UNLOCKING LINKEDINKEYS FROM FORTUNE 500 HIRING EXPERTS

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t h i s b o o k i s

b r o u g ht to yo u

b y t h e h i r i n g

e x p e rts at

j o b i p e d i a

Introduction

Chapter 1 - Building the Foundation: A Killer Profile

Chapter 2 - What Employers Want to See

Chapter 3 - LinkedIn Groups: Where to Invest Your Time

Chapter 4 - Building Your Network

Chapter 5 - How to Become a LinkedIn Influencer

Conclusion

You r G u i d e4

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introduction

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Life in college and shortly after is a whirlwind of growing, learning, studying, and dreaming. It’s a chance to open new doors and discover new passions. Throughout your entire college career, you’re going to meet hundreds of new people. Roommates, classmates, professors, guest speakers lecturers, recruiters at career fairs, and alumni are all people you’re likely going to meet. Some may become mentors, colleagues and possibly terrific friends in the future. No matter how the relationship develops, you should try to stay connected with these people. That’s why it’s important early in your college career to create a LinkedIn profile.

It’s important to start to develop a strong network of professional friends and colleagues early in your career. People change roles and jobs. You never know when you’ll have a chance to possibly help a friend discover an available position, or connect with an old classmate and learn about the company they work for.

The Fortune 500 hiring experts that contribute to Jobipedia have helped us gather the best keys to unlock LinkedIn. If you’re struggling to understand how to utilize LinkedIn to help you find a job, or haven’t even created a profile yet, we wrote this book for you.

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introduction

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building the foundation:

A killer profile

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Obviously, it’s not just about your profile picture. Yes, your profile picture matters and no, a background with a striking lightning bolt will not play well in the professional world. A great LinkedIn profile is about how your entire profile appears at a glance. Do you have all of your experience filled out in detail? What about the all-important and overlooked ‘summary’ section?

f you skip any portion of your LinkedIn profile, some potential employers could assume the worst for that category. And you want to put your best foot forward.

It’s well known not to include a picture of yourself on a resume. But profile pictures are standard practice on LinkedIn, so make sure you’re showing yourself professionally. As Stephanie from AT&T said, “Use professional photos that are current (no selfies), be positive (smile) and represent you.”

So how could you take your profile picture to the next level? Your LinkedIn profile, just like your

Your profile picture is a first impression.

Chapter 1: Building the Foundation

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Chapter 1: Building the Foundation

fill out your job history

It can be confusing when deciding what and how much detail to put into your job history. Is that summer you were a life-guard relevant to your business degree?

As you’re early in your career, we suggest you include as much as you can. When it comes to including summer and part-time jobs, Wendy from Pitney Bowes said, “It is so important to see

resume, is an advertisement for you. Don’t make anything about yourself mediocre, especially your digital footprint.

A simple way to get a great headshot for your profile picture is to “hire” a photographer friend who needs portfolio content. They also probably want to add to their own portfolio of work. They may even ask if you’d be a reference for them or to include your photos in their example collection. Be sure to bring a few professional outfits to the shoot. Place yourself indoors and, if possible, use a muted background that will make you pop off the photo.

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what a student is doing in addition to attending school.” However, deciding what to include can take some finesse. Try to show how certain jobs or experiences offered unique opportunities and helped you develop a soft or technical skill.

Dan from Mutual of Omaha offered, “Summer or part time jobs are nice to be showcased if one has a lack of experience or if these are relevant to your industry. But if one has a great amount of experience or a part of various organizations/ sports, one can focus on those.” You can of course remove these from your profile later in your career, but early on you want to show your experiences and how some of those experiences could translate into a job.

Gaps in your work history are a red flag. Rachael from Merck provided this good point when it comes to including summer or part-time jobs, “Any experience is helpful, even if it is not relevant to your career goals. It clears up any possible gaps of employment.”

Chapter 1: Building the Foundation

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don’t overlook endorsements

Endorsements are nice to have on your profile. Patsy from ADP said endorsements, “…can provide insight that one does not generally get from a resume or when checking references.”

Fill out the skills section even if you’re not an engineer, designer or programmer. Any knowledge and experience you have with programs you may use in the workplace are important to include. Mention if you’ve used Salesforce, Oracle, the Adobe Creative Suite, or something unique to your career field. Your proficiency in Microsoft Office won’t win you any points, but it’s worth mentioning.

And if you’re lacking applications and programs to include under skills, talk about some of your best soft skills. Charlene from Gap said it may even give you an edge, “Soft skills are utilized in every job and this could be a differentiator.”

brag about your skills

Chapter 1: Building the Foundation

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Chapter 1: Building the Foundation

But don’t stress out if you don’t have any. While endorsements can help showcase your strongest skills and abilities, recruiters and hiring managers don’t consider a lack of endorsements as a negative.

But if you can, try to foster some endorsements from friends and family. Endorse the people you’ve worked with on LinkedIn and they’ll often reciprocate by making endorsements on your profile. You’ll have to do a little legwork, but once you start it will pay off in spades.

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what employers want to see

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While your LinkedIn profile is about you, don’t forget your audience. Build and frame your profile so it will get noticed by the employers you want to work for in the future. So how, exactly, does one accomplish this task?

