During University you may have half-heartedly created a Linkedin profile, quickly pasting some work experience and adding a photograph for your page. However, once you graduate you will suddenly realize how useful Linkedin can be.
When applying to jobs most companies use LinkedIn during their hiring process and if they can not find you, then you’re missing out.
To ensure that you are making the most out of your profile make sure you choose a good photograph and are frequently updating your page, treat your LinkedIn as a virtual business card.
Experience
Treat LinkedIn as an extension to your CV, it’s an opportunity to provide more information about yourself compared to a CV.
Recruiters will often scan multiple profiles, so you need to make yours stand out. Highlight your key achievements and include brief summaries about what you did, what you learned, and what you achieved. Make sure you get fellow colleagues to endorse your qualities. This is a great way to make you stand out compared to other people applying to the same vacancy as you.
Internships and placements are great to show employees that you are passionate about what you want to do and have experience working within your desired sector, including experience with different tools. If you currently don’t have any work experience on your CV you can find internships and placements here.
Gain Insights
LinkedIn is a great platform for connecting with employees who already work at a company you are applying to. You can ask them for tips on the application process, or ask them advice on how they got to where they are, as well as asking them questions to see what their day-to-day life is like and if you can still see yourself working there.
People on LinkedIn will be keen to advise you, they were once in your position so are happy to help make your application process easier.
You can create a standard outreach message which you can alter and send to the people you want to connect with via messenger, it’s also useful to arrange a phone call or video call with them. This gives you the opportunity for you to properly pick their brain and get to know them on a professional and personal level.
Keeps you up to date on industry news and tips
Being up to date with what a business is doing is also a good interview talking point, if you know you are going to an interview at X company, you can check up on their LinkedIn to see what incentives they have been working on or their industry news.
You can also follow businesses and people who you are interested in to keep up to date with them and help to keep yourself motivated and inspired.
Maintains all your contacts
LinkedIn pretty much works as a business Facebook – you keep all your connections in one place. Even if you did an internship a few years ago, all the connections you made during your time there are all kept in one place. You can use LinkedIn management tools to tag your connections and organize your network to make it easy to reach out to them even though you might have lost their business card or contact information.
It can help rank your name on google
Have you ever tried searching your name on google? Well, try it now- see what comes up. When you are applying for new jobs employers will often search your name on google and see what comes up. It’s therefore great to have a strong Linkedin profile pop up first!
You can use it to apply for jobs
Companies often advertise their vacancies on LinkedIn, if you have an account and actively use it, you will be the first person to see their new vacancies, you can even set push notifications so LinkedIn sends you emails when relevant jobs are published. For example, if you are looking for a role as a ‘marketing intern’ you can set this so you are notified when jobs are published, making sure you don’t miss out!
Not only can you directly apply to jobs but recruiters will use Linkedin to find candidates who they think are appropriate for their vacancies. This is another reason why you should keep your profile up to date and use an appropriate picture.
Learning platform
Linkedin also provides lots of training courses covering a variety of different subjects and areas, this is another great way to boost your CV and LinkedIn profile. After completion of your course you will receive a certificate which you can then display on your profile, this is a great way to develop new skills whilst also highlighting to employers that you are a motivated and proactive individual.
Finally, actually, Use LinkedIn
It can be all too easy to create a LinkedIn profile, input your many skills and talents, and then sit back thinking your work is done. But sadly, this isn’t the case. It may sound obvious, but if you want to use LinkedIn to find a job, you actually have to use LinkedIn. Join groups, interact with others, send out messages, and constantly update your profile. As with many things, the more time you put into your LinkedIn presence, the greater the potential rewards.
