Polish Up That LinkedIn Profile – Quick!

iStockPhoto.com | Hocus Focus Studio

According to the company review and job site Glassdoor, “On average, each corporate job offer attracts 250 resumes (often more…). Of those candidates, 4 to 6 will get called for an interview, and only one will get the job.”  

Put yourself in the position of the recruiter and hiring manager(s). He or she must go through piles of resume and whittle the stack down to just a few amazing candidates. It is an imperfect science for sure, but job seekers have unprecedented opportunities to rise to the top.

But being proactive can also mean having a spectacular LinkedIn profile. Companies pay a lot of money to be able to search through LinkedIn and source talent. You might get a call from the recruiter without having sent a resume first. It’s best to be prepared – and polished!

Even if you are active on LinkedIn, it is easy to neglect the details in your profile, skip sections and never return to them to fill them in, or fail to take advantage of all of LinkedIn’s features, which are designed to help job seekers.

Follow these quick steps to give your profile a boost.

1. Profile Picture. Is your photo recent? If not, replace it with one that is. Is your photo a head shot? If not, replace it with one that is. Are you in professional attire in the photo? If not, replace it with one in which you are.

2. Background Photo: Is it related to your field and professional experience? If not, replace it with one that does.

3. Contact Information: This includes LinkedIn Profile URL, personal Websites, Email Address, Phone Number, and other Social Media Sites. Make sure this section is up to date. Add/Remove as necessary.

4. Open to Job Opportunities: If you’re in the hunt, make sure to go into your Settings > Privacy > Job Seeking Preferences > Let Recruiters Know You’re Open to Opportunities and enable it. While you’re there, review and revise the other job seeking preferences to customize these features to your needs and desires. Only recruiters will see this information.

5. About. Is your “About” section still relevant? Jobs and circumstances change, yet sometimes this important profile element remains static. Try and include these four things: 1) a summary of all your best high-level qualities and roles, 2) a list of core skills and competencies (this should be on your resume already so cut and paste it over), 3) If applicable, the announcement that you are open to new opportunities, and 4) how you can be reached. Yes, your contact info is accessible elsewhere on your profile, but everything you can do to make things easier for the recruiters/hiring managers is noticed and appreciated.

6. Featured: If you’ve got the mojo, try and put at least three examples in this section (Posts, Articles, Links, Media).

7. Experience: Is it up to date? If not, update it with current experience. For the sake of expediency, cut and paste from your resume.

8. Other Profile Sections: Repeat. Make sure everything is up to date. Add/Remove as necessary.

9. Interests: If you’ve left this profile section blank, spend one minute of the twenty populating it with Influencers, Companies, Groups, or Schools. You’d be surprised how many you can select in one minute and you will have a foundation on which to build.

10. Proofread! This cannot be stressed enough. Just like a cover letter and resume, misspelled words, poor grammar, and typos are bad. Very bad. If your profile is full of mistakes, perhaps your work will be too.

---

Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercareerstrategies.com.

Five LinkedIn Tools Every Job Hunter Should Master

iStockphoto.com | Prykhodov

Chances are you already have a LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn is the platform you can develop and promote your professional brand while creating long lasting professional connections. Not only is LinkedIn is one of the leading global job sites in the world, but also a professional social network with a user base of over 630 million people.

Furthermore, many recruiters utilize LinkedIn to actively source talent. As of April 2019, LinkedIn claimed that their platform had 20 million job openings and that a LinkedIn member/applicant was hired every eight seconds.

If you want to increase the chances that you are one of those new hires, it’s advantageous to master the multi-faceted tools that constitute LinkedIn’s unique job networking capabilities.

If you are in an active job search you should consider becoming a Premium member.

You can get a free 30-day trial, after which it is a monthly subscription for $29.99. Several of the features below are available to (or greatly enhanced for) LinkedIn Premium members.

Note: I have no professional affiliation with LinkedIn, other than having been a longtime user and a big fan of the positive impact I’ve seen it have for job seekers.

Here are five LinkedIn tools every job hunter should master:

1. LinkedIn Search Engine: Yes, that little search window at the top of the page. Most people don’t use it effectively. With Premium, the LinkedIn Search Engine is your best friend. Not only is it your starting point to find job openings and learn more about listed companies, you can connect LinkedIn People with the companies for which they work. If you can identify the recruiter or hiring manager of a targeted opening, you can make a personal connection with them and present yourself as the perfect candidate to fill their open job opportunity.

2. InMails: A potentially more effective way of reaching a recruiter or hiring manager is Premium’s InMails feature. InMails enable you to start conversations with people to whom you are not directly connected. A concise, attention getting InMail sent to a decision maker (after applying through the normal channels) may pique interest from decision makers by demonstrating initiative and assertiveness.

