Linkedin - How to use it for job-hunting.

Sleepy

Every second thread I reply to I've ended up recommending LinkedIn so I thought a guide to it might be useful on this forum. I've no association with them btw, just found it extremely useful for job-hunting.

So, what is linkedin?
It's a social networking site that's focused on the professional world. So, it's like a Facebook for your career.

Why use it?
If you go to a recruitment consultant at the moment, the first thing they'll do with your CV is check their existing database of jobs, after that they'll check their linkedin contacts to see if they can find someone who your skills might be of interest to. In a recessionary market, recruitment consultants are only of so much use to you. Why would a company bother hiring one when there's plenty of candidates out there already who they can get to apply directly?

As millionaire pointed out in his posts (here and here, the best way of finding a job is to contact a hiring manager directly. HR departments will only know if a vacancy exists, they won't know that a senior manager may be prepared to create a position for someone of the right skillset!

How do I get started?
Well, open an account and build your profile. A good profile should be based on your CV, show your education, your job history, interests etc.

Next, you need to build your network. Your starting point should be to try and connect to anyone you've ever worked with. This lets their contacts see you and vice versa. Next look for old clients who you got on well with / could recommend you. Finally, add friends, family etc. Even if they work in totally different areas than you, it's likely they have other contacts within your area or their contacts may have contacts who do. The more people you have in your extended network, the more you'll appear in search results and the more people you'll be able to find. Ireland's a small place and with only 3/4 degrees of separation it's not hard to find a link to someone you might want to contact.

Don't be afraid to ask for recommendations, these are what get you noticed. Ask former colleagues or clients for recommendations and write short recommendations from those you'd either like to get reommended back by or those you'd simply like to do a favour for. Both raise your profile on the site.

Finally, join groups that are relevant to your career, your college's alumni group or your interests. For example, here's the boards.ie group on linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1386797. You can choose not to display a group's logo on your profile if you want to build your network with it but not to have it obvious that you spend half your work-day on boards for example!

So, I've got a profile and build a network, what now?
First off, keep building your network. It's the key to any form of networking and that's exactly what this site lets you do. I didn't think I'd much in the way of industry contacts until I started building my profile and now I'm finding opportunities through it left, right and centre. Not very many of them suit me but it's better to be hearing of them and getting the ego boost that someone's interested in you than just firing off cv after cv to recruitment agencies on job sites and hearing nothing back.

Irish people seem very open to networking opportunities so don't be afraid to contact anyone you even half know. Build your network and use it.

Now, the important bit, and a point that dove-tails nicely with what millionaire pointed out in his posts on the recruitment agencies thread that I linked to. If you've worked with a company that sold services, your skills may well be of interest to their clients. So, find them and see who shows up as a first, second or third level contact for that firm. If you can't contact them directly, find someone that has a direct link to them in your network and ask for an 'introduction'.

If you developed or installed a system somewhere, aren't you an ideal candidate to support that system for them? or to extend it's capabilities for them? So contact a senior manager in that organisation via linked in and ask if they might be interested in your skillset as a former employee of their supplier.

Summary
Essentially, linkedin can get you access to the people with the power to hire you. They may be interested, they may not. But if you've made contact, the odds are they'll remember you if they do need someone in the future.

If you're out of work, the worst you stand to lose by putting the effort in is a bit of time and that shouldn't be a worry. If you already have a job, what harm is there in putting yourself out there for a headhunter to find you?

Another benefit I've discovered from creating my profile there was that it got me access to how a lot of former colleagues describe their roles in their CV. This has helped me improve my own, spotting things about old jobs that I hadn't seen as selling points before etc.

Hope this is of some use to those who haven't tried it out, or who've just registered and left their profile half-empty with only a contact or two and wondered why everyone else seemed so enthusiastic about it. If anyone has tips I've left out please add them to this thread so that we can all benefit from it. If you've a question post it here and I'll try my best to answer it, though I'm unlikely to be more than a page or two ahead of you, I'm new to this myself but have found it so useful I felt I had to share it!

Anti

Good post.

Blonde27

Can I just say that I work in Recruitment for a company and I use Linked In all the time for approaching people and hiring them. It is a fantastic resource.

