Showcasing yourself on LinkedIn
Looking for a new role? Here are some helpful tips on showcasing yourself on LinkedIn!
It’s been a bumpy few months when it comes to employment - lots of restructuring mixed with lots of really interesting new roles opening up! If you’re one of the many looking for work right now there are some ways to improve your chances of being reached out to by hiring managers and recruiters. While there’s a lot of noise out there on what not to do, this list is a more practical list of things you can do!
Open to work - use the circle - any company who won’t talk to you because of it isn’t somewhere you want to work. As a recruiter we will always reach out to perceived qualified candidates with or without it but it never hurts to add it!
Showcase clear successes, skill sets and achievement
While it’s enticing to write a whole diatribe about what makes you a good human and a great culture add to any team, that's not what is going to make people reach out to you. That will be determined during the interview process. When people are searching LinkedIn for talent they are looking for just that: Talent.
Make sure your profile is clearly showcasing your achievements in your roles, what you owned, what you contributed to the company.
Make sure you’re using the right language that is meaningful to everyone, not just your internal lingo (tip! Recruiters search by main keywords, so if you’re a Growth professional make sure those key terms are in there even if internally you called chief bubble blower)
Make sure your profile is robust enough for recruiters to understand what you do
If what you do is deeply complex (let’s say you’re a Quant for a large scale data engineering platform) offer up a TL:DR in the overview for lay folks to understand
Make your summary section an overview of what you can bring to a team - where you’re super strong and what kind of roles you’re excited about. Try your best to stay away from catch phrases that mean 100 different things to 100 different people. Don’t say “Looking for growth roles” rather say something like “Looking for roles with a focus on customer acquisition, loyalty, conversion, SEO and overall growth focused opportunities”.
Ask previous managers for endorsements
Contrary to popular belief we do look at these, and when written well they provide some really nice insight for what kind of team member you’d be and where you thrive.
Engage in meaningful interactions from a business perspective
It’s tempting to comment on everything and engage in a lot of other laid off folks' posts., However, what will get you noticed is engaging in meaningful conversation about your area of expertise. The best way to stand out is to show you bring talent to the table.
Don’t air your grievances on a platform where hiring managers will likely go first to learn more about you. There’s no context, there’s no sides, and there’s honestly no good outcome from it.
On the flip side there are so many amazing people looking to help those impacted by the layoffs, if you’re one of those lovely humans (™ Steph Little) here are some practical tips to help!
Send them the above :-)
If you’re making a post about them and aren’t tagging them, share more than that they are a hard worker who’s a lovely human - this is a talent platform, share what they are great at and what they can bring to a team.
The other day someone posted “I know a foreign trained 50 year old accountant looking for work in Canada, I can vouch they are an amazing person. Reach out if you have something for them!”. All I wanted to do was scream back “But what do they do!? What’s their area of expertise?? What kind of role do they want??” I didn’t - so sorry you’re getting it now - but this is what we need.
If they are open to being tagged in the post tag them! This ensures that your post reaches a broader audience.
Stop making intros without asking - this is doing more harm than good. If you think you know someone in your network that can help this person message them directly, explain why you’d like to connect them and ask if it’s ok to do so. If they say no, thank them and that’s it, if they say yes make the intro.
Those of us in the recruitment space are getting hundreds of reach outs a week - we cannot say yes to everyone or we’d be working 120-140 hours a week trying to help everyone and do the work for our clients. Try to make sure you’re reaching out to the right people to make connections with.
TL:DR
Make your profile and your content on LinkedIn all about your expertise and the value you bring to a team. Showcase accomplishments! Engage in relevant conversations! Stay positive, and on the days that you can’t, take a break!