LinkedIn has become one of the most effective social media platforms for business, Job seeking, recruiting and networking. Although Australia uses Linked In, It certainly isn’t being utilised as much as it is in other countries like the US. Australia has over 12 million members vs that of the USA with 185 million members. In saying that there is no shortage of jobs or people to network with here in Australia making it even more important to make sure your profile is up to scratch.
How to use linkedin effectively
Using LinkedIn when searching for a job is the best way to get into the market. Having a well thought out profile with detailed sections will provide you with the best opportunity to be one of the 6 users hired every minute on the platform, Yep you read that right 6 people every minute.
The first step when setting up your LinkedIn profile is to make sure you have a well written, visually appealing profile that makes you stand out.
Source: LinkedIn
LinkedIn tips for profile sections
Intro
Featured
About
Experience
Education
Volunteering
Skills
Projects
Licenses & Certificates
Honours & Awards
Organisations
Interests
Professional Headshot: one of the most important visual factors for your LinkedIn profile is your profile photo. A professional headshot is a must as this is the first thing people see when browsing through job applicants, new connections and just in the home page feed.
Customised Banner Photo: The background photo on LinkedIn is often overlooked. Having a standard banner photo is okay… but a fully customised banner can increase not only the visual look of your profile but also the functionality. This allows you to add information to your page that you might otherwise not be able to.
Adding things such as social media handles, and other photos that reflect your industry and your website are all great ways of utilising the banner photo.
A great tool for creating visual graphics even if you’re not a photoshop expert is Canva. It provides templates and drag-and-drop features to create any design.
Featured Section: The featured section on LinkedIn is one of the parts that gets overlooked when setting up your profile. Featured allows you to add articles, posts, links, and other media to your profile. This is huge for showing off things that can differentiate you from the competition.
For example, I use this section to display my resume, so people can click on it and a PDF version of my CV is right there on LinkedIn. Another thing that I have featured on my profile is a link to a video I created on my YouTube channel. This allows people to click straight to my video and read a little snippet of what that project was about.
LinkedIn tips
The great part about LinkedIn is the option to customise your profile’s url. This allows you to easily create a link that can be used to access your profile by just adding /yourURLname/ at the end of the standard LinkedIn link. Here is an example of my url that can be used to find my profile. /ryanchilton/
Why is this important you ask? Having a personalised url allows for you to provide your LinkedIn profile to others. By putting this link on the top of your resume recruiters and managers can simply search your LinkedIn url and find your fully optimised profile.
Another great LinkedIn tip is being active on the platform. It’s not just a create your profile and forget the app exists until you need a job. LinkedIn is a networking space with unbelievable reach. Publishing posts on your LinkedIn can bring thousands of viewers to your profile. The algorithm used is unlike that of other social media platforms as you don’t need to have a lot of connections in order to have great engagement. This is due to the way that posts are populated on people’s feeds. Your network’s posts along with posts they have liked or commented on will also show on your feed meaning that you see a lot more content from people you may not be in connection with, that also goes the other way in that people can see your posts too.
For example, In my job search, I created a post where I attached my resume and talked about my situation in being an International student in the US. This one post alone had over 17,000 views organically.
So with that said, today is the perfect time to start posting and engaging with your network to increase your chances of being noticed by employers and grow your LinkedIn presence.
How to use LinkedIn to get a job
It’s no secret that job hunting can be a hard task. Applying for hundreds of jobs and hearing back from none or getting that generic “sorry we are not progressing with your application, due to better candidates.” LinkedIn makes this process a lot easier with the ability to filter job searches and provide you with more insights on how you might shape up for that position.
Your LinkedIn profile should be an extension of your resume. Basically, your resume should be a job-specified preview of your qualifications, from there your LinkedIn profile should expand on all of your experiences, education and skills in more detail.
Following the tips and tricks in this article is the first step on the journey to landing your dream job. If you’re after some more help with your resume or with your LinkedIn profile get in touch!