Sleepy

If anyone else has any tips for it, please add them. I'm far from an expert on it!

zAbbo

My advice is to always send a custom invitation to people, rather than the generic one.

Also if you receive an invitation to connect, but don't know the person - archive it rather than delete it, that way you can come back to it later.

OneStop

Any other tips on using likedin? I am one of those people who created an account aaaages ago but never bothered since. Does it really work in Ireland?

On another note, is putting a picture up advisable or not? It all seems a bit too "facebooky" to me.

miec

Thanks a million Sleepy for an amazing post and the brilliant tips. It seems to me that maybe the face of job seeking is rapidly changing from the old style.

KarlDrake

Similar stuff here.
http://mynewcv.blogspot.com/2010/02/using-social-media-for-jobsearching.html

Sleepy

OneStop wrote: »

Any other tips on using likedin? I am one of those people who created an account aaaages ago but never bothered since. Does it really work in Ireland?

On another note, is putting a picture up advisable or not? It all seems a bit too "facebooky" to me.

I put up a picture though I notice a lot of my contacts don't have them up.

I think it's worth putting some work into tbh. Lots of people I know have been contacted by recruiters both internal and agency through it about job prospects and I've uncovered a few worthwhile leads through it myself.

Nehaxak

I still have hangups about Linkedin, to use it to it's fullest you really need to fill it with a lot of what can be personal information about your life and past work.
Not that I've anything to hide or otherwise but just have problems posting my whole lifes worth up for the whole internets to look at so easily.

OneStop

Nehaxak wrote: »

I still have hangups about Linkedin, to use it to it's fullest you really need to fill it with a lot of what can be personal information about your life and past work.
Not that I've anything to hide or otherwise but just have problems posting my whole lifes worth up for the whole internets to look at so easily.

Yeah, my sentiments exactly. While I feel it may give me some leads for potential employment, I don't like the idea of telling the world of my life experiences and other private information!

What to do, what to do

KarlDrake

OneStop wrote: »

Yeah, my sentiments exactly. While I feel it may give me some leads for potential employment, I don't like the idea of telling the world of my life experiences and other private information!

What to do, what to do

A career snapshot is all you need to do really, I'm a huge fan of it and I don't see any issues in terms of getting your career up there. What private information do you mean?
Regarding the photograph issue, it's almost expected in my experience. Of course, who ever heard of a good passport photograph but I think a professional looking headshot rather than you skiing is the ticket.

3DataModem

KarlDrake wrote: »

A career snapshot is all you need to do really, I'm a huge fan of it and I don't see any issues in terms of getting your career up there. What private information do you mean?
Regarding the photograph issue, it's almost expected in my experience. Of course, who ever heard of a good passport photograph but I think a professional looking headshot rather than you skiing is the ticket.

LinkedIn is fantastic - very useful to me in my recent job hunt. It seems that everyone in my industry is on LinkedIn... I was "known" in the industry as a result of LinkedIn.

Can't recommend it highly enough. Here's an example of the type of profile information I think is appropriate;

http://uk.linkedin.com/in/davidlyons1974

miec

I still have hangups about Linkedin, to use it to it's fullest you really need to fill it with a lot of what can be personal information about your life and past work.

I know what you mean but I have just joined and to be honest it is worth it as I saw a job there I don't think I would have done otherwise.

Sleepy your advice was so spot on, I feel like I have a bit more hope now as I got in contact with someone that I knew from years ago who might be a good contact. I feel I only barely tipped it today but likewise I would really recommend it. I am beginning to see that the route of recruitment agencies is dead and gone. Again thanks everyone for the cool advice. The only hang up I have is putting my picture up, I just can't do that.

Sleepy

Hope the contact comes good for you miec and glad you found the post useful

LimeFruitGum

3DataModem wrote: »

LinkedIn is fantastic - very useful to me in my recent job hunt. It seems that everyone in my industry is on LinkedIn... I was "known" in the industry as a result of LinkedIn.

Same here. Everyone knows someone you know in the industry I'm in, so I remember the interviewers in my company arching their brows and nodding in a good way, when I said they could check out my LinkedIn profile.

