3 Smarter ways of using LinkedIn to land a job
Tangible Tips and Tricks for job seekers in ANY PART OF THE WORLD
Introduction
We all know what LinkedIn is. We also know that just applying for open positions on it is not enough and that landing a job through the platform requires consistent networking with recruiters and hiring managers. As a Jobseeker, you need to build trust by sharing and posting relevant content that showcases your professional skills and ideologies to prospective employers.
To further aid all of the above efforts, you can take some intelligent steps to reach your goal of landing a dream job faster. This article is all about that.
So let me just cut through the fluff and present to you three ways by which you can find more high-quality jobs (jobs where your application is not lost amongst thousands of others) on LinkedIn and increase your chances of getting that first screening call from a recruiter!
Tip 1: In LinkedIn Jobs — apply for postings that have recruiter details mentioned.
Just like any other employment website, the “Jobs” section of LinkedIn has countless positions that you can apply for. The below snapshot from my profile depicts the same.
Traditionally, you would look at the job description, introduce some keywords in your resume to match it and then click on that “apply” button. In most cases, the “apply” button will take you to the company’s website, where you would start the application process. There is nothing wrong here, and this might also work for some people, but more often than not, once you enter your professional details, they are lost among hundreds of other candidates. Again, not saying that this traditional process won’t work but just saying that your chances of getting that initial call might not be that great.
A different and more effective approach would be to find postings that have the recruiter’s details mentioned. Below is an example snapshot of what I am talking about:
Mind you, not all the job postings on LinkedIn have recruiter’s details mentioned; therefore, focusing on the ones that have gives you a two-fold advantage:
- Apart from applying for the job on the company website like usual, you have the option to introduce yourself to the recruiter and essentially connect with them for any future opportunities.
- You always can follow up with the recruiter if you haven’t received any update on your application.
Tip 2: Do a hashtag search on jobs — #hiring #indiajobs #torontojobs #chemistryjobs #salesjobs etc.
Apart from the Jobs section of LinkedIn, another primary source of identifying open positions in a company is the LinkedIn community itself. That means -people on LinkedIn who post about ongoing hirings. It is possibly the fastest way to get that first chat with the recruiter or hiring manager. Now, your usual LinkedIn feed might not be having such posts, but there is a way for you to find them — Hashtags search!
Yes, this is a no-brainer in today’s times, but some folks still forget that the LinkedIn community prominently uses hashtags. Hashtags are searchable. You can enter almost any topic as a hashtag in LinkedIn’s search bar and get thousands of related posts.
So as an example, if I am looking for sales jobs in Toronto, I can search for #torontojobs or #salesjobs and see hundreds of posts from people who might be hiring. Once I know who is hiring, I have won half the battle. The next steps would be to respectfully introduce myself and try to get that screening discussion set up.
Tip 3: Scanning through the Activities of your Connections and their connections.
Tip 3 is a bit controversial, as some people might label it as stalking, but it’s more about keeping your eyes and ears open.
Remember, we are looking for open positions that might not be listed in the LinkedIn Jobs section and have some human contact points listed.
LinkedIn has a “feature” where you can see what your connections are “liking”, and all you need to do is keep track of any posts about hiring that they might have liked.
If you have recruiters as your connections, you might go into their activities and check if they have liked any hiring posts published by recruiters in their network.
So essentially, you are taking advantage of LinkedIn’s networking effect to find real- high-quality jobs faster. When I say high-quality, I mean a job with a human point of contact listed and where you can track your application.
Hope this helps
This article is just a small attempt to enable and help job seekers around the world. I hope you can apply these tactics for your search immediately and that too without any cost. Do show some love by “clapping” on this article, and let me know in the comments if you have any tricks up your sleeve!
Disclaimer: Under certain jurisdictions, I am obligated to inform the readers that the contents of this article are my personal views. It is NOT professional advice. I can’t be held liable for any actions readers might take after reading this article. This article is for entertainment purposes only and is under the copyright of Dhiraj Jagota.
