I need some help: I’ve joined LinkedIn and now want to find other people in Colorado who can help me find work. I’ve a background in computer networking and am a civilian employee of the Air Force, but I’m pretty new to LinkedIn. Do you have some advice for me?
This was a question posted to Dave Taylor who has become an online expert helping people use technology to find employment. He has a detailed answer to the above question. It summarizes well many of the Linkedin principles we have covered over the last month on how to use Linkedin more effectively in your job search. To read his response go to: http://tinyurl.com/3d2zu2.
This belongs to a series of contributing guest author posts from LinkedIn users. Heather R. Huhman is the entry-level career columnist for Examiner.com, career expert for the Careerealism Twitter Advice Project, job search expert for Campus Calm and author of the e-book “Gen Y Meets the Workforce: Launching Your Career During Economic Uncertainty”
For every open position, employers receive hundreds—and in some cases, thousands—of applications. As a result, they search for any and every possible way to narrow down the selection. “Cookie cutter” cover letter? In the trash. Only one previous internship when the position requires “one to three”? Moved to the bottom of the stack. Typo? You can forget about it.
You get the idea. So, how can you make your application materials stand out?
1. Proofread, proofread and then proofread again. It’s not enough to just spell everything correctly and use proper punctuation. You also have to make sure you haven’t left in another organization’s information from a previous cover letter. Have a friend or parent review every document before you hit “send.”
2. Find an insider. Do you have a contact at the organization and didn’t know it? Perhaps a friend of a friend works there. Anytime you have someone who can either personally hand your résumé to the hiring manager or allow you to use his or her name in your cover letter (first paragraph—right up front), you have a leg-up over your competition. Using LinkedIn’scompany search or advanced people search is a great way to figure this out. Other options include Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites you frequent. You’d be surprised at the depth and breadth of your network, and there’s nothing better than having someone the organization knows and trusts, recommend you.
3. Determine the hiring manager’s name and contact information. Nothing’s less exciting than reading a “Dear Sir or Madam” cover letter. You’re boring from the start, and probably already have found your way into the “circular file.” You have a number of options here. First, again, is checking LinkedIn and other social networking sites. Second, you can call and politely ask the receptionist for this information. Do not, particularly if the job ad says no calls, ask to speak with the hiring manager—just get his or her name, title and if they’ll provide it, direct e-mail address. Finally, conduct a Boolean search in Google. Using the organization’s name and a combination of either “hiring,” “employment” and/or “jobs” will likely give you a name and title.
4. Go beyond the organization’s Web site. Whether you’re in the application stage or you’ve been invited to interview, it’s important to know as much as possible about the organization. The corporate web site or blog will likely be helpful, but you shouldn’t stop there. Use Google News to uncover recent articles about the organization and its products, services, leadership and clients. Services like Glassdoor.com can help you determine the organization’s culture. Find out what bloggers are saying about the organization withTechnorati. Once you have all this information, you can definitively explain why you are the best person for the job—why you fill a need or solve a problem the organization has.
5. Create an online portfolio. At the end of the day, employers today seek results. So, show them what you’ve done—before they’ve even considered inviting you to interview. On LinkedIn, the SlideShare Presentations, Google Presentation and Box.net Filesapplications allow you to upload files in various formats. Alternatively, there are numerous other free sites to showcase your work, including VisualCV. http://tinyurl.com/c4kh6c
[Ed. note: This belongs to our series of posts featuring tips for recent grads from LinkedIn users. Kelly Lux is a career development specialist and certified career and transition coach with experience in several areas of the working world including corporate/manufacturing, elementary and higher education, state government and retail. She currently provides services to alumni and students of Syracuse University with a focus on mentoring, networking and social media, and job search strategies and tools.]
I have recently spent a great deal of time in my office talking to students who are very confused about what their options are after graduation. The problem is, they are limiting their options before they even get started. Students think that 1) major = job, 2) job boards = job, and 3) NYC (or Chicago, LA, you pick) = job. I’d like to address these three myths.
1) Take a look at the profiles on LinkedIn and see what people really do with their majors. A quick review of profiles for people in marketing & advertising revealed degrees in creative arts, sociology, business administration, economics and journalism. Do some searching and see what people with your degree are doing. Remember that as you search for jobs, the more you open yourself up to possibilities, the more you increase your chances of landing a job you that you really want. Where might you be able to apply the skills you have learned in college? Where can you combine those skills with your interests? Answering these questions will help you come up with some options to check out.
