How To Use LinkedIn To Get A Job In 3 Easy Steps

LinkedIn currently has almost 740 million members, with over 55 million registered businesses using the platform. This makes it a great tool to use if you are looking for a job, which many people in the UK are at the moment. After all, the pandemic has impacted us all, and the end of the furlough scheme has resulted in devastating news for a lot of people who have been made redundant. 

No matter what position you find yourself in at the moment, LinkedIn provides you with an excellent way of reaching recruiters and finding great job opportunities. However, for this to be the case, you do need to know how to use this platform successfully. So, let’s take a look:

3 Easy Steps for Using LinkedIn to Get a Job

Make sure your profile is working hard for you

You need to start off by working on your profile. Make sure your photo is of a high-quality and looks professional. If you do not have one, take a headshot of yourself appropriately dressed and make sure it is in focus. Here are some of the other elements you need to fill in effectively:

• Your headline – Your headline should incorporate some important keywords relating to the job vacancies you are looking for. Don’t add in the word “former” or any other term that would indicate you do not have a job. 
• Your summary – The summary section provides you with your next opportunity to grab the attention of a potential employer. This is a critical spot that you need to use to sell yourself. Highlight any recognition you have had during your career, such as awards and accomplishments. Make sure you use hot-button terms, like a fast-paced environment, but do not simply try and stuff in a list of keywords. Let your personality shine through here and write in the first person. 
• Turn off “notify my network” – Another important step to take when amending your profile is turning off the “notify my network” function, which means that your contacts won’t receive a notification whenever you make profile changes. The last thing you want to do is annoy everyone on your contact list with an endless number of notifications. Once your profile is finished, you can turn this back on so that they receive one notification, rather than 100. 

Be an active LinkedIn user

The final piece of advice that we have for you is to make sure you are active on LinkedIn. This does not mean that you should be posting every 15 minutes as that could get quite annoying! However, you do want to ensure you have a visible presence. Here are some of the ways you can go about being more active on LinkedIn:

→ Share impactful images

LinkedIn has made it easy for you to share images directly from your smartphone, so if you find yourself at a networking event, conference, or professional seminar, it is a good idea to post a photograph with a positive comment alongside it. 

You can also post a photo if you have been doing some volunteer work, attended a networking event or have won an award. Images make a big impact and they can help to ensure that you stand out on LinkedIn. 

→ Don’t add lots of new contacts at once

One thing you should not do on your quest to be more active on LinkedIn is adding a lot of new contacts in big batches. This could make you look a little bit desperate! Instead, keep an eye on LinkedIn’s suggestions for network additions, and add a couple of people you know every few days or so. 

→ Engage with your contacts

Stay on top of what your contacts are doing. The Keep in Touch section in the Connections channel is great for this. Send your congratulations on key dates, such as job anniversaries, birthdays, and new positions. 

After all, leveraging your network is often what will help you find your next job. Simply having a group of people you don’t speak with on LinkedIn isn’t going to benefit you. Instead, you need to engage with your contacts and recognise their successes. If you do this, they will return the favour, and you never know what doors of opportunity this could open for you.

Join LinkedIn Premium

This is by no means essential, but joining LinkedIn Premium can give you an advantage over your competition when looking for a job. There is a monthly payment, but the social network does typically provide a trial period for a month, where you can use the service for free. 

There are a lot of benefits of using LinkedIn Premium from a job seeker’s perspective. One of the services on Premium is that your correspondence will be moved to the top of the mailbox of whoever posted the job you’re making an application for. This can give you a great advantage, as you could potentially skip ahead of hundreds of applicants.

Another benefit is that you can see all of the data regarding who has visited your profile. Plus, you can use InMail, which gives you the ability to contact anyone on LinkedIn, even if they are not an existing contact. However, do note that if you go for the most basic plan, you are only going to be allowed three InMails per year, so you do need to use them wisely. 

Start using Linkedin to Get a New Job

So there you have it: three critical steps to follow in order to use LinkedIn to get a job. LinkedIn is the most popular social media network for businesses and professionals, and it has a number of features that can help you in your job search. Start off by implementing the three steps that we have mentioned above and we are sure you will notice a positive boost when it comes to your job search efforts on LinkedIn.