LinkedIn is a social network dedicated to professionals, where it is possible to find job offers for many different sectors. The platform boasts over 830 million subscribers and 58 million registered companies.
Job seekers are obviously facing great competition and, in order to stand out from the crowd and get noticed, it is therefore essential to have a effective LinkedIn profile. The platform allows you to create a personal profile along the lines of classic social networks such as Facebook. However, since this is a profile for work purposes, much more information is required during its compilation, such as one's course of study and any professional experiences, so that the final result will appear very similar to a sort of curriculum vitae.
In the next lines we will try to provide useful information to create a successful LinkedIn profile, to help our readers find new and interesting job opportunities.
What does the recipient of your application see?
Is the job of your dreams among the vacancies on LinkedIn? Wait a moment before submitting your application. First of all, it is important to understand what HR will see when they receive your request.
When you created your LinkedIn profile, you made a commitment to fill in all the required fields complete with detailed descriptions, but do you know how the application process works? We will explain it to you!
Each time you apply for a job offer, the hiring manager receives an email, including some (not all) information about you. Here they are listed below:
- your name;
- your title (the one that appears just below your name in the profile);
- your current work (title only, without details and descriptions);
- your previous works (again without details);
- your academic qualifications (only the names of the schools or faculties you attended, without any other information);
- your recommendations (or rather, the number of people who recommended you, but with no other indications);
- your connections (here too only the number of your connections is indicated);
- your personal information (including only telephone number and e-mail address);
- your curriculum vitae (if you have attached it).
What are companies looking for?
Basically, recruiters see a summary of your profile and it is on this information that they make a first selection of applications. For a effective LinkedIn profile, the aspects on which to focus are therefore those indicated in the previous list.
In fact, the hiring manager who will receive your resume, along with that of many other people, will base the choice of candidate to be hired on their academic qualifications (the more relevant, the better), on work experience (previous experience in the reference sector), on references and on the CV.
Before seeing some useful tips, we want to focus on another element, which we have not mentioned so far, the cover letter. Although snubbed by many job seekers, the “Cover Letter” is an important tool, which can be your trump card.
First, making a cover letter conveys the idea that you are committed to impress, which is always appreciated. It also provides additional information that, as we have seen, does not appear in the snapshot that recruiters receive via email. Inside, in fact, you can write the reasons that prompted you to apply, your best qualities and your expectations.
Mind you, if your profile does not match what the company is looking for, it is very likely that human resources will not waste time reading your letter. But if, for example, the person responsible is undecided between two eligible candidates, the cover letter can represent the discriminating factor that tip the scales on your side.
Tips for an effective LinkedIn profile
In light of the above, here are our recommendations for a LinkedIn profile that impresses companies.
The job title
To make sure you get the job you applied for, yours job title it must be relevant to the position the company seeks. This information is essential since it is the second thing that is seen by the recruiter, after your name, and is therefore the first criterion that he uses to sort the requests he receives. As they say, the first impression is the most important.
Of course, this assumes that you have qualified for the required position. If, on the other hand, he does not have experience in that sector, enter the qualification that is closest, even if the chances of being selected decrease drastically.
Your previous occupation
The jobs you have previously done also have their importance in the eyes of recruiters. Therefore try to fill in the relevant occupations with the application you are submitting. For example, the marketing company that wants to hire you doesn't care if you've worked in a butcher's shop.
A effective LinkedIn profile contains all of your previous employment, but if you are applying for a specific job, consider temporarily eliminating jobs that are not centered with the job posting. Also remember that if your job includes different qualifications, you can (and should) include them within the same title. For example:
Social Media Manager | SEO Specialist | Copywriter.
The references
Very often LinkedIn users underestimate or completely ignore the importance of recommendations, when they play a very important role. On the other hand, LinkedIn is still a social network.
To have a effective LinkedIn profile it is therefore necessary to dedicate the right time to it. More than 90% of users who respond to a job offer have no references. Look for friends, acquaintances and most importantly co-workers or even former or current employers who use LinkedIn and ask them to leave you a recommendation. It will be worth it.
Pay attention to the job description
Before submitting your application, carefully read the offer and what it requires. The majority of candidates do not do this and end up not respecting the company's requests, which obviously penalizes them.
One of the most common cases concerns those advertisements that require the sending of the CV attached to the application. Request that very often is not respected, precisely because applicants do not carefully read the job description. The recruiter who receives an incomplete application will obviously think that that candidate is not suitable for the job, not even being able to send all the requested information.
Paying attention to the job description and providing what is requested in a timely manner is instead one of the best ways to demonstrate understanding, accuracy and reliability. Qualities that interest any company.
