Best 7 LinkedIn Tips To Improve Your Chances Of Landing A Job

By Lilian Wamaitha

Let’s face it – LinkedIn is unlike other social media websites. With LinkedIn you get to showcase you career summary and achievements so that hiring managers can easily find you.

Past studies have shown that top recruiters engage more on LinkedIn to find candidates than traditional recruitment.

So what does this mean for you as a job seeker?

You need to revamp your profile and if you don’t have any, create one now. If recruiters are hunting for top talent on LinkedIn, your name should definitely appear somewhere.

Become discoverable to recruiters and this means dressing up your profile. And here are known ways to get the most out of LinkedIn and land a job;

How To Get A Job Through LinkedIn

1. Your picture should be worth a thousand words

Let me begin by pointing out that LinkedIn is not a dating site. It is a professional site that if used well can land you a job.

A nice professional headshot preferably one that is taken anywhere but on the bathroom mirror, is the best to use.

By keeping it professional, limit the background clutter, pets, unnecessary prompts, drunken friends – just saying.

And again, please try and use relevant recent photos of yourself.

2. The attention capturing header

Look at your LinkedIn profile right now? What is the first thing that recruiters see when they view your profile?

You should declare your current position in the header section. For instance, Digital Marketer at ABC Company / Content & Social Media Marketer.

This field should focus on the relevant keywords related to your industry to be the first thing that hiring managers see.

When looking for candidates, recruiters rely on the keywords you have used. That means that if you are a Digital Marketer, it wouldn’t do you good to have your header as the next Ngugi wa Thiong’o in making!

3. Complete your story or rather profile

Take your time and fill out all the relevant details on your profile – your educational history, employment history (at least two relevant to the position you are aspiring for).

Fill out also the location to get the right recruiters to view your profile. And pay attention to the other sections that most people deem too irrelevant like volunteer work and certificates you have acquired and publications.

And don’t forget to pen out a catchy summary, putting into consideration the keywords we have talked about.

Also, add a link to your blog or website if you have one.

The idea here is to brand yourself in the right way as a n expert in that particular field.

4. Customize your profile URL

LinkedIn allows you to customize your URL so that it can be easier for search engines to find you if someone searches for you.

Instead of an address like https://www.linkedin.com/in/J_67hdgfkl you can have something like https://www.linkedin.com/in/lilian-wamaitha/

5. Arrange the recognitions

For those who have LinkedIn Accounts, you must agree with me that it feels really good when someone endorses you for skills you know you are good at.

Now take it a notch higher and request your connections to give you what I call a healthy dose endorsement that will appear as a recommendation on your profile.

Also, try filtering out the unnecessary endorsements so that you have the ones that are more relevant at the top.

6. Work on your connections

Recruiters respond better to people with healthy connections. And it’s not just about the numbers but connecting with the right people.

Connect with people in your industry as well as companies. Recruiters will be more impressed with a candidate who has a connection with someone in their company.

7. Become a groupie

This basically means becoming more active on LinkedIn. Don’t just create a profile and leave it to do its magic. I can assure you that this rarely works.

Get active in groups. Post relevant things on your profile. Comment professionally on what others posts.

Active users who seem to have a wide array of knowledge in a specific subject get noticed more.

In conclusion,

You can get so much from LinkedIn once you implement these changes. LinkedIn also sends constant reports about who has viewed your profile, analytics of things you post and so on. Use these to see how further you can improve your profiles. And if you are up for it, try LinkedIn premium to get more out of this and even improve your search appearances and chances of getting noticed by recruiters.

Found the article interesting? Leave a comment below.

The writer is a Communications Officer at Career Point Kenya. Email lilian@www.careerpointkenya.co.ke for any queries.