A Step-By-Step Guide To Getting A Job Through LinkedIn

Hiranya Fernando, Lumiere

There are more than 277 million people on LinkedIn at last count. This means you want to be on it. But you also don’t want to get lost in the crowd.

Hopefully, by now, you have read our tips on how to create an unforgettable LinkedIn profile that will help you stand out. This is your first step. Now, we’ll show you how to actually use LinkedIn once you are properly on it.

LinkedIn is a formidable professional networking platform as well as a powerful job board and search engine. The fact that a full 94% of recruiters use social media, in particular LinkedIn, to fill open positions should get you excited. 

Here’s how you can use this game-changing platform to get your next job. 

1. Understand where LinkedIn “fits in.”

In order to use it well, it’s important to understand how it fits into the larger context of social media networking.

Facebook is about brand and identity, whether that is a personal profile or a business page. Twitter is about events or occurrences, which could be a missing plane in the Indian Ocean or letting your audience know that your latest blog post is published. LinkedIn is the best channel for engaging with people and organizations that could potentially hire you.

In the latest survey, 77% of LinkedIn users said that it helped them research people and companies. This is something that’s very handy before meeting a contact for coffee, when requesting an informational chat with someone, and, especially, as key preparation before a formal job interview. You want to know everything you possibly can about the person/people who is/are interviewing you. It will help you ask good questions as well as find points of connection over which you can bond. For example, perhaps you went to the same school or once lived in the same city or country. 

3. Create shareable experiences. 

7. Write thoughtful networking emails.

Read more on these 3 steps, all 7 steps, and the complete Business Insider article