If you are currently working or looking for a job, you likely already have a LinkedIn profile. They are just as commonly required on applications as your resume. Often, they are better for telling the story of your experience because you are not limited by page numbers. This means you can go into more detail and fully explain your impact.
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.
We want to outline our top tips to 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:
“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!”
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 works with students and professionals 1-on-1 so they can land their dream job in tech. 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.