Of course, sticking up a random profile is not a guarantee of getting a job. But I definitely think it is worth spending time on creating a suitable LinkedIn profile when you want to cross into a new industry or climb the ladder in your current one.

nomdeboardie

OneStop wrote: »

Yeah, my sentiments exactly. While I feel it may give me some leads for potential employment, I don't like the idea of telling the world of my life experiences and other private information!

What to do, what to do

I have similar reservations about having a CV / bio info online: it's a potential one-stop shop for someone with "ulterior motives" who might see an opportunity to e.g. pretend that they knew you from a job in another location a long time ago. I know that it should be straightforward to just say "sorry, I don't remember you", but throw in a bit of "cold reading" from the would-be contact and things could get a bit less clear cut.

Dempo1

I'm curious! I have been on linkedin for a number of years, quite a detailed profile and i have never found it useful in terms of recruitment, maybe i am doing something wrong? As for recruitment Consultants? are there any left? i doubt given the fact they rarely respond to either emails or applications that they would task themselves having to check linkedin?

Sleepy

Dempo1, as with any social networking tool it's use is directly related to the strength of your network. The more people you're directly connected to, the more that will show up in your searches and the more likely it is that a hiring manager in a company you wish to work for will be one of the results.

Recruitment Consultants seem to use it both to find people with relevant skills for a position they've been asked to fill and to contact managers in companies they know may be interested in a candidate they have rather than simply seeing it as another inbox to check.

OneStop

Well, I'm back since my last post to report that I am finding Lindedin absolutely brilliant! I was one of those people who created a profile years ago but never bothered since...boy am I sorry now! After just a couple of days I have some job leads to follow up on, all through networking with some old colleagues, brilliant!

On another note, can somebody recommend any decent groups to join on linkedin (job seeking ones that is). Thanks!

Gillington

Would Linkedin be used for all types of recruitment and for a broad vareity of jobs or would it be aimed at specific fields?

sparktest

LimeFruitGum wrote: »

Same here. Everyone knows someone you know in the industry I'm in, so I remember the interviewers in my company arching their brows and nodding in a good way, when I said they could check out my LinkedIn profile.

Of course, sticking up a random profile is not a guarantee of getting a job. But I definitely think it is worth spending time on creating a suitable LinkedIn profile when you want to cross into a new industry or climb the ladder in your current one.

Just wondering about the last point here, How would you recommend someone going about trying to get into a new industry? 'cold calling' on linkedin? Been looking this evening. NOt sure where to begin...

KarlDrake

sparktest wrote: »

Just wondering about the last point here, How would you recommend someone going about trying to get into a new industry? 'cold calling' on linkedin? Been looking this evening. NOt sure where to begin...

That would depend on many factors, and there are companies that will help with social media strategies (ahem) but I'd suggest getting onto twitter, following the movers and shakers in your "new" industry there.
Joining groups on LinkedIn that serve this industry, getting involved in discussions and getting yourself known in that world. Take discussions offline if you can and before you know it you're in that sector.
Start thinking like you're there already and you have a perfect right to be involved.
Feel free to pm me if you want to give specifics on what industry.

miec

On another note, can somebody recommend any decent groups to join on linkedin (job seeking ones that is). Thanks!

Hi if you google Paul Mullan he has set up a group called Careers and measurability (I think) he writes articles on recruitireland.com and I joined it, it is a great way of getting noticed, plus you get an idea of who else is looking and connecting with people.

KarlDrake

miec wrote: »

Hi if you google Paul Mullan he has set up a group called Careers and measurability (I think) he writes articles on recruitireland.com and I joined it, it is a great way of getting noticed, plus you get an idea of who else is looking and connecting with people.

Beat me to it.
Paul's group is A1

SarahSassy

Hi, when you register do you choose who the invite mail goes to from your email address book? I have some people who I would not like to recieve that mail for obvious reasons I just got one from a colleague who i expect would not want me knowing she is looking round either

Sleepy

Yes, if you choose to let it access your address book you can determine which contacts it'll invite to connect.

If you choose not to invite someone though, they may still see you in a list of people currently working for 'The Murphy Group' or you might be suggested to them as someone they might know.

Remember, LinkedIn, isn't just for job-hunting though so if someone sees you on it you could say you just signed up because a friend sent you an invite or because you wanted to 'build your network' for sales opportunities etc.

