The Benefits of Using LinkedIn For Your Career

The Benefits of Using LinkedIn For Your CareerThe Benefits of Using LinkedIn For Your CareerLinkedIn has been around since 2003 and is widely considered the benchmark for professional networking social media platforms. But is the site still relevant, or is it a waste of time? If you dont useLinkedIneffectively, your searches, messages, and other activity on the site can take hours, squandering considerable time. However, when used correctly, and with panache, LinkedIn can perform near miracles for your careers development. Recruiters and employers internet both use LinkedIn to source candidates for employment, sometimes even using recently departed employees or newly-placed employees for career-networking opportunities of their own. Do You Need a LinkedIn Profile? The short answer is Yes. Even if you choose not to spend a lot of time on LinkedIn, or any time at all, its still worth taking 30 minutes or so to set up yourcompleteLinkedIn profile. Then, make an appointment on your c alendar to check in on it every six months or so, and update with any new, big accomplishments. In addition to those scheduled check-ins with your profile, of course, you should update it anytime you switch jobs. Recruiters and hiring managers use LinkedIn to search for candidates. So, if you dont have a presence on the site, you wont come up during searches.Having a LinkedIn account also means that you can use the site to research companies, interviewers, recruiters, and hiring managers, which is helpful before submitting applications and showing up to interviews. In short, having a profile is a good idea. Even if you are not actively searching for employment, you can use LinkedIn to connect with current and former colleagues and link to people you meet at networking events, conferences, and so on. To engage even more with the site, join LinkedIn Groups. While theres more to know about whether LinkedIn can help with your job search, heres a snapshot of the good and not-so-good feat ures The Benefits of Creating a LinkedIn Account Aside from your time, its free, although there is a paid option. And for many recruiters or hiring managers, their first step after receiving a resume or job application is to look up the candidate on LinkedIn. More and more companies have moved to standardized online applications, and it is more common than ever to see a LinkedIn section near the resume upload tool, where you can upload your LinkedIn profile right next to your CV. If it is well crafted, this is a huge advantage since potential hiring managers will not only be viewing your resume but your LinkedIn profile as well. LinkedIn is an easy, modern way to maintain a Rolodex of connections that may be helpful in your career. That person you met at a conference five years ago may very well wind up working at your dream company, or that colleague from your very first job may know a hiring manager youre eager to contact. With just a quick message you can reconnect and pursue a new lead. Why LinkedIn Could Waste Your Time and Money While creating a profile on LinkedIn is highly recommended, the site can take up too much time for which youre not being paid. Here are a few things to keep an eye out for It can be pricey- and doesnt necessarily deliver.One of the features LinkedIn offers is Job Seeker Premium. You get a month free, and then there is a monthly fee, which as of early 2019 was $29.99 per month. With Job Seeker Premium, you can see whos viewed your profile and how you compare to other applicants, get access to video courses and salary insights, and send direct messages to recruiters. Premium also allows you to move your application to the top of the list as a featured applicant. However, the recruiter sees a badge next to your name, indicating that you paid for that position. As a social media tool, it becomes easy to lose focus. Like any social media platform, LinkedIn wants engaged users who interact with the site frequently and stay on i t. Just as putting in hundreds of applications to jobs that are not a good fit for your experience isnt productive, so too is spending hours scrolling deep down into the profiles of hiring managers. At a certain point, it becomes more akin to browsing Instagram or Facebook than doing any real job searching. How to Make LinkedIn Work for You Start by creating or updating your profile. Thats what you use to connect with people in your network. Your profile is also how you get found on LinkedIn because it contains information about your skills and experience, which are crawled by the bot to match recruiters employer search parameters. LinkedIn wont work for you if you dont identify yourself. Setting up a LinkedIn profile with Private Profile or Human Resources Manager (if youre seeking applicants) instead of your name and asking someone to connect isnt going to be effective. If confidentiality is a concern, dont worry. LinkedIn is one of the most private social networks. Connect on ly with people you know well. Be strategic if youre job searching while employed, and dont announce it to your connections. There are ways you canjob search confidentiallywithout jeopardizing your current position. Once you have your profile in place, youll want to invite people to join your network. Start growing your network and writing messages to your contacts. You can send LinkedIn messages to request recommendations as well as for job search and career assistance and advice.