Why Linkedin is so important – especially for job hunters:
LinkedIn, the professional social networking platform, has been around longer than any other social networking platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, however it is becoming more relevant now than ever. It hosts 575 million (April 2020) professional profiles, of which 25 million are in the UK, which means nearly an unlimited supply of network connections and job opportunities.
From seeking a new job to maintaining your personal brand, LinkedIn is an important part of being a visible professional in all industries in the current times. Start here with your own CV Writer
LinkedIn is such an important networking tool, even if you’re an introvert and hate networking events, you can still foster meaningful LinkedIn connections. Through LinkedIn, you can build relationships with mutual connections, contacts in your field, and even industry leaders.
Just like companies build their brands, it’s important for you to build your professional brand online. Are you engaging with your industry / clients etc.
Do you stand out from others in your industry? What is your USP? What will you bring to a new company to deserve a high salary?
LinkedIn is a simple way to put your name on the professional map.
Upload a professional profile picture and write a powerful summary that emphasizes your strengths and showcases your personality.
When recruiters, employers, co-workers, and managers peruse your profile, they should be able to gain a strong understanding of who you are and what skills you bring to the table.
It maintains your of contact database
Instead of stuffing business cards in your desk drawer or adding their email addresses to your outdated address book, add new contacts on LinkedIn when you meet them – in person of virtually.
Keep them in your connections so you can reconnect as and when required.
Hiring Managers: 94% of recruiters use LinkedIn to source or vet candidates. In order to rank highly in a recruiter’s LinkedIn Search, your own
LinkedIn profile should be optimized with both LinkedIn’s technology and recruiter thinking in mind. LinkedIn’s own proprietary search algorithms look at a number of profile sections to help rank the results while individual recruiters will have their own preferences to assemble lists of top candidates.
To increase your chances of being placed in a recruiter top list, your hard skills and keywords should be placed into the fields LinkedIn’s search algorithm values the most.
Recruiters also use filters and Boolean searches to narrow down the number of candidates in their searches. Ensuring that your work experience, education, location, and other LinkedIn profile fields are complete and up to date can keep you from being filtered out of a recruiter’s profile search.
LinkedIn Premium is an additional cost, but perhaps worth the free 1 month trial to see if it works for you. Be aware that it automatically continues and will start charging at the end of month 1 unless you switch it off.
Industry news:
LinkedIn aggregates a timeline when you log in, you’ll find news updates from your connections, your groups, and your company. It’s wise to keep tabs on industry trends and reports.
The LinkedIn Job Board:
As at 22nd September 2020 there have been over 500,000 jobs advertised in the past month alone, of which 193,000 in the past week and 36,000 in the past 24 hours…….that is a lot of jobs.
Search jobs by keywords, company and location.
Even if you’re not actively seeking new employment, you can set job alerts based on your career interests to regularly receive email updates, keeping an eye on your chosen industry.
You can also alert recruiters (and only recruiters) by turning on the “I’m interested” button, which will let recruiters know you’re open to hearing about new opportunities. LinkedIn will hide this open invitation from colleagues at your current company.
