Post courtesy of Scott Boren, Senior Technical Recruiter, Compuware
I think most of us know what LinkedIn is. According to their published statistics, they now have 40 million people who have created profiles. That’s a lot of people.
But how many of those 40 million created a profile then let it sit? I know I did that 4 years ago. I created my profile but then didn’t know where to go, what to do, or how to make use of it.
But first let’s talk about why you, as a job seeker, feel the need to be on LinkedIn. Using it as a marketing tool for your business? Don’t get enough Internet time with Facebook or MySpace? Maybe you are simply trying to connect to other professionals in your area of expertise. Some of you are looking for employment. This article will focus on what an Internal or Corporate Recruiter may be looking for in your LinkedIn profile.
First let’s address the two typical terms recruiters hear about job seekers in our business: active and passive. An active job seeker is someone who is spending a reasonable amount of time every week searching for new employment. This may be because they know they need to move from their current employer or they are unemployed and “actively” looking. The passive candidate may be someone who is happy or marginally content with their work, their colleagues, their company, but would certainly entertain listening to an opportunity for career growth. No matter which you group you belong to, these suggestions will help everyone.
1) Start with your title / headline. Be descriptive and interesting. Use this one line advertisement to make people want to read more.
2) Please add your picture. A decent head shot taken with a camera. No cell phone pics or evidence of what you did last Saturday night. This is a PROFESSIONAL network site.
3) Go to your settings and customize your URL. LinkedInassigns you a random URL with letters and numbers. Customize yours with your name, like mine. Remember if you are looking for a job you are selling yourself. This will help “brand” you as well as increase your search results when someone searches for you by name. You may want to add the URL to your email signature, your resume or post it on other social networks you are on. You can also add a "widget" with a link to your profile on your website or in email like this one:
4) In my opinion, the Summary and Specialties may be the most important sections of your profile. Talk about not only what you do for a living, but what gets you going in the morning. Give it a little personal touch (again without going overboard). This is a great place to point out what you love to do most and/or what you are best at.
5) Add each of your employers. If you are an “experienced” person, go back 10 – 15 years. But put some detail in there. I read a profile the other day and one employment section said ABC Company 2005 to 2008 Java Developer. That will not do. Your LinkedInprofile may not be as detailed as a resume, but an employer needs to see what have done. And while job description and duties are important, can you make a point about how you added value? As my boss likes to say, everyone has a job description. What did you accomplish that will make you stand out? A paragraph, maybe two, for each job will work.
6) Recommendations are important too. You can reach out to past or current managers and ask them to write you a recommendation. But this does require a little tact. If you have already received permission to use someone as a professional reference, then ask them if they would feel comfortable writing a recommendation on LinkedIn. Once they agree, THEN send the request through LinkedIn. By the way, you are able to control whether or not the recommendation gets posted to you profile. Think 360-degrees too. You can get recommendations from past peers and customers as well.
7) There is a status line that you can write an update on yourself. If you are active job seeker, you can certainly say you are actively looking for new work. Again, be descriptive.
8) LinkedInhas a number of Groups that you can join. By participating in different groups this shows you take an interest in your career besides simply going to work everyday. I find it important when IT professionals are active in a local user group or other related meetings.
9) If you have a website or blog there is a place to list that too (as long as it is professional). Again another place to show you are not strictly a “9-5’er”.
This will get you started, and hopefully recognized. After this is complete there are steps you can take to reach more people and possible find your next job. But this is a start to help you make your connections!