BlazingSaddler

Hi all. If you are out of work, what description do you put into current employment? Something along the lines of 'Currently available for employment' or simply 'unemployed'?
Thanks

Dempo1

mattb74 wrote: »

Hi all. If you are out of work, what description do you put into current employment? Something along the lines of 'Currently available for employment' or simply 'unemployed'?
Thanks

Tricky one, I've been on Linkedin for over two years and to be honest all it seems to be useful for is networking and this is not necessarily a good thing as you can get caught up in mundane Bull****. I would not advise stating unemployed as unfortunately there is a stigma attached to this, I would just state "seeking a new challenge". Be warned however, any employers doing a search on you say on goggle will easily find your profile on Linkedin very easily. I would recommend you make your Linkedin profile not search able, there is an option on your account to do this. one final observation i have made, at least 50% of my Linkedin contacts have not updated their current positions of employment and i have to be honest, me included!

3DataModem

mattb74 wrote: »

Hi all. If you are out of work, what description do you put into current employment? Something along the lines of 'Currently available for employment' or simply 'unemployed'?
Thanks

"Seeking a new challenge in XXX and XXX" is OK.

Simply add an end date to last job, change current title to something generic like "Payments for Online Gaming Specialist" or whatever.

I disagree with the above poster - I think you should have a thorough quality profile that is searchable, and ensure it is consistent with your CV.

I google/facebook/twitter/googleimages seach everyone I interview. Linkedin is very often the top search result.

Dempo1

3DataModem wrote: »

"Seeking a new challenge in XXX and XXX" is OK.


I disagree with the above poster - I think you should have a thorough quality profile that is searchable, and ensure it is consistent with your CV.

I google/facebook/twitter/googleimages seach everyone I interview. Linkedin is very often the top search result.

Yes but only if your actually looking for a Job, I wondered however why it is numerous people choose not to update their current positions?

Raskolnikov

Linkedin is great. A friend of mine put a profile up on a Monday and accepted a job offer by Thursday.

linkedin is Awesome. I get approached every couple of weeks for new job opportunities.

ABajaninCork

I must admit. I joined LinkedIn last year after hearing about it at a seminar, but never did much with my profile until I read this post yesterday. But the OP's right. It is very much a Facebook for careers, and I never looked at it this way before.

But I got cracking and found loads of people I know on it, and have sent invitations with a little note. It's proved useful as it seems a lot of ex-colleagues didn't even know I'd moved!! I've already got a dozen contacts.

But all (except for one) are people I knew back home in London...Dunno how useful this will be, but if anyone's got any similar sort of experience in using this, let me know. Would love to know if this has been successful in finding work in Ireland...

belongtojazz

ABajaninCork wrote: »

I must admit. I joined LinkedIn last year after hearing about it at a seminar, but never did much with my profile until I read this post yesterday. But the OP's right. It is very much a Facebook for careers, and I never looked at it this way before.

But I got cracking and found loads of people I know on it, and have sent invitations with a little note. It's proved useful as it seems a lot of ex-colleagues didn't even know I'd moved!! I've already got a dozen contacts.

But all (except for one) are people I knew back home in London...Dunno how useful this will be, but if anyone's got any similar sort of experience in using this, let me know. Would love to know if this has been successful in finding work in Ireland...

I was wondering about the new country aspect also. I have a linkedin profile (not a particularly brillaint one, but I will work on that) but all of my contacts would be back in the UK as that is where I spent the majority of my career.

I'm going to have a search through my contacts and see if any of them are connected to people in a similar field here.

Great post OP. Thanks

RATM

As a recruiter LinkedIn is gold to me. Its excellent for finding passive candidates.

Another rising star is Worky.com which is more of a mash between Facebook and LinkedIn- again this is useful- if you have a profile up there I can see you and reach out.

Hiring 3 x graduate web designers and 3 x graduate online marketeers for a new website that is going to compete with iTunes btw. Get in touch if this is you.

none

A few more tips on LinkedIn usage.

Looking for jobs:

1) On the Jobs tab in your main menu (http://www.linkedin.com/jobs?displayHome=&trk=hb_tab_findjobs). If you like some job, you can either apply formally or ask the poster (if this info available) about it informally.

