I am one of the children of the present who managed to use LinkedIn to find my first career. What amazes me is how much I’ve grown because of LinkedIn. I want to impart this knowledge to young professionals like myself who aren’t using LinkedIn yet, but should be because of the unrealized opportunities available.
What’s great about LinkedIn is that it pools all of the professionals for you. It doesn’t eliminate having to go to career fairs, networking parties, and sending out applications, but it does give you the upper hand. You can speak directly to the people who could hire you. There are also groups you can join on LinkedIn, so searching for a group in your industry will open you up to all sorts of networking connections. Imagine that – social media has done the hard work (of pulling all of these professionals together) for you.
For those who are LinkedIn gurus, add your own advice to the comments section below!
1. The people with 500+ connections might know someone you need to know.
I know few social-butterflies. I’m (to shock most of you) actually very introverted, so keeping social-butterflies around is quite the task when crowds of people naturally drain you. It’s those social butterflies, however, who know all the people you might need to know. The same applies to LinkedIn. If you’re connected to someone with 500+ connections, give their connections a sift! Who do your professors know? Who do your colleagues know? Look for people in fields you want to be in! You never know who you might find whom has your dream job.
2. Never say “no” to a job you haven’t even been offered yet.
This advice, at first, might come across as sounding desperate. What do you mean don’t say no? What if I don’t want to work there?! You might not want to work there, and it might be the dead-last option on your list. You could (at least) use the interview experience – even if you know you’re overqualified or wouldn’t be satisfied with working there. You technically aren’t really in the position to say “no” just yet, though. After all, you haven’t even been offered the job! Save your no’s for later – preferably after it’s been offered to you. You might be surprised by the interview and find yourself caught off guard or tongue-tied. The interview could also be incredibly difficult – only giving you more experience points.
Conclusion? Don’t nix certain things off your list when they weren’t even yours to say “no” to in the first place.
3. Don’t be afraid to ask for an introduction – but be respectful.
I used to be awkward about wanting to know people and wanting to be introduced, but feeling too introverted to mention it. Then, next thing I know, it has been months and I realize too late that I should have harnessed the opportunity. Asking for an introduction (both in real-life and in-person) is still powerful. It still says a lot about your own fervor for life and your goals. People like the idea of being the gateway to another person’s success, and if it just amounts to an introduction … well, that’s easy! I’ve found that more people are more willing to make introductions so long as they are familiar with the other.
It can be tricky sometimes, though. But with common sense, it can produce some serious results. You would never ask to be introduced to the CEO of a company unless you wanted to be working directly with her (and unless that position was even open in the first place). You would ask to be introduced to the Director of HR because they can offer advice as to where you would fit best. You would ask to be introduced to someone who would be your possible future boss.
Life is too short to be shy – especially about your career.
4. Look for the skills that make you jealous – and then harness them!
LinkedIn is full of people with amazing skills. You are even endorsed for them. Visiting profiles of people and taking note of the skills that make you a little jealous are usually a sign of what you need to be learning. So when I see someone who has been endorsed 100 times over for “Marketing” or “Social Media Marketing”, I can feel a small hint of envy because I also want that recognition from the industry. Therefore, I am constantly studying marketing, and I found a career that enables me to do just that. The same applies to my artistic background. I see a freaking awesome painting and I want to harness its power.
For people who have no idea what their next step is post-college, look for the skills that people have that you think would be awesome to master. Then, go out and master it. Let people know you’re mastering it by updating your LinkedIn profile and posting related links to the industry. This will catch the attention of the people who might hire you one day! Tell people what you’re learning and working on.
5. Sending a message/InMail is perfectly legit.
Sending an email is one thing, but going on LinkedIn and specifically seeking someone out to send them a message has an entirely different feel. It’s a little harder to ignore an InMail because the person receives updates if they haven’t read it yet. It might seem annoying, but if you read the person’s profile and determined that what they do is what you want to do, then it’s still worth it.
In my experience, sending a message or an InMail requires a little strategy. You can either be straight-forward and ask them if they know of any available positions (snore), or you can tell them that you’re interested in their career of choice and would love to know how they’ve achieved success. Most people love talking about themselves, so asking someone to do that isn’t out of the question.
It accomplishes a few things:
1. You are now under their radar, so they will be checking to see if you’ve made progress with your career goals.
2. You will have a better idea of what it is they do and if you want that for yourself in the first place.
3. You just gained a networking connection. The people who didn’t provide a job for you aren’t automatically useless. They are still valuable because they are a living, breathing human. You can always learn something new from this connection, and they might know someone (or some thing) you need to know.
6. LinkedIn is quid pro quo.
As awesome as it would be, LinkedIn is not an agency meant to hook you up with a job. It’s social media, and above all, it’s a network. So expect to put forth effort if you’re trying to meet the right people who may choose to eventually hire you. If you expect to just sign up and bam!, get a job, you’re in for a surprise – because HR managers and industry leaders essentially won’t care unless you put forth the effort.
Keeping your profile updated is an absolute must. Consider your profile to be your resume, but much more fun-sounding. It should communicate who you are, but in a more professional way than say a Facebook profile. It should not, however, bore people to tears. Tell people about what you’ve done with your life in a creative way! Otherwise, why hire you?
Maintaining an updated, professionally photographed picture of you also helps. Would you hire someone making a duck face to the camera in a poorly-lit room? Nope. You’d breeze right by them, or in the other person’s case, click ignore.