3. Job Applications: LinkedIn’s main event is the Job Board. And companies do post many of their jobs there – and used in conjunction with the other major boards, such as Indeed, you’re capturing a broad spectrum of opportunities. You can apply for jobs using your LinkedIn profile or your resume (recommended, since there’s typically more detailed information on resume). Regardless, interested companies will most definitely look at your LinkedIn profile at some point, so you should consider it part of every job application and your profile URL should be on your resume.

4. LinkedIn Groups: Get to know and join the LinkedIn Groups that are in your field. Groups can be companies, schools, or professional organizations, and many of them post job openings in their Group before anywhere else. As a member of the Group, you can reach out to the poster and establish a strong connection for your application from the very start. If you are an active poster to a Group, you have the opportunity to develop professional connections over time so when opportunities arise you are already positioned to take advantage of them. You can also start your own Group! 

5. LinkedIn Learning: LinkedIn Learning is a growing and reputable resource for continuing professional education [“Give Your Career a New Year’s Boost with Cost-Effective Skills Training”, ICS 2019]. They offer over 15,000 courses in seven languages, as well as certification programs (additional fees may apply), and claim to add 60 + new course per week. Looking to beef up those technical skills to beef up your resume and add essential keywords? LinkedIn Learning has you covered. LinkedIn Learning is included free with various LinkedIn Premium memberships.

---

Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercareerstrategies.com.

6 Simple Insider Job Hunting Tips

iStockphoto.com | francescoch

Have you ever noticed that one of the most difficult jobs you will ever encounter is finding a job? Even a quick and successful job search requires diligence, patience, and perseverance. You need to tend to so many matters – such as your resume, cover letter, LinkedIn profile, interview skills – and so on.

That said, the little things matter, too. These may be the difference between an employer selecting you for the job and going with another candidate. Here are a few insider tips to keep you rolling. 

1. There is no single “best day” to apply, but Friday is far from the worst. It’s true that on Friday afternoons people look ahead to the weekend, but they are also unwinding from the work week, and the right resume that crosses the right desk at the right moment may get a glance. A relaxed recruiter will be happy to have an actionable resume to send the manager before the weekend. Conversely, on Mondays, recruiters are often busy tackling the avalanche of new work that accrued over the weekend.

2. Have a LinkedIn profile picture. If possible, a professional headshot taken by a skilled photographer. Recruiters use LinkedIn to find talent, and your profile picture is one of first things that show up on a search. A LinkedIn profile page that does not have a photo looks like a house where nobody lives – i.e., the lights are off, the driveway is empty, and the yard is unkempt. Don’t make the recruiter wonder if you are home! While at it, make sure to use a profile picture that conveys a professional image. Yes, you look great hanging upside down holding a beer funnel on a Hawaiian beach, but you may want to keep that one in your private Instagram account. Dress for your photo like you would for a job interview. And smile like you will be the best co-worker in the history of co-workers. In a pinch, businesses that offer passport photo services may be able to provide you with a digital copy of your headshot that is appropriate for a LinkedIn profile.

3.  Never stop training. Job skills change over the years and it is in your best interests to change with them. Companies once spent a great deal of time and effort developing their employees. These days, workers are expected to seek out and continue their education on their own time, and their own dime. Keep in mind that stagnant skills may turn a company off to your candidacy. If you’re in technology, learn Python or other emerging computer languages. Nothing against COBOL, but if that’s the only programming language you know, you may lose out to candidates with expertise in the latest, in-demand technologies. Continue to invest in your skills and future, and once you do, advertise your new mojo everywhere you can – LinkedIn, resume, cover letter, and so forth.

4.  Understand how Automatic Tracking Systems work. The systemic use of Automatic Tracking Systems (ATSs) by recruiters and others who hire people for a living has impacted the people looking for jobs just as much as the those who administer them. These computers automatically rank resumes based upon on the particular requirements and wording of the open position, and recruiters usually start by reviewing the top-ranked resumes and stopping when they’ve accumulated enough candidates to share with a hiring manager. To maximize the chances your resume will get a high ranking, it must be revised on a job-by-job basis to better align with the specific requirements of the position. Yes, it is an essential and difficult extra layer of work. But when paired with old-school efforts to reach a hiring manager, it can help ensure you get a look. A lot.

5.  Treat yourself well. It sounds so simple, but one of the very best things you can do to land that dream job is to treat yourself well. Do what you can to minimize your stress levels. Eat well. Walk outside. Put your phone on Airport mode for an hour a day. Allow yourself small indulgences. A happy candidate participating in a job interview has a greater chance of success than a sour candidate.

6.  If you are feeling overwhelmed, remember the job seeker’s Golden Rule. If you don’t apply for the job, you will not get it!

---

Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services, including a free resume review. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercareerstrategies.com.