13 Oct Get with the times, get your LinkedIn Profile up and running!
If you have a profile on LinkedIn, then please follow our LinkedIn company page, and share our vacancies with your connections. (http://www.linkedin.com/company/resource-recruitment-durban- ) If you are not on LinkedIn… then you need to be!
I have been in recruitment for over 15 years now, and it always amazes me how fast the industry changes. 15 years ago, we faxed or hand delivered CV’s and we advertised position every weekend in the Sunday Paper- Monday mornings the phones rang off the hook with people telephonically applying for jobs. I cannot remember the last time I advertised a position in print, and Monday mornings are about catching up on emails, and sometimes we are at our busiest and the phones are not ringing at all!
Employers are using Social Media to research job applicants, before they even interview- and you don’t even know it!
Over the past year, the biggest development that I have seen in recruitment, is clients using social media daily to research job applicants…. And most of the time, you don’t even know it. We have sent out previous emails on setting your privacy settings on Facebook, so that only your friends can see your photos and comments, while leaving your professional and educational information public. If you have not done this, and a potential employer looks at your public profile, what would they think of you?
Point potential employers to the Social Media Account you want them to view.
People use three main forms of social media to check up on you- Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. They will keep looking at accounts, until the find one that gives them enough information on you to form an impression. People are also lazy, and will use the easiest method to get information on you. So, if you provide a link to the profile that you want them to view, and you provide them with the information that they crave, then to a certain extent you can control the impression they get of you. Facebook and Instagram should have privacy settings and should be mainly for your personal life (although this is possibly the most powerful networking tool in South Africa and should not be neglected when looking for a job); and LinkedIn should be your professional social media account.
A few hints and tips when setting up your LinkedIn profile:-
Photo– this is a professional, head and shoulders photo, looking directly at the camera and smiling. No party photos, pouty lips, alcohol, revealing clothes, etc
Summary– this is a chance for you to “talk” to people viewing your profile. Keep it easy to read, friendly and informative. Make sure you check spelling and grammar- people will judge you on this.
Career History– put as much detail as possible. You can even try and copy and paste information from your CV onto LinkedIn. This is for two reasons, firstly, people may validate your CV against LinkedIn and secondly, if someone is “searching” for a particular skill, they will use keywords, and you want these keywords to appear in your CV. (For example, I may want someone who has worked on Syspro, or who has worked with ISO22000. This will not be your job title, but if you have put the detail on your profile, it will come up as a keyword.)
Complete the profile completely– make sure that all the sections that you can complete, you complete. You are painting an honest picture for future employers, clients and associates to see. Make yourself look as impressive as possible! Here is your opportunity to boast about your volunteer work, interests and awards!
Start using it as a tool. You don’t only need a profile to get a new job, you also need a profile because you want to network and make your current and next job a success. Follow influential and inspiring people, your competitors and potential clients, and build a data base to network with.
Keep it current. It is not enough to build a wonderful profile, like all the right pages and then never go on it again! You need to go onto LinkedIn every morning ideally, but 2-3 times a week at least. Remind yourself that it is a professional, business profile and comment, share and post accordingly.
Commit to it. If you are not a frequent LinkedIn user, then you need to make a commitment to the account for three months. As with all new technology, until you find your way around it, it can feel awkward and time consuming.
How to search for a job on LinkedIn
Once you have got your profile sorted, then you can start searching for a job. Go to the search bar on top; this is where you will type in your search terms. For example, type in “technical sales,” you will get a list of related jobs, groups, and people doing similar work. If you are connected to them, it will prompt you to message them, and if you are not connected to them, it will prompt you to connect.
The dropdown box next to the search bar (or once you are in “search,” the menu at the top left) allows you to customize your search by people, jobs, companies, groups, and inbox. Click “jobs” and you can further hone in by location, connections, industry, job function, and experience level.
Some interesting Social Media stats:
- 4 Million Job Seekers Have Used Social Networks to Find a Job
- 73% of companies successfully hired a candidate with social media
- 93% of companies use LinkedIn for recruiting, 66% use Facebook, and 54% use Twitter.
- 5 out of 10 job seekers use social media to find a job, but a greater percentage of recruiters use it to find suitable applicants, 7 out of 10.
