It should come as no surprise that we feel strongly about the use of Social Networking in a job search. Our team uses LinkedIn on a daily basis to source talent as well as research potential clients. You should take LinkedIn seriously as well. Here are a few things that you should do right now to boost your chances of getting hired via LinkedIn.
It should be pretty self explanatory, but we see people with missing information all the time. Go through your work history on LinkedIn and make sure you have captured your professional experience in its entirety. Beef up the job descriptions and accomplishments. (Obviously: Don’t Lie or Embellish.) All of your relevant experience should be listed. Jobs held in college can be left off of your LinkedIn page if you wish.
LinkedIn gives you a healthy amount of space to write a personal summary about your work experience. Use this opportunity to really sell yourself and your experience. Pretend you are introducing yourself as the keynote speaker at a large business conference and write your profile in the 3rd person. (Ex. If your name is John Smith you should begin with: John is…) Finish off with your educational background.
Your LinkedIn profile should be a match with your paper resume. Many employers will start with an online search for you and will expect that both sets of information are the same. Any inconsistencies could be counted against you as you are looking for and applying for jobs.