So, you have joined Linkedin, the next step is:
Today’s Tip:
Fill out your profile completely.
Filling out a profile on Linkedin is easy and should not be skipped. In most cases, you can cut and paste descriptions right from your resume.
If you go to the advanced people search on Linkedin, you will see how recruiters can search for keywords, location and other variables. If I were looking for a Lotus Developer with Perl Scripting experience (which I am right now), I would put Perl and Lotus Notes in the keywords field. If someone were a Lotus Notes Developer and only put a job title, they wouldn’t turn up in my search, even if they had years of Perl Scripting experience. So, your profile is the place to put your skills, your achievements and certifications. When I was recruiting for a Cisco Engineer who had to have a CCIE, that was the only keyword I used. So treat the profile exactly as you would a resume.
Tags: job hunting, job seekers, Linkedin, social networking
Thanks for giving us the insiders perspective on the job hiring process. I recently told my brother to get LINKEDIN and get some recommendations. I told him if there were 2 exactly similar applicants and one had recommendations and the other did, who will get the job.
Post info on how resumes get screened.
thanks
Rob OBrien
Thanks, Rob. That is a great idea. There will be a series of posts on Linked in and job searching, so I hope the word gets out.
These are some good thoughts about LinkedIn. It makes me feel that I am missing a great deal of value from the site and I will definitely pay attention to this. Thanks Audrey!
Thanks, Richard, I appreciate that.
In addition to fleshing out LinkedIn profiles, graduates should think about cleaning up their Facebook profiles, and/or perhaps changing their privacy settings, there. Recruiters look not only at what we want them to see, but also at our *entire* web presence.
Great idea for a blog.
Great tip, thanks Kathy. I once had a candidate that had a signature in her email address to her myspace profile and it was a very inappropriate profile.