With more than 364 million members in over 200 countries and territories, LinkedIn is the most popular social network for professionals as well as one of the top social networks overall. But do you know how to use LinkedIn to its fullest potential ? Do You know how Linkedin can help you in getting your dream job ? Biotecnika is here with complete package of Tips & Tricks on how to use linkedin to apply for a job.
Before we dive in, lets have a glimpse on what is LinkedIn for those of you who may be new to the social network.
What Is LinkedIn?
LinkedIn launched in 2003 and is currently the third most popular social network in terms of unique monthly visitors -- right behind Facebook and Twitter. Think Facebook, but with a more
professional feel. The social network is primarily centered around careers, and it enables users to connect and share content with other professionals, including colleagues as well as potential employers, business partners, and new employees. If you're a business on LinkedIn, it can also be a fantastic marketing tool.
Starting with Firstly lets talk about how to customize your LinkedIn profile, so as to make it catchy & impressive.
LinkedIn is the most popular site for recruiters by far, as the data below reveals. Of the social recruiters, LinkedIn clearly dominates in key uses, according to a recent survey:
- 95% of recruiters use LinkedIn to search for candidates.
- 95% use LinkedIn to contact candidates
- 93% use LinkedIn to "keep tabs on" potential candidates.
- 93% use LinkedIn to "vet candidates pre-interview" (vs. 32% on Facebook and 18% on Twitter).
- 92% posted jobs on LinkedIn (vs. 48% on Facebook and 39% on Twitter).
Recruiters indicated that they checked a candidates LinkedIn Profile for:
- Profesional experience
- Length of professional tenure
- Specific hard skills
So, investing time in learning how to leverage social media for your job search, and to leverage LinkedIn, in particular, will be time well spent for you.
Tips For LinkedIn Profile Customization
Public profile URL Customization
Make your personal profile look more professional (and much easier to share) by customizing your LinkedIn public profile URL. Instead of a URL with a million confusing numbers at the end, it will look nice and clean like this: http://www.linkedin.com/in/pamelavaughan. Customize your URL by going here and modifying your public profile URL on the right-hand side.
A Background Photo will be an add on
Give your LinkedIn profile a little bit more personality by adding a background photo of your own. Just keep in mind LinkedIn is a professional social network, so choose your photo accordingly.
To add a background photo to your profile, click Profile >> Edit Profile in LinkedIn's top navigation, then click Add a background photo at the top of your page (or modify an existing background photo by hovering over it and clicking Edit Background). LinkedIn specifies that your photo must be a JPG, PNG, or GIF file under 8MG in size and should have a resolution of 1400 x 425 pixels for the best look.
Search engine optimize your profile.
You can also optimize your profile to get found by people searching LinkedIn for key terms you want to get found for. Add these keywords to various sections of your profile such as your headline or in your summary.
Build a showcase of work been done by you.
Did you know LinkedIn allows you to add a variety of media such as videos, images, documents, links, and presentations to the Summary, Education, and Experience sections of your LinkedIn profile? This enables you to showcase different projects, provide samples of your work, and better optimize your LinkedIn profile. Learn more about adding, removing, and rearranging work samples here.
Add, remove, and rearrange entire sections of your profile.
LinkedIn also enables users to reorder entire sections of your profile in any way you prefer. When in edit mode, simply hover your mouse over the double-sided arrow in each section. Your mouse will turn into a four-arrowed icon, at which point you can click, then drag and drop to another position on your profile.
Turn your LinkedIn profile into a resume.
Now this is the turning point. Job seeking is one of the most common -- and beneficial -- uses of LinkedIn. Were you aware that LinkedIn enables you to turn your profile into a resume-friendly format in seconds with its Resume Builder tool? Just choose a resume template, edit it, and export it as a PDF that you can print, email, and share.
Get endorsed for your skills.
Back in 2012, LinkedIn launched a feature called Endorsements, which enables users to endorse their connections for skills they’ve listed in the Skills section of their profile -- or recommend one they haven’t yet listed.
Write a crisp, detailed summary of your career
Shoot for 100-300 words and try to tell a compelling story about yourself that includes specifics and quantifiable achievements.
Recommendations Really helps
Get at lesat five recommendations. Ask your boss, former boss and possibly a colleague or someone who has reported to you to write something glowing. It's OK to offer to write it yourself and then invite the person to vet and post it.
Now Okay, so you can't guarantee your connections will endorse you for those skills, but because it's so easy for your LinkedIn contacts to do (all they have to do is click on the + sign next to a particular skill on your profile), you'll find that many of them will do it anyway. Just make sure your profile is complete and you've spent the time to list the skills you want your contacts to endorse you for. It will definitely give your profile a bit of a credibility boost. You can also remove endorsements if you find people are endorsing you for skills that don't accurately describe your strengths.