2) I can’t tell you the number of students I’ve met with who have told me that they have applied to everything they can find online and they aren’t even getting a response…nothing! I ask what else they are doing and inevitably they look at me blankly, like there’s something else I should be doing? Online job boards have done a very good job with their advertising and therefore students think that they are the keeper of all jobs. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you can get a job without talking to people (OK, some can, but not many). The true value of your LinkedIn network is the opportunity to connect with these people offline, live, either on the phone or in person. Find people who are doing what you want to do and ask them for 5-10 minutes of their time. Search out people in the companies you are interested in and do the same thing. You will yield much better results than throwing your resume down the black hole of on-line job boards.
3) This is my favorite and probably the hardest thing for students to wrap their heads around. THERE ARE JOBS OUTSIDE THE TOP FIVE CITIES IN THE COUNTRY! In fact, there are good jobs in places like Austin, TX, Kansas City, MO and Salt Lake City, UT. Consider checking out a place other than where millions of other students are heading to at the same time you are, especially now when the big cities have been hardest hit by layoffs, increasing your competition exponentially.
Try to look at your job search as a treasure hunt, where you have to dig to find clues to the best route to take. Keep a vision of where you want to end up and don’t worry so much about the exact steps you will have to take to get there. Just keep in mind that your first job after college is not the biggest decision you will ever have to make in your life, it just seems that way. http://tinyurl.com/nbhp2x
[Ed. note: This belongs to our series of posts featuring tips for recent grads from LinkedIn users. Paul Carpino is Employer Outreach and Internship Coordinator at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. His ten year career in the Hospitality Industry includes management, production supervision, concept and menu design, along with creating the food service program for one of the largest athletic clubs in the nation.]
How do I use the power LinkedIn? Let me count the ways! When you return from an event/mixer with business cards, quickly invite your contacts to join your LinkedIn Network. After returning from an interview, invite the interviewer to join your network. Read a good book or just returned from an awesome event? Post it through the “Updates” feature.
Students and recent grads, the “New Job Seekers” are using new, creative strategies to find jobs and launch their careers. Here is a brief guide to help you expand your reach, build your network and seek out that new job:
1. Invest in professional looking business cards and create a title such as, “Entry-Level Candidate, Human Resources” or “Management Candidate, Hospitality.”
2. Include phone and email, physical address is not needed. Leave your cards with contacts, stuff them in your bill-payment return envelopes. Give them to friends / family to hand out for you.
3. Send an announcement email to the appropriate connections your contact database informing them what job you are looking for or update your LinkedIn status.
4. Be flexible to taking a position related-to, but not exactly in your career field: Hospitality goes to Theme Parks, Office Building Concierge or Fast Service Food. Finance / Accounting / Management goes to Federal Government or Non-Profits.
Stop looking for a job. Start looking to meet people.
Guest Author April 29th, 2009
Ed. note: This belongs to our series of posts featuring tips for recent grads from LinkedIn users. Dr. Susan Bernstein is an expert on career reinvention and renewal. As the founder of Work from Within , she helps high-achieving professionals to get clear and confident about their career direction through her speaking, writing, and coaching.] http://tinyurl.com/c3mxg6
One of the best pieces of career advice I ever received was, “Stop looking for a job. Start looking to meet people.”
During my first year in the MBA program at UC Berkeley, I was at an informal “consumption function,” our ritual Friday afternoon drinking in the courtyard. I met the wife of one of my classmates and discovered that we shared an interest in applying technology to human resources issues. She told me that her group at Intel wanted to assess different technologies, but no one had the time for such analytical work. I suggested an approach to the research, and she said, “Hey, maybe we could make this your summer internship!” I was thrilled. All of Intel’s posted summer internships were in the finance function, so I hadn’t even considered applying to the company. I’d uncovered an unforeseen positive opportunity.
If you’d like to uncover unforeseen positive opportunities for your career, here are some suggestions:
1. Take LinkedIn beyond just an online tool. Set up phone and in-person meetings with people who can be helpful to you. First, do some detailed keyword searches (for example, “HR” and “technology”) and then narrow your results by geography so you find people within reasonable driving distance from your zip code. Then, find those who are most helpful and send them requests to meet for informal phone and in-person (even better) meetings. Tell them about what you share in common and ask if they would be interested in sharing ideas so you make it mutual.
2. Additionally, look at the “Groups and Associations” on the profiles of people you’d like to meet. Find the local chapters of those organizations and attend their meetings, so you get face-to-face contact with real-life people who can talk to you about their work, the industry, the trends, and so on. See and hear and shake hands with actual people, especially in informal settings, so you can share a smile, build trust, and learn things you’d never find out by simply sitting at your computer. I also suggest using Meetup.com and Twitter to find other venues to meet people.
