LinkedIn is quickly becoming an employer and employees best friend. Its networking, job hunting and profile capabilities outweigh anything else on the market. With over 100 million users, why wouldn’t you use it?
Here are a few tricks on how to make to most out of LinkedIn.
CONNECTING
When connecting with valuable and influential people on LinkedIn, make sure you give them a good chance of knowing you. Use the ‘personal note’ to remind them of how and when you met. This will make you personable and more importantly, memorable.
For quick connections with peers or classmates, skip the ‘how do you know this person step’ when inviting them to connect. Click on the ‘connect’ button from the search results page, instead of the profile. No questions asked and you won’t have to label the connection.
GROUPS
Joining groups on LinkedIn is the best way to network. Statistics say that your profile is 5 times more likely to be viewed by others if you’re active in groups. Being involved in groups also gives you permission to reach out to individuals and invite them to join your network and you won’t need a premium membership to connect.
JOB HUNTING
Job hunting can be tricky on LinkedIn especially if you’re connected with people at your current company. If you are job hunting through LinkedIn, be aware that all of your connections have visibility of your activity broadcasts. These can be turned off through
the ‘privacy & settings’ tab if you’re not comfortable with having a live feed. While you are searching, make sure to set-up daily or weekly email updates for all your job criteria. That way LinkedIn does the research for you.
KEYWORDS
Customise your profile. LinkedIn works the same way a search engine does by picking up keywords, so when writing your profile, make sure to target 5 key skills/keywords you want to highlight. When including and repeating these keywords, your profile will become more searchable for companies looking for the same skill sets.
Customise your URL. Edit your URL in LinkedIn not only boosts your own brand awareness but looks much better on CV’s and email signatures. We recommend changing the URL to your full name, keeping it simply yet efficient. Do this through the ‘edit URL’ function within your profile page.
CUSTOMISE
Don’t include everything in the ‘experience’ tab. Strengthen your profile by adding projects, publications and volunteering experience to it. This gives you the opportunity to highlight specific experiences you’d like others to see. You can also add colleagues to each project created and customise the URL per project; making your profile more organised and searchable.
For more LinkedIn tips, keep a look out for upcoming workshops in the new year.
Sources: Digital Information World, Forbes.com and Ragan’s PR Daily.