Use LinkedIn to Get a Job

Let’s first see how LinkedIn is defining itself:

LinkedIn is an interconnected network of experienced professionals from around the world, representing 170 industries and 200 countries. You can find, be introduced to, and collaborate with qualified professionals that you need to work with to accomplish your goals.

Some more facts from LinkedIn:

• LinkedIn has over 41 million members in over 200 countries and territories around the world.

• A new member joins LinkedIn approximately every second, and about half of our members are outside the U.S.

• Executives from all Fortune 500 companies are LinkedIn members.

LinkedIn is just not another social networking website, it’s something more than that. At LinkedIn you can find top notch professionals of the industry such as CEOs, General Managers, Senior Managers, Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. Even you can find profiles of Bill Gates, Barack Obama and many other top people around the world and these profiles are guaranteed original.

You must be wondering how one can find a job on LinkedIn. Well, getting a job is not an easy task to do, but by taking proper steps you can not only get a job offer but you will also get visible in the eyes of the professionals associated with the industry you want to work. Even I received 3 job offers, one from Pakistan and two freelance offers from outside. (I didn’t accept because some of my personal engagements)

In this post I will give you few tips on how you can use LinkedIn to get a job offer:

Get Registered And Craft Your Profile Completely – Getting registered with LinedIn is easy, same as registering yourself with any other social networking website over the internet. But the difficult part is to fill out the spaces provided for different type of information such as your education, your working experience, your interest, your professional association and so on. Always provide complete and factual information. Don’t leave anything untouched, fill-out every space with accurate information to make your potential employer know about you completely.

Use A Professional Profile Picture – One of the greatest mistake people usually do on LinkedIn, they do not put their professional looking photograph on profile. It’s good if you have a very good looking picture of yours, but if it doesn’t look professional, it will not portray your image as a professional individual.

Get Your Unique Public Profile URL - LinkedIn provides the option to get a personalized URL for your public profile. My profile link is http://www.linkedin.com/in/khurramzahid. Play with some options and you will get a personalized URL to use it further, like you can put it on your CV.

Make Contacts With Your Current And Past Colleagues – Try to find some of your old and current Colleagues, Managers, HODs, and the like and add them. You will eventually grow your network, which later on increase the chances to receive job offers.

Get Recommendations/Testimonials – It would be very helpful if you get recommendations from the people you are connected to. Ask people to write some good words about you. These words will be highlighted on your profile prominently. It will be good if you get recommendations from your previous employers, as it will increase your credibility and authenticity.

Join Groups To Increase Visibility – One of the greatest tactics to increase the possibility of job offer is by joining the groups related to your career field. Most of the groups on LinkedIn are created by the top professionals of the industry, and by joining these groups your profile visibility will be increased. Participation is however necessary. Take part in ongoing discussion, initiate new discussions or share something with group which you may think will be useful for the interest of them.

These were few tips that will increase your visibility in the world of internet. Top level management will be connected with you and by looking at your skills; there is a higher chance that they will offer you a job which you always want to have.