How to Use LinkedIn to Land Your Next Career

Think about your LinkedIn profile as an extension to your resume. In fact, you can even add your LinkedIn URL to your resume! When setting up your account, William Arruda, a personal branding expert, suggests in, ‘LinkedIn 101: How to Craft A Stellar Profile’ to prepare yourself by, “create(ing) or update(ing) your profile as one big project – making it accurate, relevant, and compelling all at once,” and to gather your most recent bio’s, your resume with your work experience, and a professional headshot.

Your headline is the next most important part of your profile. Liz Ryan, career expert, and business consultant shared that one headline, in particular, was so compelling that almost that alone got her client a job as an administrator for a CEO. (If you’re curious what the headline was, you can read it here, ‘Ten Ways To Use LinkedIn In Your Job Search’). The point is to 1) make it clear you’re looking for a job and 2) how that job will benefit from hiring you.

You can add to your LinkedIn profile by posting status updates, blogs, and relevant articles. And, remember, these are meant to only be geared towards building yourself as a professional. No one cares what you ate for lunch on LinkedIn (or your other social media to be honest.) When you create a post update, this is an opportunity for you to stay current and show your passion for your chosen field. Did you just attend an online webinar on business marketing? Talk about it-it shows how you are keeping yourself current and educated. Considering making an investment on a recent stock because you’ve been eyeing the market? Share it-you’re expressing your interest in the stock market and how you’re savvy in investing. Show your active by commenting on your connections' posts and articles. You want your name to keep coming up.

Speaking of connections, you want to make sure that you have as many connections with people as possibly relevant to your professional interest. Jerome Knyszewskidescribes this as, “the more connections the greater your network is, the greater the chances you have to get views to your profile,” and the more views to your profile links to a greater chance of you getting that job offer. The easiest way to begin making connections is by importing your contacts from your phone and e-mail. Then you just send a request to those who already have a LinkedIn account.

Once you have that setup, you’re going to want to add as much professional, relevant information as possible about yourself. You have several opportunities to talk about your skills, education, experiences, volunteer opportunities, hobbies, etc. that you should be able to paint a very clear picture of yourself.

Further, on LinkedIn, you can expand your knowledge base by taking a course on Lynda.com, which was recently purchased by LinkedIn. Lynda.com provides e-courses on many career-building courses from Personal Branding to 3-D Animation to Photography and so on. One of our favorites is Lorrie Thomas Ross’ e-course on Personal Branding Basics. 

Lynda’s fee is about $25/month, however, often local public libraries have purchased bulk subscriptions for its members. And, once you complete a course, you can add a completion certificate semi-automatically to your LinkedIn profile.

Finally, keep your LinkedIn profile current. You should update your LinkedIn account every time you do something career-related—write or read a new business blog you would want to share; complete a large project; get a new job, etc. Also, make sure you have some form of contact information on there so that a potential career opportunity has a way of getting in touch with you—personal email and/or phone number.

The Takeaway

LinkedIn is likely the best way to put your work experience online and post things that you want your potential future and current employer to see, as well as grow your knowledge base. It’s an awesome resource to going above just having a resume and it’s a great way to network while also searching for your next career or grow your career within your current employer.

How are you going to use LinkedIn to help you land your next job or grow your career? If you already have an account, which of these tips are going to help you make your profile even better? And, do you have any tips to add?

This article was originally published on Career Resource Institute Blog

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