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Using LinkedIn to network

Using LinkedIn to network

Filter tag: AI and Digitisation, Change Management and Executive Outplacement, Leadership Capability, Strategies for Growth

In the first of our blog series on LinkedIn, we explained how to create an impressive LinkedIn profile. Here we explore ways to optimise your profile, network and seek out job opportunities on the platform.

There are currently more than 58 million companies listed on LinkedIn with more than 15 million open job listings.

Six people are hired via LinkedIn every minute. Read on for tips and tricks to make sure the right recruiters are matched with your profile, improving your chances of being found for the right role.

 

Be active:

The more active you are on your profile, the more you will appear in employer/recruiter searchers. Tweaks, updates and relevant content sharing and posting will help boost your presence. If you are currently job searching, make sure you are using LinkedIn regularly.

Follow the companies in which you are interested and their executives/thought leaders to build up links and stay informed on developments and opportunities and gain insights into their culture.

Connect, connect, connect. Don’t be shy about sending out a request to anyone you know or is connected to you in any way who you can share insights with and might be mutually helpful. This is not a friend-making platform, it’s about building networks. You will be as useful to an old colleague, schoolfriend, acquaintance, contact-of-contact as they are to you. Also, link in to recruiters, HR leaders, industry influencers and key decision makers. If an employer sees you are linked to them via other connections, they are more like to take you seriously. It will help you access the elusive hidden job market and bring recruiters to your door. Do follow etiquette, though. Don’t employ a scattergun approach, mindlessly messaging hundreds of people with no obvious links to you. Ensure there is a purpose or shared interest or field. Add a personalised message explaining why you want to connect and offer to help or share information, but keep it brief.

Be proactive. Message senior decision makers, hiring managers, recruiters, any of your connections in the relevant sector and ask about opportunities. Keep it brief, friendly and professional. Read profiles fully first to get a sense of their preferred style of communication and their role and experience so you can make any introduction or opening gambit personal and specific instead of sounding like a cut and paste job. Don’t send CVs on spec and long personal sales pitches. Just explain what you are looking for, how you think you can help and ask if they know of opportunities or can suggest anybody else to contact. Any inside information may give you that edge over other job seekers and valuable access to the hidden market.

Open to work. Consider whether it’s appropriate to set your profile to Open to Work. There’s a video here on how to do it. You can limit this information to recruiters, useful if you do not want other people to know you are looking or want to seek opportunities subtly. Alternatively, you can also alert all contacts, although you might wish to discuss this option with a skilled coach to decide on the right positioning for you.

Search and subscribe to job alerts: Clicking on the jobs icon in the toolbar will take you to a page where jobs matching your skills and experience will be displayed. You can search for further positions and switch the “set alert” toggle to “on” to receive notifications when relevant new jobs are posted.

Join groups and networks to extend your reach and stay informed. Add insightful comments to posts and share or create your own content to showcase your expertise and thought leadership and make sure people see your name. Nine in 10 super successful job hunters in a LinkedIn survey belonged to at least one group.

Maintain your network. Once you have made a useful contact, try to maintain it. For example, if you had a good job interview but didn’t get the post, follow up with a message to the panel members thanking them for their time, asking for feedback and politely requesting that they might consider you for any future roles. Be careful not to overstep the mark or become over familiar. Keep it professional unless the relationship has developed into a mutually more friendly one naturally. Ensuring you are gently in the background of a specific space will help keep you in the mind of employers, recruiters and other contacts who may have helpful information or consider you when an opportunity arises.

Prepare for applications and interviews. Use this incredible resource to frame your approach, response and interview style. Look at anyone who has worked for the company or comparable companies. What skills do they showcase? What were their career trajectories? Who do they follow? What do they post?

Similarly, read into the company culture and the backgrounds of any individuals who may have a part in the recruitment process. Finding a common interest with an interviewer before meeting them can be a good icebreaker – say a football team or the fact you’ve both worked at the same company or in the same European city. It shows you’ve done your homework. Don’t be over familiar though! Knowing it’s their first born’s 18th birthday or the name of their dog could backfire!

 

Should you pay for premium?

If you’re not actively looking for a job, recruiting or seeking to build your sales or following for commercial purposes, the free-to-use platform should meet most or all your needs.

But it’s worth going for the free one-month premium free trial to unlock the extra features and decide if it’s worth paying for while you are in the market. They include direct email access to hiring managers, notifications of views of your CV, LinkedIn Learning courses and AI-powered searches.

These are just some of the tools and benefits to LinkedIn and the beauty of it is that it’s a vast resource of accessible, free and easily searchable information to support you in so many aspects of your career development. However, while algorithms make it as personal to you as they can, there are limitations to its offering.

It goes without saying that competition for jobs at the very top is most intense and the process so much more complex as companies seek the very best candidate for crucial positions upon which futire company fortunes can be made and lost.

If you feel you could benefit from professional, structured highly personalised support in your executive job search, do contact Rialto for a free initial consultation.

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