5 Tips on Linkedin Job Search & Advancing Your Career

This article is based on my personal experiences & the power of my best observations ever since I became active on Linkedin. I started off initially writing for myself and choose Linkedin because A) I have No Web designing skills & B) Linkedin had a ready made page to write articles. Most of my writing revolves around Engineering in the Oil & Gas Industry but also some on Leadership (and sometimes on Astrology to see how many takers are out there!!). Having spent time on one platform dedicatedly for 4 years, I've seen all sorts of job related posts with people often bickering about recruiters & even wondering if Linkedin was worth to find a job.

Here's my take on things that people are missing out,

It Starts with How You View & Use Linkedin

In 1969, the Woodstock Aquarian Exposition took place in Whitelake, N.Y, USA where various musicians came to showcase their skills & eventually some made history in the world of music. Rolling Stone's performance was listed 19 of those 50 moments that changed music history. The same way, Linkedin is no different. Use Linkedin to showcase your skills because you have a large crowd watching you all the time. It will eventually catch the attention of every other recruiter or hiring manager to give you that opportunity you are looking for.

Try Before you Buy

On an online shopping website where you can browse through the catalogue to buy, you can reasonably expect a cash refund if you made a return. But in the world of recruiting, things don't really work something like that. As much as every recruiter works on their success rate, so are they equally anxious if your Linkedin job description really matches your skills.

Merely posting 'Actively looking for opportunities' or 'Ready to Accept Challenges' is just the cherry on the cake, but, it's not the cake. Saying merely 'Looking for a job' and silently browsing through can also give the impression, you are not using your job search time productively or worse... that you are looking for a job that was given away out of magnanimity!!!

You might be good at what you do, but there is no way a recruiter or a hiring manager will know or get a feel of your talent unless you let them have a peek preview

There is so much open source information on the internet with which you can explain your knowledge, ideas & understanding in your areas of expertise. Just make sure to reference your open sources. This also gives the advantage of you being looked upon more favorably because you are able to show that you can & will care about sharing with your fellow colleagues if recruited.

Use the provisions in Linkedin to write about your professional experience through Articles & Posts with the help of open source information. That way recruiters & hiring managers will feel motivated to contact you because you are giving them a chance to 'Try before you Buy'

Humour Can Work Wonders

I love humour in general, but somehow my sense of humour sometimes ends up sounding like a sense of tumour!! I know for sure that one day my humour's bone dryness will win me a Razzie Award!!! & it's actually something to be proud about, because even to be really bad at cracking jokes, requires talent!!!

Humour has this amazing latent power to help break the ice between people. You just need to know how to use it & that starts by being able to laugh at yourself!!

Humour can come very handy to relieve the stiffness in the air when you know how to wield & time it properly especially during a pay hike or a job offer benefits discussion with the recruiter/hiring manager.

It Eventually Pays-Off Well to Have a Non-Confrontational & Educated Opinion

Unless you are the silent type who is happy to just work, take your pay & slowly screw the enthusiasm out of your life, it will eventually pay-off well to have an educated opinion that is free of confrontation. Sure, there might be hiring managers out there who shudder, merely knowing that you are capable of an opinion. But that's just the insecurity that you might end up taking over his/her job some day. Ask yourself if it is worth working under the auspices of an insecure boss who did a good job of giving you a heart attack. It ain't worth it!!!! Having an opinion based on facts is also equally important because leaders take decisions & if you didn't, you are no leader.

So stay steady & stick to your Life's principles/philosophy because the planet now has 7+ Billion people & There will be takers for your opinions. It's just that sometimes it takes time for them to find you

Life Skills & Life Experiences Matter

There are dime a dozen people on the planet who I' am sure are damn good with their technical prowess. But it's not enough. What adds value is also your Life Skills & Life Experiences. When you are searching for mid level positions that allows you to supervise, no recruiter would like to take the risk of hiring someone with poor people & life skills.

According to a harvard Business Review (HBR) article by Gautam Mukunda, leaders can be classified as ‘filtered leaders’ who follow the normal path of progression and ‘unfiltered leaders’ who were either outsiders or got their jobs under fluke circumstances. It was found that ‘unfiltered leaders’ were most effective and also the least effective while ‘filtered leaders’ fell somewhere in the middle.

So there is a chance that it works well to showcase through Writing about Your Failures as Well as Your Successes. Your failures also show how much you've become resilient, mindful, compassionate & any recruiter in the right frame of mind would recognize these qualities & choose you over others

To Summarize,

How well you are able to make the best of not just Linkedin, but any other social media, to let the other person know your capabilities & what you have to offer them, eventually decides why you made it & not the other chap.

Therefore, Give 'em all a peek preview from time to time

References: [1], [2]