In 2022, Being Active On LinkedIn Is As Important As Having a Resume

In 2022, Being Active On LinkedIn Is As Important As Having a Resume was originally published on Ivy Exec.

In 2022, being active on LinkedIn is as important as having a resume

When it comes to LinkedIn, a lot of my clients have it backwards. 

I recently spoke to a Project Manager who didn’t get a job that she was a great fit for because of her LinkedIn profile. When I asked how she used LinkedIn she said she only looked at it when she was job searching, and that she hadn’t updated it in a while. In reality she should have been working on it all along because when you have an optimized LinkedIn profile, your visibility increases as well as your chances of being contacted by a recruiter! 

How to increase your chances of getting a job with LinkedIn?

1. First’s thing first – Always keep your profile up to date! Make sure that you have added your current/most recent role. Update your skills whenever you gain another one. Highlight important projects and other accomplishments that will impress someone who is reading your profile and considering you for a role!

2. Make sure that you brand yourself properly – Your top section and your About section represent your personal brand online. This is where you really want to show us who you are, what you do, and why we should like you! Create a headline that is aligned with your future goals and tell us a story about you in the about section.

3. Use LinkedIn for networking: 

  1.  Grow your network – The benchmark for number of connections on LI is 500+, so make sure that you grow your network to that number.
  2.  Send customized connection requests – When you want to connect with someone you know, it’s better to send a specially crafted customized note to ensure that they accept you.
  3.  Support your connections – You want to show that you care about the people you have in your network. Support them by liking and sharing their content, congratulate them when they get a promotion, and endorse them! One extra step that you can make here when you know someone personally is to write them a recommendation. People really appreciate that! And they tend to want to write one in return!

4. Increase your visibility by:

  1.  Joining groups – Join a couple of different groups that are interesting to you. There are over 2 million different groups on LinkedIn – for example The Project Manager Network – #1 Group for Project Managers, or TED: Ideas Worth Spreading. Once you join a group, make sure that you are active, interact with members and share content. 
  2.  Attending LinkedIn online events – LinkedIn hosts many different industry as well as niche online events. You can find them by entering keywords and then clicking on events. Some of these events have 1,000+attendees, and you can connect with some of them by sharing thoughts about the event.
  3. Creating and sharing content – People tend to be afraid of creating content on any platform. However, you don’t have to write full length articles here. You can keep it very short, yet insightful. Share your opinion on a topic. Reshare someone’s post and add on. Create an infographic. Ask questions so you can engage your connections. 

Consistency is key

You want to have a time slot on a weekly basis that you use for your LinkedIn profile. For example, it can be Tuesday from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. In order to not forget about it, you can set a reminder on your phone or Google calendar. In this way, people will get used to seeing your name every week. Your visibility will increase and you might even get contacted for roles, without having to apply! Finally, once you’ve built a community there, you can utilize it to advance throughout your career. Especially if you are looking to get to the C-suite level.

If you are not sure what to do with your LinkedIn profile, schedule a LinkedIn review with me or my colleague here at Ivy Exec.

Read more: Top Three Things You Can Do to Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile

 

By Ivy Exec
Ivy Exec is your dedicated career development resource.