5 Tips and Tricks to Increase Your Employability Through LinkedIn

Did you know LinkedIn is among the top five social networking platforms in the world?

LinkedIn is not just a massive job portal, containing more than 10 million active jobs and where around 94% of the recruiters go to fill job positions – it’s also a networking and marketing tool for job seekers and hiring managers.

LinkedIn represents a formidable array of potential candidates. Yet, often many of them are the hard-to-find passive candidates. Hence, it is vital for the candidate to put his/her best foot forward and have an active profile.

Suzy Welch, a renowned management author and CNBC editor says, “If you maximize your LinkedIn profile, you may not be the one looking for a job. It could come find you.”

Check out these five tips and tricks that will make your LinkedIn profile rank high on the job search results and improve your employability. 

1. Attract the reader

Just like in real life, first impressions matter a lot on LinkedIn. Statistics say, on average, it only takes seven seconds to make a first impression. It is therefore vital to create a strong profile so that the recruiter stays glued to your profile, because chances are, you won’t be able to change what you initially conveyed.

Follow these tips to create a strong first impression

1. Complete your profile

Your profile should mention your educational background, certifications, work experiences, summary, extracurricular activities and much more. Adding endorsements by senior professionals to your profile demonstrates prestige and trustworthiness, so be honest and choose your skills wisely. After all, nobody is going to endorse you for a skill you may not have.

2. Add a professional photo

Choose a professional photo of yourself that shows your professional side. Steer clear of photos that are grainy, really old or inappropriate (obvious, I hope!).

3. Connections

The greater the number of connections, the greater is your reach, visibility and popularity will be. You can start by typing in your email address in the ‘My Network’ section to find contacts from your address book. 

4. Headline and summary

Create an attention-grabbing headline that pulls the recruiter towards your profile. Many recruiters consider the summary section to be the most important section of your LinkedIn profile, so really take your time to find the right wording to differentiate you from the rest. 

2. Add different sections to your profile

Augment your profile by adding different sections such as “Volunteer Work” or “Hobbies” shows that you have a holistic profile.

This helps you stand out from the rest of the crowd, who have the same sections which are predefined by LinkedIn. All these eventually lead to more connections and a strong network.

3. Interact on the LinkedIn groups

LinkedIn groups are a great tool for likeminded individuals to connect and share opinions or information. In order to be visible and truly optimize your LinkedIn experience, you need to stay active and demonstrate your subject knowledge on the groups. Subject knowledge and the eagerness to help others are valuable traits to have in an employee. The more active you are, the more attention you will attract, which will increase your job prospects

You can also use third-party apps to automate your group posts and save time. Hootsuite and Buffer are good services that can help automate your posts.

4. Use LinkedIn Messenger

LinkedIn has a messaging feature just like Facebook Messenger, through which you can have conversations with your connections. Don’t forget to connect with former bosses and colleagues, recruiters and university or college alumni, which will help you increase the number of connections.

5. Limit the use of buzzwords

When LinkedIn started out, users would litter their profiles with buzzwords like responsible, strategic, creative, effective, patient to attract attention from employers.

This approach may have worked then, but it doesn’t work now. The main problem with this approach is that these words are very vague. Instead, describe the work that you have done in detail so that the reader can understand your role and impact.

Millions of job seekers treat LinkedIn as a job portal where you just have to make a profile. This unfortunately gets them nowhere. Hence, following the right approach is paramount to success.

Sometimes the smallest step you take in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life. So, go ahead and follow these tips to start optimizing your profile!

Looking for more such tips? Check out ‘Top 33 Linkedin Profile Tips for Job Seekers In 2017’

Thinking of hiring a career coach to help you optimize your LinkedIn profile and get your dream job?