JOB HUNT ADVICE
to get recruiters to you out on LinkedIn
Mark Anderson reveals his social networking top tips I
f you’re looking for your first graduate job, you need to know how to make yourself attractive to potential employers. It’s a bit like the secret of using dating websites
effectively – be attractive without coming across as desperate. So, how can you do this on LinkedIn, the ideal social media site for job searchers? Here are eight steps you can take on LinkedIn to make recruiters putty in your hands.
Review your job title Other than your photo, your title or headline is what people will home in on first. This is where you can be unique. Don’t go for the standard ‘business studies graduate’, for instance. That won’t separate you from other similar graduates. You may want to highlight any work experience relevant to the type of work you are looking for – for example, ‘business grad with social media marketing experience’. You have 120 characters to play with, so make the most of them and think outside the box.
Give a call to action Of course, viewers can ask to be connected to you, but you can make life easier for them by providing your email address in your profile.
Think about who you’re trying to attract There’s no point in having an attention- grabbing headline if you’re grabbing the attention of the wrong people. Who do you want to be looking at your profile? Think about the industry, ideal employers and their location, if relevant. Take a look at some active users within these industries or companies and pick out some of the key words in their
profile. Make sure you use these words in your profile, too, because these are the words that recruiters will be inserting into their search boxes. Be targeted.
What are your specialities? If there are specific transferable skills you’d like to be using in your ideal job, make sure you mention how you’ve used them in the past. Perhaps there are specific skills relevant to your industry, such as use of a particular coding language if you’re a computing expert. Be laser focused. If you’re struggling to identify your strengths, a good online psychometric test will help you to narrow them down and suggest possible career paths.
Express yourself Your LinkedIn profile shouldn’t be a simple cut and paste of your CV. You have the freedom to express your personality more so viewers can get a flavour of the real you. What makes you unique? As the song says: “It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it.” What do you do differently to others? I often ask clients what colleagues would miss about them if they were removed from a team. Ask yourself this question. After all, you want to work with people who value you for being you.
Get active It’s not just about having a great profile, it’s about taking a proactive approach to connect with relevant people. Find out if there are any groups related to your interests and engage in discussions. Follow companies you are interested in and respond to their comments on company pages. The more you engage, the more likely you are to have people looking at your profile. So make sure
your profile is exactly as you like it before you start engaging.
Be clear about connections In your profile summary, be clear about who you would like to connect with. Don’t just think about connecting with recruiters and major decision makers, think about connecting with people who do similar roles to what you’d like to do. Make this clear in the concluding sentences of your profile.
Request recommendations It’s one thing for you to say how wonderful you are. It’s even more powerful if other people say positive things about you. Request recommendations from internship colleagues and university lecturers. Ideally, recommend them first, then ask them to reciprocate. To make life easier for them you can always give them suggested text options.
With LinkedIn, don’t expect successful results overnight. Rather like finding an eventual life partner, good relationships take time to develop. You never know where conversations may lead. n
Mark Anderson Career coach
Kickstart Careers Coaching
kickstartcareers.co.uk mark@kickstartcareers.co.uk
Autumn 2017 |
GradJobs.co.uk | 21
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