We’ve talked about applicant tracking systems in our previous books. Recruiters and hiring managers sometimes seek candidates in a similar way on LinkedIn. Ashley from Hershey’s said, “Include keywords under the Skills & Expertise section of your LinkedIn profile. For example, if you are seeking a Marketing role and you have Marketing experience through internships or entry level jobs you can include key words such as Marketing, Social Media, Marketing Strategy, Photoshop, Mobile Marketing, Sales…”

In addition to including words related to your field of interest, there are other adjectives and verbs that attract recruiters. Think of your experiences, your internships and responsibilities in past internships and jobs.

words employers look for on profiles

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Chapter 2: what employers want to see

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Chapter 2: what employers want to see

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Use those experiences as a way to try and incorporate any of the following keywords onto your profile:

• Lead• Manage• Teamwork• Volunteer and Community Services• Dean’s List• National Honor Society

If you can’t incorporate any of the words above, Beamer at Textron also suggested, “Use words like ‘evidence of ’, ‘demonstrates’, or ‘proven’ to show a level of impact or influence that you had in that role.” And above all, if you’re looking for a job or sending out connection requests, make sure your profile is current. Dan from Mutual of Omaha said, “…what does stand out is whether a profile is organized and up to date.”

Another way to get recruiters interested in connecting with you is to include as many metrics

show the numbers

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Your summary is a personal mission statement. Be bold with your statement, while also demonstrating brevity. Outline your interest and what would make you an asset. But make the recruiter want more. Make the recruiter think, “I’ve got to interview this candidate.”

This is where you highlight why you’re the right candidate for a role at that company. Think critically about the position you want to fill. Then

a well-written summary of yourself

your work experience

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Chapter 2: what employers want to see

on your profile as possible. If you led a fundraiser for your sorority, mention how much your raised and how that compared to your initial goals.

Ashlyn from Worthington shared that, “Keywords do not necessarily stand out within a LinkedIn profile unless searching for a specific skill set. We do, however, look for metrics. Tell us how you have made an impact by reducing costs, saving time, etc.”

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Chapter 2: what employers want to see

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search for LinkedIn members who are currently where you want to be and take a look at their profiles. What kind of language do they use in their experience section? How do they categorize their work? And it’s okay if LinkedIn notifies that person you’ve viewed their profile. They may take a look at yours!

You may have spent 70% of your time stuffing envelopes at your internship, but it’s more important to highlight the 30% where you actually performed an important task. This could include how you were responsible for attending staff meetings to take notes and distribute the assigned action items. Or maybe you led your group of interns on a project that was presented to the division directors.

And as much as you can, include action verbs when describing your experience. Your only enemy in this section is your laziness. Don’t be shy to boast! Promote the things you’ve done and how you’ve done them well. Ultimately, emphasize the experience that will get you hired—but don’t lie about it.

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linkedin groups:where to invest your time

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LinkedIn groups can be like ponds stocked with fish. The key is to find the right pond and the right lure. Make that group work for your benefit. You’ll learn from these groups and simultaneously grow your network.

finding the right linkedin groups for you

Where do the people that you want to be like hang out on LinkedIn? What groups are they in? Where do they frequent? Do hiring managers or recruiters frequent those same groups? Answer those questions then do some research based off your answers. Try to find out what groups others in your field are part of and join those.

When it comes to picking groups, Monica from Emerson reminded to, “Find active groups. It is surprising to find groups that do not truly provide active feeds. Before joining, check out their feed activity.”

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Chapter 3: linkedin groups

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If you join a group and want to have it help your goals, it’s just like any relationship. It requires two things: time and consistency. You’ll need to be part of the conversation and for a long period of time.

You want to be the person who is clearly invested in how the group is doing and respond to as many posts as possible, while also starting your own conversations.

Charlene from Gap said a way to stand out in groups is to, “Be concise. Show you understand the material, and add valuable comments.”

How to show up in a large or small group

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Chapter 3: linkedin groups

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Chapter 3: linkedin groups

building your network

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You’ll need to build your network to get where you want to go. Here are some ways to grow your network so that you’ll put yourself in a great position to get the job you really want, and not just a job that gets you a paycheck.

If you can create a warm introduction to a potential job, recruiter or influencer, then you’re putting yourself in an excellent position to succeed. A great way to go about creating a warm lead is to work backward from your desired contact. Is there anyone you know in that network or is a 2nd-degree connection to someone you want to meet?

Amanda from Daikin said, “Network and meet people in the industry. Look at your contacts and get introduced to people that may have the industry background you’d like to learn more about.” A warm introduction is always better because you gain some of the good vibes from the person who is connecting you. But after that introduction is made, stand on your own two feet and demonstrate your politeness and professional qualities.

a warm introduction is a great first step

Chapter 4: building your network

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Chapter 4: building your network

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A cold outreach can be a bit scary. However, if you do it with grace and humility, you may just achieve everything you want. The cold outreach is a tricky assignment, so if you’re going to attempt this next level approach to networking take the advice of some of our contributors.

