If you’re actively searching for a job or you’re someone who just likes to stay passively informed about potential career opportunities, you should be actively managing your LinkedIn profile. The LinkedIn platform offers opportunities to be discovered by hiring managers, develop a reputation as a thought leader, form professional connections, and learn about industry events.
Here are four reasons to stay active and engaged on the world’s largest professional networking platform:
- LinkedIn Is The Premier Professional Networking Site
It’s one thing to know what LinkedIn signifies to professionals and the companies that hire them (it’s the “professional social networking site”), and quite another to discover the statistics representing site activity. Consider…
- LinkedIn has over 760 million users, with more than 260 million monthly active users.
- With more than 20 million companies listed on the site and 20 million open jobs, it’s highly attractive to the 87% of recruiters who regularly use LinkedIn (including your Imprimis Group recruiters).
- A study found that 122 million people received an interview through LinkedIn, with 35.5 million having been hired by a person they connected with on the site.
- Opportunities to Establish Your Name and Network, Virtually and In Person
LinkedIn has user groups representing nearly every industry, every major metropolitan area, and every job function, with plenty of overlap between them. Do a key word search for your industry in your city and see what you find. Join the groups and participate in industry discussions. Follow their threads and postings and view the upcoming events to see how you can get involved. In some groups, you’ll find opportunities to collaborate on projects and develop professional relationships. Even when you can’t meet in person, there are many opportunities to connect virtually. These groups have become so popular in many industries that not having a presence can be a detriment to your career.
- A Platform to Showcase Your Industry and Skill-Specific Expertise with Blog Posts
Love the idea of writing to gain credibility and exposure, but not so crazy about the idea of blogging and marketing your blog? LinkedIn can make you an overnight blogging success if you’ve already got connections. Your published posts will appear in your connections’ news feeds and as they react to them, it’ll go viral through their connections.
Content on the LinkedIn feed received about 9 billion impressions per week overall, with 3 million users actively sharing content. The site is responsible for driving more than 64% of social traffic to B2B sites and is considered a highly credible source of content by itself.
When you publish content, you can use it to spotlight your own voice on your LinkedIn profile. Even better, your posts will be searchable by keyword. Hiring managers actively use keyword searches in your local market when they are looking for specific expertise, so this is exactly where you want to position yourself. If you start racking up views and comments, LinkedIn may promote your content in related professional channels. Just make sure to have a few industry peers review your posts before you publish them. Also, be ready to engage when people respond with questions; don’t leave them hanging, especially hiring managers and people of influence in DFW.
- Your Updated Profile Is Your Ticket to Job Openings
Once you’ve completed your profile, you can use your LinkedIn account to search and apply for jobs, many of which are not advertised elsewhere. Hiring managers love the convenience of being able to instantly review your resume, achievements, connections, and content or portfolio, all through one platform. You can actively search, or passively be searched when recruiters and hiring managers look for someone with your skills—and with virtual work, there are more opportunities now than ever for many people who can work remotely!
Some Quick Tips: List your current position to boost your connection requests by 5X and add a professional photo, which will likely give you 14X more exposure. LinkedIn recommends that your cover image is 1536 (w) x 768 (h) pixels. They require a minimum of 1192 (w) x 220 (h) pixels.Finally, add at least five relevant skills, which increases the chance that your profile will be discovered and someone will message you by more than 31X! Finally, turn on your push notifications, which will alert anyone searching with a hollow green circle that you are getting notifications and will likely respond.
If you’d like to learn more about optimizing your LinkedIn presence, type “LinkedIn” in the search bar on our blog page to uncover our research. Get started today, and feel free to engage with us on the Imprimis Group LinkedIn page!