I recently learned that a whopping 60 percent of the Fortune 100 use LinkedIn to save time and hire the best candidates. This means that recruiters from these organizations — some of the largest and most respected companies in the world — are engaging with LinkedIn every day to find and vet job candidates.
If you’re looking for a job right now, then you’re probably wondering, “How do I get these top corporate recruiters (and others) to find me while they’re searching on LinkedIn?”
Here are some tips that will help you reach recruiters and stand out from the crowd:
- Include relevant keywords in your LinkedIn profile. One of the most common ways that recruiters and hiring managers search for job candidates is by entering relevant keywords into LinkedIn’s search engine. In order to show up in these searches, your profile has to contain the right keywords for the position you want.
To find these magic words, research the profiles of people who have the job you want as well as the job listings for the positions you desire. What words show up the most frequently in both places? These are probably some of the keywords recruiters are using.
For example, if you are interested in a job selling advertising for websites, look at the LinkedIn profiles of people who have job titles such as “online advertising manager” or “director of interactive sales.” Then, find the words that appear commonly in these profiles, such as “digital ad sales,” “online advertising,” “new media” or “web sales.”
Smart job seekers then sprinkle these words throughout their own profiles (assuming they accurately reflect your skills and experience, of course). Good places to include keywords in your LinkedIn profile are in your profile title, the Summary section, the Specialties area and throughout the descriptions beneath each position you list in your Experience section.
- Join and engage in industry groups. In addition to performing keyword searches, many recruiters tell me that they spend a lot of time lurking in group discussions on LinkedIn. They join the most active and influential groups in their industry and look for people who stand out in these groups as knowledgeable leaders and contributors.
To find out which groups would be best for you to join and engage in, again check out the profiles of people you admire in your industry and see what groups those people belong to. And, of course, look at the profiles of recruiters at the companies where you’d like to work and see what groups they belong to. Then apply to join these groups and, if you are accepted (some groups require particular credentials but many are open), jump in and post discussion topics, share and comment on relevant industry articles and provide advice or guidance to people who post questions. Don’t go overboard here — no need to comment on every single discussion in every group you belong to — but focus your efforts by writing perhaps one or two well-thought-out posts a week responding to group discussions that relate to your area of expertise.
And, of course, keep a special eye out for any employees of the companies you want to work for and try to engage in discussions in which they are participating. You never know when someone might take notice of your brilliance!
- Connect with employees (past or present) of your dream employer. A recruiter I know once told me that he always has two stacks of resumes on his desk: one really tall stack of resumes he receives from job listing websites, job fairs and cold emails, and one short little stack of resumes he receives from people he knows and trusts — his company’s employees, his own personal and professional network, his fellow college alumni and members of the professional associations he belongs to. Of course you want to be in that smaller, more exclusive stack.
This means that one of the best thing you can do as a job seeker is to find personal connections to a company, and LinkedIn is the perfect place to do this. Go to the LinkedIn Company page of any organization you want to work for and see if you’re connected to anyone who currently works there or has worked there in the past. You may not even realize that you have a direct connection to your dream employer.
If you discover this is the case, reach out to your connection, as long as it’s someone you are truly acquainted with — ideally a first degree connection or a second connection with whom you share a close contact, and write a polite and concise LinkedIn message asking that person if he or she would be willing to share some advice on landing a job at that organization.
Once you’ve taken this advice, you might also go back and ask that helpful contact to personally pass along your resume or application to the right person in HR. There are no guarantees when it comes to asking people for help on LinkedIn, but I’ve found that people will generally respond well to a request that is gracious and comes from a friend or a friend-of-a-trusted-friend. Some companies even compensate their employees for bringing in new hires, so you might be helping yourself and your contact.
Have you found other ways to attract the attention of recruiters on LinkedIn? If so, please share in the Comments!
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- SDN
Comments
Great post! I am going to my profile right now to sprinkle in the key search terms! I also agree with you and am working hard to connect with past/present employees – it’s all about “who you know,” including who you know online!