Discover New Companies With "Company Search"
If you're looking for a new job, you likely know the type of company you'd want to work for. Narrow your job search by using another of LinkedIn's search functions, Company Search. Find this by selecting "Companies" from the search bar at the top, then clicking the magnifying glass.
In Company Search you can narrow results by location, industry, size and whether they're currently hiring via LinkedIn. If you find an interesting company, you can follow it for updates and new job listings.
Connect With College Alumni
LinkedIn's newest feature, called LinkedIn Classmates, is a tool you can use to get high-level information about your fellow alumni, such as the most popular companies they work for, in what industries they're working, where they live, and more. Use this feature to connect with alumni at a company you're interested in. Like many of LinkedIn's other search features, it uses handy filters that help you narrow down the pool of connections to ones that match your specifications.
Use the "Apply With LinkedIn" Button
A new plugin released this summer makes it easier to apply for jobs from an employer's website—by using your LinkedIn profile information and just the click of a button. If you use this feature to apply for a job, a screen pops up that lets you edit any of the fields in your profile to tailor it to the position. You also have the option to add a cover letter. Once you complete your edits and submit the application, LinkedIn will show you the people in your network who work at the company, in case you want to send them a note to follow-up.
How to Use LinkedIn for Professional Networking
Use OpenLink to send messages to people you're not connected to.
Aside from the exception of your fellow group members (more on this in tip #19), LinkedIn only allows you to send messages to people with whom you share a first-degree connection. But did you know some people let you send them messages anyway, even if you're not connected? The ability to be part of the OpenLink network is only available to premium account holders, but it allows them to be available for messaging by any other LinkedIn member if they choose to be. OpenLink members will appear with an icon that looks like a small ring of dots next to their name in search results and on their profile.
Request an introduction to someone you're not connected to.
Want to connect with another LinkedIn user but think it would seem too out of the blue? You can request an introduction to contact a 2nd-degree connection from a connection you both have in common. Simply visit the profile of the 2nd-degree connection you want to connect with, click the triangular drop-down arrow near the top of their profile, select Get Introduced, choose which shared connection you'd like to request the introduction from, and explain why you'd like the introduction.
Be identifiable
Allow others to see who you are if you view their profile. To allow this, go into your Settings (click your thumbnail image in the top right and choose Privacy & Settings) and click Select what others see when you've viewed their profile. Make sure you check off the Your name and headline (Recommended) option.
Check out who's viewed your LinkedIn profile.
How? With the Who's Viewed Your Profile feature, of course! This tool, which is accessible in the main navigation via the Profile dropdown, enables you to drill down into which other LinkedIn users have visited your profile page (so yeah, exactly what it sounds like). In fact, LinkedIn gave this coveted creeper feature a facelift in February 2014, so the information it provides is even better than ever. You can also see how you stack up against the profile views for your connections, people in your company, and other professionals like you.
Has someone been checking out your profile that you might want to connect with? This might be the "in" you've been waiting for to connect. (Remember, if you don't make yourself identifiable via the above tip, you won't have access to this feature. It's a two-way street!
Leverage the perks of LinkedIn Groups.
Did you know that if you're a member of the same group as another user, you can bypass the need to be a first-degree connection in order to message them? In addition, group members are also able to view the profiles of other members of the same group without being connected. Join more groups to enable more messaging and profile viewership capabilities.
Share your LinkedIn status updates on Twitter.
Ever since the LinkedIn/Twitter breakup of 2012, you can no longer automatically sync your tweets to publish on LinkedIn (or even selectively by using the hashtags #in or #li in specific tweets). But don't fret -- the opposite is still possible! So if you're ever posting an update to LinkedIn that you'd like your Twitter followers to see as well, you can easily syndicate that update to Twitter by selecting the Everyone + Twitter option in the Share With dropdown before clicking Share in the LinkedIn update composer.
Leverage @mentions in your status updates.
In 2013, LinkedIn rolled out the ability to tag or @mention other users and companies in status updates -- much like the way it works on Facebook and Twitter. Want another LinkedIn user or company to see your status update? Include the @ symbol immediately followed by the user's/company's name in your status update. As a result, that user/company will get alerted that you mentioned them, and their name will also link to their profile/page in the status update itself.
Do remember that social networks are only another method for people to connect. You will need more than a LinkedIn Profile. You will need to participate intelligently and carefully in LinkedIn Groups to establish a business-like online presence for yourself. Then, you'll need to connect with other human beings, off-line, usually to close the deal and land the job.
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Courtsey : Hubspot