if you click and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no extra cost to you. We only ever recommend products and services that we have personally used and believe in. Learn more over here.

But before you add this to your profile;

It’s worth noting that there has been quite a lot of debate as to whether this feature is helping, or hurting job seekers.

 If you are thinking of using it, we have a few words of caution that you should consider, as well as a few alternative strategies. 

Recruiters are not searching for people who are out of work

So, what are recruiters looking for? Recruiters are looking for candidates who match the requirements of the role that they are looking to fill. It’s as simple as that.

Very few recruiters include the ‘open to work’ feature in their searches, they simply don’t need to. If they were to do this, they would likely screen out some highly-relevant candidates.

Recruiters make the most of LinkedIn’s search facility by using search criteria such as; location, job title, keywords from the job description, and current or past companies.

The best strategy to be found by recruiters is to ensure that your profile is up to date and optimised with relevant information and keywords.

Most recruiters prefer to target passive rather than active candidates

I know that so many amazing professionals are currently looking for work. However, many recruiters are still biased against active job seekers. There is an unspoken belief amongst many in recruitment that the best candidates are the ones who are not looking but are happy in their jobs.

It’s important to understand this psychology and use it to your advantage in your job search. This does not mean you should be dishonest about your situation, but you should consider what the key message is that you are putting out to the world.

If the first thing a recruiter notices about your profile is that you are ‘open to work’, this may create a bias against you. Instead, focus on making sure the first thing a recruiter sees is the value that you bring.

Remember, recruiters and employers are not focussed on how they can help you, but on how you can help them. Lead with this information.

Recruiters have no trouble finding active candidates who are open to work, they are inundated with applications from active candidates. Recruiters are paid to find passive candidates. You are better off spending your time making sure that your LinkedIn profile looks great and is highlighting to the world all of your career successes, this will get the attention of recruiters.

You don’t want to look desperate

If you had the choice between two restaurants, one with a waiting list and another which was totally empty and begging for your business which would you choose? You’d go to the popular restaurant. This is because when something is popular and in-demand we presume it is good. The opposite is also true.

If you advertise on LinkedIn that you are open to any opportunity, this can make you look desperate and desperation is never an effective sales pitch. Recruiters tend to avoid candidates who are desperate and open to absolutely any opportunity.

When you are looking for a job, it is important to know the kind of role that suits you best, the kind of role and organisation where you can make a difference. In other words, it pays to narrow down your search and to try to be specific. If you are open to absolutely anything, you will probably end up with absolutely nothing. Unfortunately, the ‘open to work’ feature gives the impression that you are simply open to anything.

You can put yourself at risk

There has been a large increase in the number of scam agencies looking to exploit people’s misfortune. We have heard from several people that have been asked to pay upfront fees to be represented for jobs and put forward for opportunities. These opportunities usually turn out to be fake. You should never pay a recruiter to represent you for a role, recruitment does not work that way, a recruitment firm is paid by an organisation to find talent for them, not the other way around.

Be aware that there are people and firms out there who are looking for desperate people currently out of work. Be careful that the ‘open to work’ feature does not attract the wrong attention and remember to only work with reputable search firms.

So what can you do instead?

Spend time optimising your profile

LinkedIn optimisation is an important first step when embarking on a job search. It’s no secret that LinkedIn is increasingly becoming the recruiters’ tool of choice. A recent study found that over 35 million people had been hired for a job through a contact on LinkedIn. Maintaining an active and optimised LinkedIn profile is therefore more important now than ever.

Post regularly and get on people’s radar

While LinkedIn has a huge number of users consuming content, only a small percentage create content. What does this mean? It means there is a huge opportunity for those who take the time to post! The more consistently you post, the more LinkedIn features and promotes your profile.

One of the best ways to get noticed by recruiters or hiring managers is to post regularly. This does not have to be an onerous task, try starting by leaving meaningful and well thought out comments on other people’s posts. Concentrate on posts that are relevant to your industry.

Once you have gotten to grips with this, try sharing industry-relevant articles, don’t simply post a link to the article, include your thoughts on it.

Eventually, start posting your insights and thoughts. If you are looking for a role in a specific industry, post content relevant to that industry. This way your name is likely to be seen by people in the organisations for which you want to work!

Reach out to your network

Instead of broadcasting to the whole world that you are looking for work, try to reach out to people within your network with a personal note explaining your situation. Kindly ask them to keep you in mind should they hear of relevant opportunities. Remember, make the message about them – no-one wants to feel like you have copy and pasted the same message to everyone you know!

Another great way of doing this is to write a list of all the people that you have worked with in the past and write them a great LinkedIn Recommendation. Then, ask if they would write you one in return because you are currently looking for a new role. This is a great way to reconnect with old contacts while also strengthening your LinkedIn profile.

LinkedIn is a powerful tool for the modern-day job seeker. However, like most tools, it is most effective when it’s leveraged to its full potential. 

If you are going to use LinkedIn as part of your job search you should consider fully optimising your profile so that you begin to show up in the right searches!

To find out how, click here

Content originally posted on www.theenglishmeetingroom.com