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Career Advice for Job Seekers

Tips to use LinkedIn Smarty for Job Hunting

William Frierson AvatarWilliam Frierson
December 12, 2014


Linkedin.com homepage on the screen. LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking service

Linkedin.com homepage on the screen. LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking service. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

Social media is one of the best ways of finding a job and LinkedIn certainly has its advantages. Young students who are taking their first steps in the professional sphere can benefit from the contacts they can make on LinkedIn besides finding a direction for their career and finding job opportunities. There are a few ways you can use LinkedIn to your advantage.

Have a professional photo on your site

First impressions matter and you are going to be judged on your appearance. Hence it’s important to have a professional picture, a head shot taken in a studio. Make sure you are wearing formal attire in it and put on a smile like you would for a job interview.

Extension of your CV

Since LinkedIn is quite flexible in terms of layout you have various options while presenting your knowledge, skills and experience. That’s a huge advantage over a regular CV, which is only a historic account. LinkedIn lets you choose the direction you want to take and you can make an impact by choosing keywords that are suitable for your industry niche. It will make sure you are found easily when recruiters use the site to find prospective employees.

Connect with professionals in the industry

With LinkedIn you can connect with people in your desired industry, including recruiters and employers. When you are connected with other LinkedIn profiles, chances of people finding you when needed are boosted. It’s also true that people want to work with someone they can trust and you can leverage your connections to your advantage.

Stay consistent

Your social networking with fellow professionals is the way you can advertise yourself. Hence it’s important to stay consistent in your branding and the way people see you in these profiles. Backgrounds, headshot, features ought to be same all through your profiles with the goal that employers have no doubt that they are dealing with the same person.

Join interested groups

LinkedIn groups are crucial because people with similar interests share articles, questions on them and find jobs as well. You can position yourself as an expert in the field by answering relevant questions that have been asked. There are thousands of groups that are around and you can choose one by simply carrying out a search. LinkedIn can also suggest you a few groups based on your experience.

Get recommendations

Letters of recommendation are integral to hiring process and so are recommendations to LinkedIn profiles. When future employees are going through your profile they are bound to be impressed by recommendations from your previous bosses, colleagues and more. You can get recommendations by recommending someone else; but make sure you do this with someone who knows your work quite well.

Make the most of LinkedIn Today

LinkedIn is definitely only of the most important and relevant content curators around as you will find blogs, news and other information from the web here. You have the option of receiving this content exactly the way you want. The option of customizing your feed based on content most read by your connections is quite handy. It helps you keep up with the latest news and trends in your industry.

Go through company profiles

Today most organizations have their profiles on LinkedIn. Going through them on a regular basis gives you the advantage because you know if there are new openings with these companies in the first place. You can also get more information about a company, which can be used to your advantage and you can put yourself in a better position to be hired by the particular organization. You can use these pages to do your research and be able to write customized cover letters and resumes too.

Eliminate unnecessary information from work history

There are several professionals, especially those in the field of technology, who have had several jobs but they aren’t relevant to your present goals. It’s just easier to scale back on those positions that don’t add value to the job you seek today. You don’t have to get rid of them completely as that would leave a suspicious gap in your resume, but don’t harp on them. Keep them to the company name and title; nothing more.

Your headline should reveal your career goals

Your headline is the most important and eye catching part of your resume. More than a job title, you are better off keeping a smart description of yourself in the headline. This is also just the right space to reveal your career goals to future employees. If you are not employed, you might want to keep that information out of the headline. Your headline should talk about things you want to do and you have the option of using keywords to good effect. Rightly chosen keywords enhance the chances of your profile being found by future employers.

You have to remember that the goal of your LinkedIn profile is to convert online connections into offline meetings and job interviews. You can use these simple tips to make sure you achieve that goal with your LinkedIn profile.

Author Bio:

I am Ramya Raju, a resume writing expert and career expert who also specializes in creating, writing and developing content, career websites and content for newsletters. I’m a sociable person, with a great love and interest for photography.

Contact:

Ramya

E-mail id: ramyaraju896@gmail.com

Website: http://www.jobapplicationservice.com/uk/

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