LinkedIn is a professional forum, available to people across the globe, for business networking and finding new employment opportunities. The very corporate-looking social media site celebrated its 10th anniversary in May 2013 and currently has over millions of members worldwide.
Users say they like it because they have come across many useful discussions on it related to their career. The best way to make it work for you is completing your profile, providing clear and concrete information about your experience, qualifications and achievements. LinkedIn search results first show profiles which are 100pc complete (what is also known as “All-Star” status). The same is the case with Google search.
Perhaps the most important part of the LinkedIn profile is the headline, which is the first thing people see. Employers or recruitment agency representatives may not go through your entire profile but may add you or send job vacancies just because your headline matches with what they are looking for in a candidate.
Recently the text size of the headline has been increased so it is more visible. So you need to come up with something suitable in 120 characters, which will help attract the right kind of connections and opportunities. Highlighting something more generic like industry or function rather than company name and title works better. You can experiment and change your headline to see which one generates the best results for you.
LinkedIn also provides a prominent area for a profile photo. It is good to include a professional headshot —– people are generally more likely to view your profile. Recommendations from previous employers and ex-colleagues go a long way in making your listed achievements appear more credible. They work far better than the new skills endorsement tool which LinkedIn has added: your connections endorse the skills you list on your profile. But a personalised recommendation leaves a better impression and tells potential employers more about the way you work.
Adding relevant connections is very important. Simply growing the number of people on your list is not the answer. You have to be selective and apart from adding people you have already worked with, you can also add people from the same industry or recruitment firms.
Ahmed Khan, a business graduate, says he finds the site very effective: “I got my recent job just because of LinkedIn. I got so many calls from different recruiters I had connected to via LinkedIn. Also, if you have a big network on LinkedIn, you can easily track a line manager, who is to decide whom he should hire.”
Then there are also groups and companies you can follow on the site, where new opportunities and career discussions are posted. Here also the key is to join the relevant groups and interact with members, rather than joining too many groups, which will be difficult to keep track of.
