Make LinkedIn Beneficial To Your Job Search In A Few Minutes

By Michelle Wanjiku

LinkedIn is a very important tool for you as a professional. Not only is it helpful when it comes to job hunting but it can also help you grow your career as well as when it comes to making a career change.

Having a good LinkedIn profile will make you more accessible to employers that are looking to hire. Most employers use LinkedIn to search for applicants to fill in their vacant positions.

Having a profile is not enough; you need to ensure that your profile can actually be found by employers.

In this article, see some of the things you can do to ensure your profile can easily be found by employers and improve your chances of getting a job.

1. Use your name as the URL

When you join LinkedIn, your profile URL usually contains random numbers. Changing these numbers to your name will better your chances of actually being found by more employers.

How do you do this? Go to edit profile, at the bottom of the window that shows your basic information, you’ll see ‘Public Profile URL’. Click “Edit” next to the URL, and change the URL to your full name. When you’re finished, click Set Custom URL.

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2. Upload a professional profile photo

When it comes to your profile picture, you have to ensure that you use a professional photo.

Unlike other social media platforms -where you can use a photo of you out with your friends, on LinkedIn you cannot use something similar.

LinkedIn is a professional platform; meaning, the photo you use should portray your professionalism.

An employer will decide whether to click on your profile based on the photo you use. You should ensure it is one that would make them want to view your profile.

3. Write a good headline

This is what anyone will see first if they find your profile after a search. It will determine whether an employer gains interest in you or not.

It is basically your ‘so what?’ and you need to ensure that it is good enough to make the employer want to see what you have to offer.

Having a poorly done headline or worse no headline at all will definitely reduce your chances of actually getting shortlisted for job opportunities.

4. Think of your profile like your CV

The whole point of a LinkedIn profile is to get you interviews. So it makes sense that you should treat it like your CV.

That means that you need to use your profile to highlight your skills and qualifications and basically sell yourself as the right candidate for the jobs you want to get.

You can do this by using bullets to highlight, what you have done and what you have achieved.

Finally,

LinkedIn is not only about job hunting, but you can also use it to make great connections that could help you when you are applying for jobs, or that would recommend you for positions. LinkedIn can make your job search easier; but only if your profile is well done.

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