LinkedIn can not only help you apply for a job but also have several potential employers reach out to you directly without you even sending an application!
LinkedIn is the largest online professional network in the world with over 200 million members located across the globe. There are many benefits to being on LinkedIn apart from connecting with several other professionals and businesses.
If you aren't on LinkedIn yet, Sign-Up and create a Profile here.
Here are some things you need to make sure of, once you've signed-up.
- Update your Profile with all your qualifications, experiences, interests, certifications and skills along with a well-written summary. This is quite important as employers may also look for candidates using keywords that may be picked up from your profile.
- A summary that has an overview of your skills, talents, previously quantified results and how you can be of value to the company. Include details on how you can be accessed and you can include your resume or something related to your portfolio as a media attachment.
- Customize the LinkedIn URL of your profile as this also makes it super easy for people to find you.
- Upload a professional photo as your Profile Picture. Having a professional photo on your LinkedIn profile results in 10 times more Profile views.
- Send out connections to your friends, past colleagues and anyone whom you may know. Additionally, when sending out requests to professionals with whom you would like to connect, add a personal note instead of the generic "I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn." On acceptance of a connection, you may also send another note which will help in creating a good impression as you network.
- Have a creative and benefit-oriented headline on your profile which grabs attention but make sure that it is professional and related to your profession.
- Seek quality recommendations and endorsements from your connections and also create them for others as well. - Join LinkedIn Groups, there are plenty of groups on LinkedIn and they provide a great way to network and be seen by the people you want to reach. Research and find groups relevant to your interests, network with people within the group and contribute towards helping others as well. - As a freelancer or a person looking for remote jobs/work-from-home jobs, there are groups on LinkedIn specifically created for this purpose. Search for the groups and request to join them. - Follow Companies and Apply for Jobs relevant to your skills. You can search for jobs using keywords. Connect and Network with recruiters and those that post job vacancies. You may require LinkedIn Premium in some cases to network with them. LinkedIn Premium does help a lot as you may use the feature of InMail or promote your job application. - InMail lets you directly message members you are not connected to, and you can purchase 10 InMail credits if you have a free account or with LinkedIn Premium you get a certain number of allotted InMail credits based on the subscription plan. You can always purchase 10 additional InMail credits. - Obtain a free LinkedIn Premium trial for a month and make use of the premium features. You can see how many searches your profile has appeared in, view all those that have viewed your profile and obtain additional information on posted jobs. - Send a personalized message to recruiters by adopting an enthusiastic tone. You can describe how you could add value to the company by highlighting your skills and how they match the job requirements. - You can also post content as status updates, content that could be related to Industry Updates, sharing infographics, images and videos, asking questions and even share humorous content. Everyone loves good humor. At The Side Hustler, we are also offering you an opportunity to avail of our Professional Resume Writing Service. We will help you create an eye-catchy Resume and a Cover Letter with an appropriate layout that is relevant to your target industry, professional language that is proofread without any spelling errors or grammatical mistakes. Write to info@thesidehustler.org for more details. Related - 7 reasons why you need an attractive resume! 5 reasons why you need a Cover Letter! Pin the image below and save it for later or you can share it among your friends and families on Facebook and Twitter.