3. Get curious. Instead of asking people, “Do you have a job for me?” ask them “What’s the biggest problem you or your company is facing?” That’s how you start to uncover problems that you might be able to solve. Then you can offer to work on a project that leads to full-time employment. With some people you might not find a problem you can solve for their organization. Still, you’ll learn more about what’s happening in the world. Look for patterns and trends, and envision where your expertise could be useful.
4. Leverage your new contacts. For each new person you meet, ask, “Can you please suggest at least two other people I who could be helpful to me?” Because most people want to be helpful, they almost will almost always share at least one additional contact. Keep following the trail of others who share your interest.
5. Stay in touch. After you meet these people, send a personal note of thanks and personalize a note that invites them to join your LinkedIn network. Post updates on LinkedIn about your discoveries, including links to people you’ve met, companies you’ve discovered, or new products or services you find along the way. Your new (and old) contacts will be able to see your updates and it gives them a reason to stay in touch. And of course, when you land a project or job, send out a big note of thanks and an update on your coordinates to the people who have been helpful to you.
Even today, while I’m self-employed, I still make it a point to meet at least one new person a week — usually in person, but sometimes by phone. I simply follow my curiosity or my need to learn or discover something new. Over the past five years, I’ve met over 250 new people, many of whom have shared advice, ideas, contacts, and even fantastic friendships. I’m constantly asking about people about the problems they’re facing. The question brings us closer and often opens up opportunities where we both benefit.
Did you know that one-third of today’s employers are now using Linkedin to find potential recruits? At the same time only one in ten job seekers are using Linkedin to help find a job. It makes sense to use Linkedin to get a competitive edge over other job seekers.
Read how Mike Berry outlines ways to use Linkedin in your job search. When you are finished with this article, click on the link at the end of the article to view a five minute video on ways experts suggest to use social media programs to find your next job.
Facebook and LinkedIn Profiles Used in recruitment
Mike Berry18 June 2009
Did you know that one-third of today’s employers are now using Linkedin to find potential recruits? At the same time only one in ten job seekers are using Linkedin to help them find a job. It makes sense to use Linkedin to get a competitive edge over other job seekers.
Read on Mike Berry outlines how you can use Linkedin in your job search. When you are finished with this article, click on the link to a five minute video on how experts suggest ways to use social media programs to find your next job.
One-third of employers now use social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn to connect with potential recruits, research has shown.
A survey of 208 firms by recruitment consultants Harvey Nash and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) found that in a bid to reach out to a wider pool of talent, social networks are increasingly becoming a mainstream recruitment tool.
Half of employers said that if candidates invested time in developing a strong online brand using social networks and networking online, they are more likely to be hired.
And almost a quarter routinely use sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn as part of their recruitment processes. Fifteen per cent said they would miss key new recruits if they didn’t tap into to social networks.
However, this trend is going unnoticed by young jobseekers. A separate study of 1,224 18-24 year olds found just one in 10 currently used these sites to get job leads or make useful career contacts.
Rob Grimsey, strategic development director at Harvey Nash, said: “While real-world networking and traditional job services remain invaluable, web-savvy job seekers should act now to gain the competitive edge as online networking helps jobseekers stay well connected and get career-informed.”
Top tips on how to use social media to attract employers:
Clean up your Facebook profile for prospective employers
Sign-up to LinkedIn if you haven’t already
Track potential employers and recruitment consultancies on Twitter
Don’t leave a blank or incomplete personal profile
Post content relevant to your job search but limit the photos you post
Network strategically - connect to people who can help with your job search
Think about joining groups which fit your field of interest
Continue to speak to recruitment agencies with expertise in your local labour market
This post belongs to a continuing LinkedIn Blog series on users who beat the odds in today’s economy, by winning jobs or closing business deals through relationships built on LinkedIn. Today’s story is syndicated from the Wall Street Journal’s Laid off and Looking blog, which chronicles the experience of eight job seekers who’ve been recently laid off.
Amanda Sundt replaced Brian Murphy, as one of eight out-of-work professionals who blogged their job hunt experience in the Wall Street Journal. Little did she know that soon she’d be making her last blog post contribution, thanks to a job she found on LinkedIn Groups.
“I found my new job through participating in an industry group on the professional networking site LinkedIn. The CEO saw my resume and sent me a note as I mentioned before saying he had heads up about the layoffs at my former employer and wondered if I was interested in the open position at his firm”.
Once Amanda found her new job she recounts her aha moment, how it made her a believer in professional networking and the importance of building your network before you need it.
