97% of HR and staffing professionals use LinkedIn for hiring. Even if you’re sourcing jobs from in-person networking, LinkedIn will still be part of the hiring process. Recruiters will study your profile and post to help them. Writing a LinkedIn post can tell a fuller story of your experiences than your resume since your profile is not limited to 1 page. You can explain your accomplishments, motivations, and even interests outside of work.
However, LinkedIn’s true power is reach. If your LinkedIn posts get traction with the algorithm (or even just the right niche), your profile could be viewed by thousands of recruiters. You can quickly be seen as an authority in your field. While recruiters are trained to assess candidates objectively, they’re as swayed by marketing as anyone else. Think of LinkedIn posts like “content marketing” for yourself. You can write posts that get your profile views, impress hiring managers, and get you a job. Here’s how.
Before You Write a LinkedIn Post
Before you use LinkedIn to find a job, you should make sure your profile has all of your experience, including internships, student organizations, certificates, and projects. For each one, give context and explain what you did and why. Include a professional photo of yourself and a succinct bio that explains your background and goals. For more information on how to optimize your LinkedIn profile, check out our guide.
Once your LinkedIn profile is strong and the story of your background and experiences is clear, you are ready to use LinkedIn for your job search. Most people think LinkedIn is only helpful because of their robust job board. While that is a benefit of the site, it is not the only way to find a job using LinkedIn.
Companies that are hiring put their open positions on LinkedIn, as well as other job boards. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people apply to them. Recruiters cannot reasonably get through all of the applications. So, it is important for you to do something that will help you stand out against the crowd. You can use LinkedIn to find an employee, usually a technical recruiter or hiring manager, at the company of interest. Then, send them a compelling cold email explaining how you can impact the organization. Ask for a 15 minute chat to learn more about the role. Review our guide to writing good cold emails (with email templates) for more information.
If you do not feel comfortable sending cold emails, or you are having trouble finding a hiring manager’s email address, you can write a strong LinkedIn post on your own page. This can be seen by all of your connections as well as their connections if they interact with the post. We recommend this approach, along with our other approaches like cold emailing, for a few reasons.
- It shows you are actively searching
- You get an opportunity to showcase your experience in one place
- It is easily shareable so it can get to recruiters and hiring managers.
If You’re too Busy to Write a LinkedIn Post
While you should write at least a few LinkedIn posts, you may be too busy to write lengthy posts. Not to worry. Like Twitter or Youtube, LinkedIn has an algorithm that determines what content users are shown. While writing a post boosts you in the algorithm and gets you views, you can also get views just by liking, reposting, or commenting on other people’s posts.
If you only have time to do the bare minimum on LinkedIn, like at least a few posts per day and repost LinkedIn posts from your colleagues and company with a short original caption. Something as simple as “Congratulations!” or “Check out this new project that I’ve been working on with [COMPANY NAME]. While reposting won’t lend you credibility and authority overnight, it can instantly make your profile more visible and leave a favorable impression on hiring managers.
How to Write a LinkedIn Post that Will Get You a Job
We want to outline our top tips for writing a good LinkedIn post that will help you land a job so that you do not make the common mistakes we often see with job-seekers. This is especially important during the current Coronavirus crisis, as more and more people are looking for jobs.
When you write a post that just says, “I’m a data analyst and I’m looking for a job. Let me know if you hear of anything”, you are not giving your network a reason to help you. Instead, your posts should include the following:
- A brief background of your experience where you specifically point out your skills and greatest accomplishments
- An outline of your goals
- The type of role you want and the location (or if you are flexible)
- Relevant hashtags to indicate your areas of expertise (#datascience) and the fact that you are searching for a job (#newopportunities)
- Your resume
Basically, you need to give the recruiter a reason to check out your profile. A lot of job-seekers emphasize why they need a job, but only a few explain why companies should be interested in hiring them.
Here is an example of a strong LinkedIn post that you can adapt for yourself
LinkedIn Post Template
“Hi LinkedIn network. Hope you are all staying healthy and safe at home.
As some of you have heard, I recently [update about yourself – examples: was laid off due to COVID-19 / am graduating next month with a degree in computer science / finished an online course in digital marketing, etc].
I am excited to put my background and experience in/from [briefly list some key highlights] to good use in accomplishing my goal of [explain what your goal is with your next job – examples: helping to make the Internet a safer place / writing creative and unique posts for a brand that is making a difference / bridging the gap between data and action at a startup in the healthcare space, etc].
If you or anyone you know is hiring for this [specific type of role] in [location], I would love to connect and learn more about the position and how I can provide impact. I am passionate and excited to make a difference. You can see my resume attached to this post so you can learn more about my background.
I appreciate your help!”
Expert Help Optimizing Your LinkedIn Profile
The goal of this post is to get connected by people in your network to recruiters and hiring managers who are hiring for your dream role. By outlining your goals and experience, and including your resume, you are ensuring they have everything that they need to make a decision on your qualifications. Ideally, they will be impressed and move you into the next round of the hiring process, bypassing everyone who is still waiting for their application to be reviewed.
With the above tips and our template, you should be now know how to write a LinkedIn post that will help you land a great job.
Pathrise is a career accelerator that helps people land their dream jobs in tech. Our fellows work 1-on-1 with expert mentors to optimize every phase of the job search, from creating the perfect LinkedIn profile to acing interviews. Our fellows have seen responses to their job applications triple during their time in the program.
If you want to work with any of our mentors 1-on-1 to get help with your LinkedIn profile, cold emails, or with any other aspect of the job search, become a Pathrise fellow.
Apply today.
