As a Professional Finder, I utilise LinkedIn EVERY DAY to research candidates that apply for roles with my clients……and to “Hunt” for people that may not be actively searching for a new role….but open to that great opportunity falling in their lap.
So I’ve asked Kylie Chown to pass on some of her insights and wisdom around LinkedIn Profiles……
I recently worked with a client who was a manager in a professional services business and, although she didn’t have a particular role in mind, her plan was to move to a new role within the next 12 months.
We had talked about her resume and the importance of making it outcomes focused. We were moving on to her LinkedIn profile when she asked:
“But don’t I just upload my resume to my LinkedIn profile?”
I explained that her resume could include more comprehensive details on her past, while her LinkedIn profile was about her future. I explained that if she was to just upload her resume to her profile, she would not be maximising LinkedIn’s capabilities. Her LinkedIn profile was in the public domain, and her resume contained confidential information we couldn’t put on her profile.
Furthermore, Business Insider Australia recently reported:
“Users who simply post a static resume (on LinkedIn) and don’t make an effort to interact with others in their network will not receive as many opportunities.”
When used effectively, LinkedIn can help job seekers to:
- Be found by recruiters for their target role.
- Position themselves as a recruiter’s ideal candidate.
- Support their job applications as a validation tool.
- Nurture and strengthen relationships with recruiters and decision makers.
- Search and identify key contacts within their ideal employer.
- Leverage the job search capabilities of LinkedIn.
- Support face-to-face activities.
Here are my top tips to ensure that job seekers leverage LinkedIn to its full capabilities:
- Make sure you are found for your ideal role. Develop your profile around the keywords, skills and abilities for your ideal job moving forward.
- Ensure that when you are found, you are positioned as the ideal person for the opportunity. This includes have a strong “click through” headline and content that is mapped to your future in the summary and in each of the employment sections.
- Validate the findings with evidence. Include evidence of statements and skills. You can do this by adding websites and plugins to showcase your work, and fostering trust through targeted recommendations on your profile and reflective skills endorsements.
- Share content. According to a LinkedIn blog post, users who share content on the professional social network at least once a week are nearly 10 times more likely to be contacted for new opportunities than people who don’t share.
By developing a strategy for her LinkedIn profile, my client was strongly positioned for her next ideal opportunity, without jeopardising her current role.
Written by Kylie Chown, Kylie Chown Consulting