“I will continue to be active on LinkedIn, and will accept and extend invitations to networking lunches and other events because I have realized that you cannot turn your network on and off depending on your job status. At the end of day, we all really work for one employer—ourselves. So it is essential to make time to maintain and grow your network to prepare for whatever may lie ahead.
At the end of the day, I realize that I had to pursue all channels available to me to find my next opportunity. And after this experience, I am determined that I will continue to invest time and effort in growing my network and assisting those who need help finding their next opportunity”.
The following is an email I received from Jorge Olson and his suggestions on how to use Linkedin in your job search. Enjoy.
Hello Al
LinkedIn has a new feature on the Group section, it is a job board. This is a great idea as many people are using the Group Discussion as a job board and many group administrators don’t like it. Many administrators even posted a dedicated discussion thread for jobs, many times entitled “Post Your Jobs Here”.
As of today, you can’t see the job board inside groups by simply looking at a list of groups; this is probably a bug. You actually have to click something within the groups such as news, discussion, or any other link. After you click any link you will see Jobs as part of the main menu within the post.
This new feature will complement the general Job feature that you see at the top of LinkedIn as one of their main menu items together with People, Answers, and Companies. The difference is that the Group Jobs are free to post, so you’ll see many more jobs there than in the general job posting.
What to do if you are looking for a job? Join all the groups that you can, LinkedIn allows you to join 50. Join the groups that relate to your industry or job expertise and also join any groups of HR or Recruiting professional so you can network with them. Finally, join groups in your city or area. For example, I live in San Diego, California and there are more than 10 groups dedicated to San Diegans.
Once you join all the groups go to the job posting part of the groups and start scanning for jobs. Contact the person that posted the job directly and strike a conversation or relationship. Don’t just send resumes to everyone, otherwise you are missing the point of networking. Remember, the power of LinkedIn lies in the people, the relationships you can establish and how you use these relationships.
If you have not already, make sure you profile is complete with photo, job history, education, skills, etc. This way the recruiters of HR managers can check you out before giving you a call.
Want to learn how to use LinkedIn for sales, marketing and self promotion? Attract thousands of visitors to your website, get hundreds of leads and increase your leads and sales dramatically. Visit www.Linked-Marketing.com for details.
Jorge Olson is an expert on Linkedin. Listen to this Audio Training Recording from his blog, LinkedIn For Marketing Blog Talk Radio Show. It goes over all the tools and strategies you need to use Linkedin to get a job now. When you arrive at his page, look to the BlogTalk Radio box and pick the topic “How to use Linkedin to get a new Job now.” http://tinyurl.com/qmmqtf .
Getting a job has never been easy, but in today’s economy it is worse than ever - even for highly qualified candidates. While many job seekers continue to rely on sites like Monster.com and Career Builder, there are a wide range of social media tools that can help you expand your search and increase your chances of landing a quality job.
Most people know that getting a referral from someone inside a company is usually your best shot at an interview. Social media offers today’s job seeker a faster, easier and more efficient way of making those critical personal connections that will lead to interviews.
However, leveraging social media in this way requires a thoughtful, focused approach to the way you build and work your network.
Know Your Networks
You want to begin by determining where people in your industry of interest spend their time online. There are a wealth of social networks out there, some even dedicated to job seekers. But when I hear stories about people successfully landing jobs via social media, three popular social networks are always mentioned: LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Though these networks might seem obvious, one has to use these social tools in the right way for them to prove successful.
LinkedIn
LinkedIn is perfectly suited for leveraging your existing personal relationships to gain access to a much wider network of individuals, many of whom probably know of job openings or are even responsible for making hiring decisions. You would be amazed at how wide your network is once you start building it out. For example, I currently have roughly 200 connections on LinkedIn. These connections consist of friends, former classmates, current and former coworkers, as well as contacts with whom I’ve done business. If you expand my network beyond my direct contacts, those which are two or three degrees removed, my network now consists of nearly 23,000 and 1.8 million individuals, respectively.
LinkedIn provides a great way to get “introduced” to these individuals. The LinkedIn platform allows you to “request an introduction” via your direct connections, meaning you can send a message to your former colleague and ask them to forward that intro onto the person with whom you’d like to talk to about open positions.
Twitter
You might not expect it, but the number of job posts that are circulated around Twitter is astounding. Both startups and major corporations are continually posting job openings via Twitter, often times before they ever post them on their corporate websites. Unlike sending off a resume to some e-mail alias on Monster.com, when you reply to a job posting on Twitter, you can be relatively certain that your message is being read by a decision-maker. The benefit, again, is that this provides additional visibility when it comes to the screening process, not to mention the person tweeting about the job will probably give you a bonus point for being “up to date” on emerging social technologies.