2) On the Jobs tab in your Group. For example, for Java jobs, Java EE Professionals (http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuestions=&gid=52795&forumID=5) and Java Developers (http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuestions=&gid=70526&forumID=5) are very handy. Again, ask privately the poster if you like something.

Checking companies/eployees profiles.

3) On the Companies tab (http://www.linkedin.com/companies?trk=hb_tab_compy), add the ones you want to follow. Thsi will allow you to track job posts as well as people leaving and joining the company.

4) On the Search screen (http://www.linkedin.com/search?trk=advsrch), enter company name to see who ever worked for it.

Checking who checked your profile.

5) Examine "Who's Viewed Your Profile?" page (http://www.linkedin.com/wvmp?showMore=&trk=nmp_profile_stats_viewed_by). Recently, LinkedIn changed a lot and one of the things is that now profile stats are only available when you also make your profile public. So if you want to check some personal profiles (Item 4 above) anonymously, first change your visibility to private, then do your studies, and then change it back to public to records visits to your profile again.

I think that's pretty much it. All more or less useful stuff about LinkedIn for me.

There are other similar sites, e.g., xing or naymz, but they're inferior. Xing is actually more popular in German-speaking countries (because it's German!) but lags behind in most other markets.

finisklin

Anyone subscribe to linkedin using the business premium upgrades. It works out at €25, €50 & €100 per month.

Whats the benefit to job seekers, career development?

ABajaninCork

Mods - Any chance of this being made into a sticky?

Lots of good information on here, and it'd be a shame to see the thread submerged as time goes on.

TIA

jonny_b1

Ive been waiting for weeks to get introduced to others on LinkedIn,especially via recruiters. Whats the norm on getting introduced? Each request has been personalised for each person and why I want to get in contact with them.My 5 introduction request are used up now...

Dempo1

jonny_b1 wrote: »

Ive been waiting for weeks to get introduced to others on LinkedIn,especially via recruiters. Whats the norm on getting introduced? Each request has been personalised for each person and why I want to get in contact with them.My 5 introduction request are used up now...

Good luck with trying to get connected with recruiters, i've had the same issue albeit waiting over a year now. Seems to me this LinkedIn is more about who you know and not what you know. A complete waste of time unless you want to recieve mundane updates from contacts you connected too or updates on whom they have connect to, complete load of bollox, along with worky which is just bizzare!

none

Dempo1 wrote: »

Good luck with trying to get connected with recruiters, i've had the same issue albeit waiting over a year now. Seems to me this LinkedIn is more about who you know and not what you know. A complete waste of time unless you want to recieve mundane updates from contacts you connected too or updates on whom they have connect to, complete load of bollox, along with worky which is just bizzare!

That's very true. But I don't think it's waste of time. Some companies advertise here before or instead of Monster and other conventional job sites.

Don't rely on any heavy weaponry like InMails or Introductions. I'm yet to figure out what's their use unless your a corporate recruiter with a lot of money and little enthusiasm.

Use simple messages if they're available. If they're not, just try adding the other person to your network and in the connection request write your message (just be concise as its size is very limited).

You'll get more and more views and requests to connect once you become more interesting. I'd say it normally takes a year and/or 100 connections to get noticed. I mean, either you keep annoying every one for a long period of time even without accumulating many real connections or quickly get a big and funky bunch of prominent fellows - either way you will become noticed and, perhaps, interesting.

Put your detailed cv in your profile, create a neat LinkedIn URL with your name (http://www.linkedin.com/in/yourname) and add it to your signature in all recruitment-related emails. It's really all about promoting yourself.

Jumpy

I have been headhunted via LinkedIn. Its still majorly in the technical area at present.
For instance, I doubt sales and marketing companies would chase this way as they take a little longer to adopt the techincal methods, especially if those methods are still relatively new.
But for IT people you may find you are approached directly by companies as opposed to recruiters.

Note: Its a recruiters job to try and keep you apart from their major company contacts unless they are selling you to them. Do not expect them to connect you to them.

Sleepy

I've gotten two jobs from it and been approached for others.

It's also the first place our company advertises new positions.