How to make the most of LinkedIn

If you're looking for a job in the 21st century, a good place to start is LinkedIn. By building your professional social profile, you can reach out and connect with colleagues, employers and other relevant voices in your industry.

Creating your profile takes a matter of minutes, but it's best practice to keep your account active over a prolonged period of time, post and interact regularly with others, and generally contribute something of value to the people who follow you.

When it's time to find a job, that hard work will pay off with more networking opportunities, word of mouth referrals, and access to a larger number of employers in your chosen sector.

An online world of employment

The world increasingly revolves around the internet, and even if your day-to-day job is not strictly 'online', there's likely to be a community on LinkedIn discussing and debating the relevant topics.

If you're not part of that conversation, you're missing out. You could be amplifying your voice via social shares, original insights and blog posts, instead of trawling through search results manually looking for job advertisements that appeal to you.

LinkedIn unlocks your access to being headhunted. In the dream scenario, your next job offer will come to you, instead of the other way around.

Ten tips for LinkedIn success

So as you embark on your LinkedIn journey - or even if you have an existing profile and want to make it work for you in your job search - here are ten top tips for a better chance of LinkedIn success:

1. Complete your profile

A half-finished profile does not send a convincing message to recruiters. Complete LinkedIn's built-in tutorial to fill out all the essential sections, then look for any remaining blanks where you could add some additional information.

2. Check your dates

Minor mistakes in your start and finish dates for past roles aren't make-or-break, but whole missing years look more suspicious. Try to account for any gaps in employment where necessary.

3. Sell your skills

Add your relevant skills and make sure it's clear what you actually do in your current job - don't feel restricted to using obscure job titles, if there's a more widely known, descriptive name for your position.

4. Create content

Publishing your own blog posts to LinkedIn is a good way to start building your network and establishing yourself as an expert voice. If you're not confident with blog writing, start by leaving comments on other people's posts and see if you can move from there to longer, original posts of your own.

5. Share links

A fast way to add engagement to your profile is to share links to stories you find interesting. In addition to writing your own blogs, links encourage people in your network to comment and reply, which can be a great way to start building some rapport.

6. Join groups

Look for relevant discussion groups to join which will help you to connect with an entire cohort of colleagues in your profession. Groups are also a good place to find out what other people are talking about, to help you decide what content to share yourself.

7. Provide LinkedIn Answers

If you have authoritative information on a subject area, look for relevant questions on LinkedIn Answers and offer your own insights. Contribute regularly and you'll be rewarded with more prominent status.

8. Hone your connections

Like the real world, LinkedIn is subject to reputations - both good and bad. Try to make sure the people you interact with most are respected in their industry, especially as your own network grows. Don't feel obliged to reply to everyone.

9. Develop your company's page

If your current employer has a LinkedIn company profile, offer to help improve it by sharing the business's blogs and other insights. From there, share them across to your personal profile to add value to your own network.

10. Don't just use LinkedIn for jobhunting

The biggest mistake is to only update your LinkedIn profile when you want a new job. Instead, make sure you regularly interact with the people in your network and grow your profile organically over time, and you'll have much greater reach at your disposal.

Final thoughts

Try to think of LinkedIn as an online reputation-building tool, rather than just a digital version of your paper CV. You can find more guides to jobhunting online in our job search advice pages.

If you want to turbocharge your online job hunt, register for MyPage, where you can keep track of all your active applications and current CVs. For more help to find your next employment opportunity, contact us today.