Five LinkedIn Secrets for Job Seekers

If you are in the Milwaukee area and haven’t yet signed up to attend my big book release party this Thursday, March 3 at the downtown Charro restaurant sponsored by my friends at the Business Journal, don’t wait until the last minute.  They only have room for 100 people, and I want to make sure you are there. You can RSVP to Whitney Maus at 414-908-0566 or wmaus@bizjournals.com.

Beginner Tip

Go through your connections and review the individual connections of those people in your network who have a large number of connections (200+). This is important to do from time to time because these people represent “power networkers,” and they love to help people. Thus, they not only have a big number of connections that may be very useful to you, but they would go out of their way to make a connection or introduction if they thought they could help a friend. 

Advanced Strategy Help

This week’s advanced help is for the job seekers in the audience. If that is not you, be sure to forward this on to a friend or family member who would benefit from these not-so-well-known features that exist on LinkedIn for those in the hunt. 

Many people, including myself, have written extensively about the importance of certain “must do” foundational job-seeking techniques and strategies on LinkedIn.  I actually dedicated a full chapter of my book “The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success: Kick-start your Business, Brand and Job Search” to those techniques and strategies. 

Today I want to share with you a few lesser-known proactive steps you should be taking on a daily, weekly, or as-needed basis that most people haven’t found yet on LinkedIn. After reading these, you will probably be saying to yourself, “Why didn’t someone show me that?” or “If I knew that a couple of months ago, I probably would be employed by now.”  So let’s get started with: 

Five LinkedIn Job-Seeker Secrets That Will Help You Land That Next Great Job

SECRET #1:  

Individuals write recommendations for others based on the things they think are important.

• Action:  Be sure to review the recommendations written by the person you are about to interview with or correspond with. This will give you some insight into the things that person feels are important, so you can make sure you have all your best points top of mind and included in your presentation.

SECRET #2:

You can now search for and save important status updates for the companies you want to work for or individuals you want to meet. (Right under your status update box on your home page is a box with the words “Search Updates”)

SECRET #3:

You can save up to ten criteria-based job searches (keyword, region, company, experience level, etc.).

• Action:  Once you have completed an advanced job search, you can select “Save” on the top right of the search results, and your “24/7 LinkedIn Virtual Assistant” will then look for more of those jobs and even send you an email when one is found.

SECRET #4:

You can save up to three individual advanced people searches.

• Action:  You should be using these saved searches to make sure that LinkedIn is on the lookout 24/7 for important connections that exist between your connections and the people you are trying to meet. This is especially helpful when searching for HR directors or hiring managers of the companies you want to work for. Just click “Save” on the top right after completing an advanced people search.

SECRET #5:

The “Follow Company” feature allows you to “stalk” the companies you are interested in working for.