Thanks to Abhyank Srinet for another great post, this time, focused on your LinkedIn Job Search.
– Coach Wolfgang

A LinkedIn profile is the gateway to professional success especially if you are just starting out. With opportunities like interacting with top experts in the industry and following their work and connecting with recruiters to increase your chances of getting hired, LinkedIn is a boon indeed! Utilizing all the features that LinkedIn has to offer would be the perfect way to optimize your profile as well as make good professional connections which ultimately help you to strengthen your network and pave the way for future collaborations.

Here are some quick tips that don’t take long to implement.

LinkedIn Job Search Tip #1 – Using Open Profile

Usually, you can send messages to your first connections and to people who are in the same group as you are a part of. But, the Open Profile is a feature of LinkedIn Premium where it lets other users get in touch with any other LinkedIn user. Hence, look for people who are a part of the Open Profile network as even a non premium LinkedIn user can send them messages. Use this feature to your advantage to make good professional collaborations.

LinkedIn Job Search Tip #2 – Power Of Status Updates

Status updates are crucial if you want your LinkedIn profile to outshine others. A status update in LinkedIn is accompanied by your name, your profile picture, your title, the status update itself and some engagement metrics. If you start updating your status regularly, then recruiters see that you are quite active and that is a big plus when in a LinkedIn job search. LinkedIn says that around 20 posts per month must be your target to reach at least 60% if your target audience.

Hence, keep your status updates coming!

Pro Tip: Remember to post only meaningful things related to your fields of interest which actually add value to the readers.

LinkedIn Job Search Tip #3 – LinkedIn Messenger Features

Having meaningful conversations strengthens your professional relations with people you are connected with on LinkedIn. That is why, LinkedIn has offered a messaging service where you can chat with your connections. The good thing is that you can use this messenger on your home screen itself, making it easier for you to reply to any messages quickly. Also, there is an option for you to get email and push notifications whenever somebody sends you a message so that you don’t miss out on anything.

Pro Tip: There is also a “People You May Know” section in the messenger. This is a great way to expand your professional network by connecting with people who have the same skills or interests.

LinkedIn Job Search Tip #4 – Automate Your Group Posts

Being active on LinkedIn groups that you are part of is imperative to make important new connections and maintain the old connections as well. Here, using some third party applications will really ease out the process by automating your group posts. Here are two such applications:

• Hootsuite allows you to share your posts directly to Facebook, WordPress, Twitter etc. You can also schedule multiple posts and track who has shared your posts on which platform… all this on one dashboard. This simple user interface allows you to easily access information about your current posts statuses.
• Buffer can be used to schedule posts on a daily basis on a particular time slot. For example, On weekdays, you can schedule your posts at 4PM and on the weekends, you can schedule your posts at 10AM. You can also find out at what times do your posts get the maximum views so you can update your posts at that particular time in future. There is also an option of using Google Analytics to see how much traffic you get via social media posts.

LinkedIn Job Search Tip #5 – Who Has Viewed Your Profile?

Did you know that LinkedIn allows you to view 100 profiles per day? There is a way to make the best use of this at the right time. If you have applied for a job, then check the recruiters’ LinkedIn profiles before your interview. Whenever you view another profile on LinkedIn, your name appears on that person’s “Who’s Viewed Your Profile” list. This way, your name is already in the recruiter’s mind and when they interview you, they already have a fair idea about your profile.

This also goes to show that you are proactive and are really serious about the job post. This simple action of just viewing another person’s LinkedIn profile can actually boost your career!

LinkedIn Job Search Tip #6 – Have A Common Name? Fret Not!

LinkedIn has around 467 million profiles and it is not an astonishing fact that there might be a lot of people with the same name as yours. So, how do you carve your own identity? You can stand out from a pool of “likes” by creating your own signature block which consists of your full name, your contact email and your current job title or the skills that you are proficient in.

Once you create a signature block, place this in the right locations. The first place you can put this signature block is at the end of your summary. Next, start putting up the signature blocks whenever you talk about your interests or whenever you post something related to your fields of interest. This way, people know who you are and can easily remember you as well as contact you if necessary.

LinkedIn Job Search Tip #7 – Use Multiple Photos

To break the monotony of text in your profile, use a couple of professional photos in LinkedIn to add some extra spark. These photos can be of you addressing a group of people as part of a seminar that you gave or even a picture of the prototype that you created for your upcoming project. According to LinkedIn, a post that accompanies with a picture has at least 94% more views that a post sans any photos.

Pro Tip: Take extra care to make sure that you use only professional photos and not any random picture. Also, ensure that the quality of the photo is high so that there aren’t any blurry images in your profile.

LinkedIn Job Search Tip #8 – Secure Your LinkedIn Browsing

With the advent of technology, the rise of viruses in your phones and tablets has also risen. Hence, it is crucial that you are digitally safe and secure especially when you are using a public WiFi or free hotspots. LinkedIn offers a feature which supports HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) browsing which protects your device from dangerous viruses.

Here is how you can enable the secure browsing option:

• Go to Settings. Click on “Account” tab.
• Check the box which says “Manage Security Settings”.

PS: If you don’t see this option, don’t panic! LinkedIn would have automatically enabled this option for you.

Following the above tips will definitely help you boost your LinkedIn profile a few notches higher. If you need some more hacks to polish your profile further for your Linkedin job search, visit http://www.mim-essay.com/top-33-linkedin-profile-tips-job-seekers-2017/ to check out an in depth checklist, following which your LinkedIn profile would be ready to shine!

Good Luck!