Great advice Lindsey – especially for job seekers who have spent more attention on engagement via Twitter and Facebook and not enough via LinkedIn. Cheers,
Andy
Great post, Lindsey! When I’m looking for candidates via LinkedIn, I also look for completeness of profiles. When I come across a profile that has almost no connections, no descriptions of what the person does/did, and no other information besides a few job titles and company names, I’ll tend to think that the profile is outdated and move on to the next one.
The more descriptive the profile, the more likely I’ll reach out and the more likely that you’ll actually be the right candidate for the job!
Thank you for sharing this resource. I have done most of this now I know the missing link. KEYWORDS, since I do not have the experience in the industry I am trying to be a part of I think it will be challenging but I am sure I can integrate some skills and use the keywords.
Thanks again
Dear
Thanks you made it easy , I’m following Greig . yes surely the kep words is the most important could you advise about LinkedIn signal
Dream Employers: More often than not, I find that small to medium size companies don’t have company pages on LinkedIn. Although I like this feature, it isn’t helpful for most small to medium size firms. Any suggestions for a work-around within LinkedIn are appreciated.
Great post Lindsey. I would also add that job seekers should always ensure that their LinkedIn profile accurately reflects what they have on their written resume. As a recruiter, I always verify a resume against a LinkedIn profile and am amazed at how often I see completely different profiles!
I have just started using linked in about a month ago, but so far, LinkedIn has connected me with many industry professionals. As Lindsey’s advice, I looked at those industry leaders’ past experiences and education backgrounds whose career paths that I so much admire. Out of my expectation, most of these people (I am sure they are all extremely occupied, since most of them have titles such as Director, CEO, CFO…), replied me on LinkedIn and provided me with helpful advices and valuable insights into the business they are currently in.
Great suggestions! Make small changes to your profile often so that the change is announced on the updates of your connections. When your connections see you changed something, they will want to visit your profile page. The additional traffic to your LI profile page will place you higher on the search engine.
Sound advice. The problem I’m encountering, or so it seems, is I’m trying to move from a career in local government to one in private industry. I used to joke, after I moved to a local government ten time larger, that the only thing I hadn’t encountered in my previous position was being sued for terminating a non-performer. I’ve a feeling I’ll need a separate resume / profile for every position to which I may apply.
Great great concrete information. Thanks so much Julie – I’ve started to apply your techniques. Happy Channuka too. Joanna Samuels
Excellent post! I will be using this information to start classes I am teaching on Networking & LinkedIn at SDSU and CSUSM, not to mention posting it on my Profile Page. I appreciate your writing!
Really inspiring and useful post, most of all!
I also started a blog to increase Linkedin exposure and hopefully demonstrate my thinking, creativity, and writing skills.
Good advice, using research and common sense strategies to attrack your dream employer. Thanks for sharing!
Definitely sound advice that should be followed! I didn’t recognize the importance of LinkedIn until about a week ago. So I updated my profile, joined the groups, started making the posts, and connecting with others. Networking is the key and LinkedIn is the tool to get it done.
Excellent advise and a worthwhile post to read and follow. Thank you.
This is what search engine marketing is all about.
Thanks for the Happy Hanukkah Joanna.
In addition to the tips already given, how does one format the Summary section? Thanks!
Being a college student and an inspiring leader in my industry, this article offers great insight on how to market myself for my dream job. Thanks for posting!
Great and excellent post! I have been using LinkedIn for about 3 months and its agreat way to connect, view, and search for opportunities as well as knowledge. @Lian I read your reply and I think that is a good way to connect to people you are looking for in that area of interest its a way to connect and become aware of what I need to do to advance in that area of interest. Thanks for the reply.
Lindsey,
A really helpful post for those new to using Linkedin as an employment search strategy.
Many thanks,
Fiona
Very useful, Lindsey. One question, though. Do you have any sources for me about that 60% of fortune 500 companies that use LinkedIn? I need some data to make the case to the skeptics..