In the last five (5) years, I have secured three (3) jobs and moved to three (3) different countries all via LinkedIn and have also been contacted by several recruiters for opportunities which never materialized for different reasons. 

I was introduced to LinkedIn in 2010 by a former recruiter and friend who is no longer with us, he was adamant that  LinkedIn was going to be the way forward with regards to recruiting and social networking, so I decided to give it a try. At the time you could only connect with persons you knew as you had to have the individual’s email address in order to send them a request, needless to say it was very difficult to have meaningful networking.

Fast forward a few years and you could actually add persons you didn’t know as long as they were within your network and that’s when the real networking began. Around summer 2014 while I was self- employed, I attended a conference in Vegas with Sage where I met some great contacts, had some revelations and left feeling refreshed and renewed and it was at that time that I really started to use LinkedIn seriously. I had devised a plan to grow my network to 500 meaningful contacts within the next three (3) months, with the key word being meaningful, at the time I had approximately 250 contacts of random persons. Not only did I accomplish that but in September of that year I started an assignment in St Lucia that came exclusively from LinkedIn.

I will state, my experience with LinkedIn opportunities are all in the hospitality sector and I would say in my experience recruiters in that sector are a bit more aggressive than others I have worked with, maybe it’s because they mostly work remotely and LinkedIn has become a staple for them. I will also state, I have no experience securing jobs from applying for vacancies directly. 

However, I will share some tips to get you on the way.

1. BASIC PROFILE 

You don’t need to be over there top to be noticed but there are some basic profile requirements that need to be met. Not only for your profile to be spotted by a recruiter but also for the algorithm to assist with your search. You will know when you have a decent profile as LinkedIn will tell you if you are considered “all-star”.

• Decent professional photo – Should show your face clearly on a solid color background. Should not be a photo of you in a non-professional setting or a selfie unless it reflects your type of business.
• Headline – Utilise that space to capture immediate attention, does not have to be your current title. Persons should be able to determine who you are without opening your profile and that space allows that.
• Create a summary – Can be the same one you use on your resume, but be unique. I don’t know how recruiters feel about that famous line “with a demonstrated history” but I cringe every time I see it on a profile. This is where you will want to sell yourself, make certain it is readable, 20 lines adjoining each other is a bit too much for the eyes to read in one go.
• Experience & Education – Fill in these categories, ensure the dates are correct and matches your resume. Give a brief idea of what your role entailed. No need to recreate your resume or job description but if a recruiter see just a title, chances are they will move on. If you choose to, you can also upload your resume, but that is not necessary.

2.  NETWORK

LinkedIn is not a numbers game, having more connections doesn’t earn you any point in the search for an opportunity, it’s the substance of the connection. Bear in mind, social networking sites work on algorithms and if you are adding connections just for the sake of having numbers you are doing yourself a disservice as you are confusing the algorithm. Your opportunities may also be buried by super users as you are no longer sure of seeing all the post from all your connections because of some of the recent changes by LinkedIn. 

Seek out persons in your field always, they are the ones who will lead you to the recruiters in your sector. Add recruiters that are active and posting jobs regularly, follow the companies they work for. Recruiters also repost other recruiters postings often and will guide you to others or their colleagues, therefore you don’t need to add all from a particular company. 

Like or repost jobs you see in your sector even if it’s not in your area of field. Give something to your network and the network will give it back to you.

Interact with the persons you add, send them a short note to say hi without a request. Don’t add persons just to immediately spam them with a request for help and do remember this is a professional site and chances are you don’t know the connection personally, so be respectful. 

Few years ago I sent an introductory note to a fellow finance hotelier I didn’t know personally but was connected to for a while, fast forward seven (7) months later, I got a message asking me if I was in the market, turns out the company they were now working with was recruiting, and that individual was now managing a team I had previously managed, that resulted in a move to Antigua for a new assignment.

3. ENGAGE

Put in some effort, as recruiters always say, looking for a job is a full-time job and chances are, you already have a full-time job. Just scrolling or lurking as I call it will not help your effort. 

Be consistent in your search, utilize the tools offered to assist you, check the insights, get an idea who is searching your profile and the companies they work for, you don’t need a premium profile to do that. 

Search for yourself, for example when I was seeking Financial Controller positions, I would search for that in the particular country and I would expect my name to be among the list. If it isn’t then your profile is not optimized properly and chances are recruiters will not find you. Recruiters will often search by job titles, sticking to generic titles will help your search.

Most importantly, follow directions, if a recruiter post a job and ask that you send your resume or queries via email, don’t jump in the comment section saying add me, or check my profile. Recruiters are extremely busy and have lots of resumes to look at. It also shows you are not capable of following basic instructions and may not be the best candidate for the job.

These tips are all based on my experience and centers around getting noticed by recruiters but can be adjusted to help earn new business by offering services as well. If you are going to apply for job posted through LinkedIn, I would suggest you ensure your CV/Resume has been optimised, as it is likely an algorithm will be screening the initial applications and if you aren’t using keywords you won’t make it out of phase 1.

There is a lot more you can be doing as LinkedIn is a fantastic medium and I’ll probably share some more advance techniques at a later date but these tips will help you get noticed.

Good Luck!!