18 de February de 2021
Did you know that every seven seconds someone finds a job using LinkedIn? That’s right! Leaving aside the Instagram posers, the Twitter haters and Facebook’s intrusive ads, the social network for professionals for which Microsoft paid more than 26 billion dollars in 2016 is the most powerful job searching tool.
At this very moment, there are over 20 million open job offers for everything from students’ internships to CEO positions. The bad news is that LinkedIn has over 740 million users — which means that, for every open job offer, there are 37 candidates.
Among such fierce competition and having dozens of profiles just a click away, in LinkedIn, the first impression is crucial. That’s why, since there’s yet no technology that can transmit what we’re like in person, at EAE we want to give you some advice so that your profile can make a great impression among recruiters.
Believe it or not, over 60% of the chances of finding a job depend on your profile picture. And it’s not just us saying this — Daniel Martín and Jaime Serrano, LinkedIn’s Account Managers for Portugal and Spain, commented on this during one of EAE’s Sessions for undergraduate students: no friends, couples, drinks or sunsets; medium or close-up shots over a neutral background, dark or white; your look depends on the activity — casual style may be effective for technology or artistic profiles, but if you’re hesitant, go with formal.
The Profile Summary is where you have the chance to tell the recruiter that you are the most suitable candidate for the job. But you have to do it in no more than one and a half minutes — and if possible, in less time. “It’s the hardest part of LinkedIn”, Jaime Serrano admits. If you think of yourself as a creative person, let inspiration flow and don’t be afraid of being disruptive. If words ain’t your thing, try answering the following questions: What am I good at? Which things can I improve? And, what am I doing to achieve this?
Languages are important, but not as important as credibility — smoke and mirrors won’t get you far once you start talking. Be honest about your level and if that language it’s not one of your strengths, don’t worry about it. Daniel Martín and Jaime Serrano agree that there’s no need to be bilingual in order to find good options abroad: “Generally, Spain demands higher levels of languages than other countries”.
Academic qualifications, professional experience and languages won’t necessarily guarantee getting the job you want. Companies are starting to value more and more what is known as soft skills — i.e. the abilities we have for facing different situations, whether in our personal or professional life. In LinkedIn, you can choose from a selection of more than 36.000 different skills. Add those that you think best describe you and ask your workmates, ex-workmates, clients or old teachers to validate them. Profiles with five or more skills have up to seven times more visualisations.
Consumers are becoming more and more interested in the brands’ values. This trend that keeps growing is transforming the companies marketing strategies and their talent selection criteria. The proof of this is that profiles that include voluntary experience have up to six times more visualisations. If, at any time, you’ve carried out some social work, even if it’s not related to your professional field of activity, put it on your profile.
LinkedIn has specific tools for finding jobs and even offers a daily selection of offers based on your profile. But if you know for which companies you’d like to work, look them up and follow them. Besides getting the feel of their corporate culture, it will also come in handy when they open selection processes. Don’t hesitate! Go through its employees’ profiles, look up the people in charge of every department and projects and establish connections with the people that interest you the most.
Creating a community is crucial in LinkedIn, but it can’t be created overnight. Experts advice against sending requests at will — if you do so, make sure to add a brief presentation. For the newcomers, they recommend using tools such as the Alumni Tool, which makes it easier and faster to connect with old undergraduate, postgraduate or school colleagues and join groups to start building a community that adds value and helps you reach your goals.
Finally, once you have completed your profile and built your community, test your personal brand in the Social Selling Index (SSI) — a free and extremely valuable tool that will let you know how you’re placed in the mind of the LinkedIn users and which aspects you could improve to make the most of your online presence.
If LinkedIn statistics are true, during the time that it took you to read this article —around three and a half minutes—, 31 people have found a job using this social network.
And now that you know some of LinkedIn’s secrets, we hope you will be next.