Cold outreach can feel unnatural, but just get started. You are not going to offend or anger hiring managers and recruiters if you reach out to them!

Ashley from The Hershey Company said, “It is perfectly fine for a job seeker to connect and reach out to a hiring manager or recruiter. Once they have accepted an invitation to connect, I would recommend sending them a thank you message for connecting. You can also mention that you are seeking a certain type of job and would love for them to keep you in mind for opportunities.”Using LinkedIn for cold outreach is particularly smart because it provides information about yourself a direct email wouldn’t.

the cold outreach is intimidating but

often necessary

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It’s simple - put the word out you’re looking for a job. Ask around individually. It’s a hustle game, but at least you generating some interest and momentum by reaching out. The goal with LinkedIn networking is to grow and foster quality relationships with people in the professional space who can be of help to you in your career and vice versa. So once you’ve cultivated a nice network on LinkedIn, how can you use it to find a job upon graduation?

how to leverage your network for a job

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Ashley from Cardinal Health hinted that it could even get you noticed, whereas a direct email to the potential contact could be easily overlooked saying, “Even if you just send a connection request, this at least makes the recruiter aware of your profile and of your interest in their company. If you choose to send a message, I would personally recommend sending it through LinkedIn and not trying to send directly to their email. Most recruiters receive hundreds of emails in a week, so it’s easy for emails to get lost where a LinkedIn message may stand out a little more.”

Chapter 4: building your network

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Chapter 4: building your network

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An easy way is to start with your close friends and colleagues. Rachael from Merck said, “Send emails to contacts asking if their employer is hiring, or will be hiring in the future, or if you can get in contact with recruiters at their company.” They now know you’re looking and could connect you with their company or someone they know that’s hiring too. You never know where this kind of outreach will lead you.

Be sure to not be the person that only reaches out when they need something though. Keep in touch with the occasional note or message. As Ashley from Cardinal Health put it, “Don’t be afraid to stay in touch with your connections on LinkedIn if you know them on a personal or professional level by reconnecting with a message once or twice a year.”

Never stop building your network on LinkedIn. Send connection requests to anyone and everyone you meet. Almost everyone will accept your request. Not only because, well, why not!?! But also, because most people are eager to help individuals early in their career. We’ve all be there!

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how to become a linkedin influencer

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There are more than a handful of people who want to be a LinkedIn influencer…but few make it. Why is that?

Interestingly enough, it comes down to a lack of dedication, hustle, and perseverance. Anyone can become a LinkedIn influencer, but few people do because it takes an inordinate amount of effort to accomplish.

The good news is we’ve studied why and how people become influencers on LinkedIn, and we’re going to breakdown how to become the hottest talent on the market.

As they say, content is king. But stand apart and produce great content. What you say and how you say it matters. So, producing great content on a consistent basis is the only way to reach the top.

you must produce content

Chapter 5: how to become a linkedin influencer

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just like a heartbeat, consistency keeps you

alive

If your aspirations are to be an influencer on LinkedIn, then you have to be boringly consistent. You’ll need to produce content regularly and, this is very important, you’ll have to consistently be interesting. With a cacophony of voices vying to be heard—interesting is what you’ll need to be recognized.

You don’t necessarily have to write your content. If you’re a better speaker than a writer, then consider starting a video blog or podcast. The key is to produce high-quality content that people want to share, comment on, and talk about.

So buckle up, because producing content means being serious about your long term aspirations and it is going to take time and dedication to be successful.

Chapter 5: how to become a linkedin influencer

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Chapter 5: how to become a linkedin influencer

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Remember those groups you joined a couple of chapters ago? You’ll need to join a few more. You’ll need to be a mainstay across multiple groups to get noticed. If you thought finding a job was hard work, becoming an influencer is its own challenge that few can overcome. Influencers are known by a multitude of people outside of their own connections. This means you’re going to be fishing in as many ponds as you can in order to be seen and known by as many people as possible (LinkedIn limits you to 50 groups by the way).

You’ll need to develop quality relationships with people in each of the groups because anyone can show up to a group and share their most recent blog. However, very few can make members of the group care about what they wrote and shared.

No matter how you slice it, becoming an influencer is not something that can become accomplished overnight. Count the cost before you begin building your influence in this way because it will take time.

share your content through a growing

network

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conclusion

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This book was laid out with precise intentionality. The introduction outlines why LinkedIn is such a powerful tool to utilize in your career. Chapters 1 & 2 walk through the ways to make your profile stand out amongst the over 450 million LinkedIn users online.

If you don’t create a stellar profile, then joining LinkedIn groups is a waste of your time. And if you join the wrong LinkedIn groups and don’t engage with them on a regular basis then you will find it difficult to build a robust network of the right people and contacts. If you don’t have a network of people and groups you are a part of, then it will be nearly impossible to become an influencer on LinkedIn - if that’s your desire.

Every chapter builds on the other, and you can’t take the steps you want to take until you give the proper attention and energy toward the fundamental elements found in the previous chapters.

Good luck on your path to employment! And don’t forget, the first group you can join is the Jobipedia group. We provide regular content written for college students and recent graduates looking for internships and entry-level positions.

conclusion