Facebook
Though Facebook is less likely to get you directly connected with a decision maker, it can be a great way to stay up to date on the latest opportunities with prospective employers. Becoming a “fan” of your favorite brands or places you would like to work will keep you up to date on the changes that are taking place within a company, including job openings. Reprise Media, for example, regularly updates job opportunities via Facebook.
Build a Presence
If you plan on using social media to chase after job opportunities, you first want to make sure you’ve built a solid presence for your own brand. The last thing you want to do is reach out to a hiring manager via Twitter with only one tweet and one follower to your name. Spend some time over a week or two building out presence: build out your LinkedIn network, gather a Twitter following, and make your Facebook profile interesting and appropriate. Make sure to cross-link your profiles so that you have a network of profiles working in your favor, instead of just one. Post links to samples of your work, blog, resume, etc. Keep in mind that the same way that an employer might take 30 seconds to scan a hard copy of your resume, there is a good chance that they will only take 30 seconds to review your online presence as well—so make it interesting!
Engage
Start engaging through all your social profiles. On Twitter, for example, converse with your followers or people that you’re following. Make insightful commentary, share useful links, and overall just participate in online conversations. On LinkedIn, start answering questions in their “Q & A” section. If the person asking the question selects your answer as the best, you’ll received a nice little badge on your LinkedIn profile that says “Expertise In” and then the name of all categories that you’ve been selected as having the best answer. It can’t hurt when an employer checks out your profile and it says you have expertise in Viral Marketing or Search Marketing. The more you engage, the strong your online presence will be and the more you will get noticed.
Active Your Network
When you feel that you have a solid social network through your profiles, you can start to activate this network and have it work in your favor. Let people know what your expertise is and that you’re looking for a job. Allow others who want to help you to participate in your search with you. I know that when I see that a friend is looking for a job in NYC, I reach out to people I know to see if there are any opportunities for them. Of course, you should always be proactive as well, doing regular search on Twitter or other networks for people posting about job openings.
Bonus: Stalk Your Future Boss
Okay, don’t really stalk him or her. But find them online and try to engage with them in an appropriate and effective manner. For example, if you find a job posting on Monster.com and it asks you to submit resumes to “Jane Doe,” then see if you can’t find Jane doe on Twitter or another network. Chances are, a simple search of Google or Twitter will turn up that person’s online presence and give you a way to get in touch with them other than e-mail. As I mentioned before, there’s something about Twitter and other social networks that makes people more open to reading your message and responding to it. Of course, be careful because you don’t want to make a bad first impression, but highlighting the fact that you saw this posting on Monster and wanted to reach out to him/her directly with your resume probably won’t hurt and it will show how interested you really are in the job.
It’s as simple as that! Well, not really, but these tips will put you a step ahead of the rest when it comes to standing out to future employers. These techniques might not prove fruitful over night, but they will help you generate more leads and get more interviews than you might otherwise. And that’s what you’re really hoping for, right?
And of course, don’t forget that Reprise Media is hiring! If you have an interest in search or social media, we want to hear from you. You can find all job openings on the Reprise Media Career’s Page. And feel free to “stalk” us via this tour of some of Reprise Media’s most active Twitterers.
Do you have any other tips for how someone can use social media to find a job? If so, let us know in the comments.
1.Chris Perry [ May 29th, 2009 at 12:49 pm ]
This is a great post!
LinkedIn is such a great tool! Join as many relevant LinkedIn groups in your areas of interest or industries as possible as group membership provides you more permission to message potential contacts who would normally be restricted. Find contacts in whom you’re interested, and request informational interviews. This can often lead to them helping you in your job search.
Also, build your brand consistently across all channels and across everything you send out. If you can’t start a blog, comment on blog and news articles on relevant topics. Answer questions on LinkedIn’s Answers section and/or help fellow LinkedIn group members with questions etc. posted on the group discussion boards.
Definitely directly engage as many people as possible whether through LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook or other online communities you have joined. It’s not who you know, it’s who knows you, for they are the ones who can help you and must know you enough to be willing to do so, so networking in person and on the phone is essentially the key to success. Use these networks and tools to facilitate and move toward in person and phone connections.
[Ed. note: This belongs to our series of posts featuring tips for recent grads from LinkedIn users. Paul Carpino is Employer Outreach and Internship Coordinator at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. His ten year career in the Hospitality Industry includes management, production supervision, concept and menu design, along with creating the food service program for one of the largest athletic clubs in the nation.]
