Maintaining a LinkedIn profile is becoming an increasingly important aspect of career planning and development at all levels. LinkedIn has over thirty-five million members in over 140 industries, from executives working for the largest corporates right down to one man bands. Simply joining and completing a basic profile is a good start – but doesn’t go anywhere near far enough. Building up a network of contacts, contributing to relevant groups, generating goodwill and giving and receiving recommendations is a time consuming process – and the more you engage the more activity you will generate!
New features are being added to LinkedIn on a regular basis so that it is now becoming an indispensable research tool both for job seekers and for companies looking to hire. For example, viewers of company profiles can discover:
- Recruitment messaging that helps HR teams appeal to candidates on a personal level
- Employee spotlights that introduce ‘birds of a feather’ peers
- Interactive polling that engages viewers on the page
- Video clips that showcase corporate culture
- Jobs with ‘company insider’ information that show how a job seeker is connected with the company and the job poster
- where people with similar backgrounds are working by searching for people with comparable skills in a target geographical area
- where people working at a particular company came from or go next
As well as researching likely employers, there are a few simple tweaks you can make to your own profile in order to enhance your personal brand and make it more appealing to recruiters:
- Maximise the value of your network by focusing on job searches that you are not more than two degrees away from. This means that you know someone who knows someone within the hiring company
- Use the status update to indicate that you are seeking a new role, and in what field
- Get LinkedIn recommendations from your colleagues. A strong recommendation from someone you have worked for is particularly powerful.
- Don’t forget the principle of reciprocity – help others within your network when they need it – not just when you want something from them! If your focus is on ‘taking’ rather than ‘giving’ you will not get very far
- Finally, remember that as with all things in life, you get out what you put in. Managing your profile and supporting your network is hard work, but ultimately rewarding
Posted by Lisa 
Marketing Analytics 