It’s absolutely not compulsory to have a LinkedIn account and why would you want to join this boring community of fake professionals with big titles?
This is the thought you might currently have and the reason you’re still hesitating about joining LinkedIn, but you noticed that when you applied to some jobs this year, they asked for your LinkedIn profile link.
So, here’s the question. Will you continue to be biased about LinkedIn, or will you turn it to your advantage and land a well-paid job?
While you’re still meditating on that, let’s quickly draw a draft on why you should get started on LinkedIn.
Understanding the Importance of LinkedIn for Career Growth
One of the many reasons people join LinkedIn is because LinkedIn is the platform where you find jobs but sadly many people drop out of the game when they don’t get the job.
What was wrong? What did they get wrong or were the people who said they got a job just lying?
Our answer: They did not understand what LinkedIn is about and all they need do is go in there and learn the workings of it.
This is similar to how people are experiencing great career growth on Fiverr and Upwork and others can’t seem to get past just creating a gig with no success.
So how is LinkedIn important and what are you yet to understand?
LinkedIn is a platform you want to hold tight on your professional journey. It is not just a social media platform but a tool for connecting to several other professionals who share the same interests as you.
The relationships you form on LinkedIn go beyond just sending connection requests, you have to reach out to those people with a message, engage their posts, make valuable content and participate in discussions to make your presence known.
You don’t just create an account, apply for jobs and wait for a miracle to happen. On LinkedIn, there is a demand for you to show the practical workings of what experiences you’ve been through.
Career Development Opportunities on LinkedIn
Apart from connecting on LinkedIn, there are several resources for career development, from courses to articles from industry. So, it is your chance to grow your skills and everything will reflect on your profile.
On LinkedIn, people who you’ve worked with can also endorse your skills and recommend you for opportunities, thereby, increasing your credibility whenever an employer comes across your profile.
Many employers use LinkedIn as a primary recruitment platform where they post jobs and search for qualified candidates. In this case, optimizing your profile with relevant keywords will help you get found among the sea of people who are also vying for your role of interest.
Why LinkedIn?
Making your LinkedIn profile developed will help you:
Get seen by recruiters
Connect with industry professionals, alumni, and thought leaders and have a rich network.
Gain access to valuable resources, articles, webinars, online courses, free learning resources shared by other professionals, job postings, company insights and you get to apply for many jobs with one click.
Build a personal brand.
The 10 Easy Steps for Getting Started on LinkedIn
You finally decided to take that step and own the process. Congrats. Now how do you start this tough journey of becoming visible and managing your career growth with the help of LinkedIn.
Here are the top 10 tips to help you get started on LinkedIn and make the most of its benefits:
1. Complete Your Profile
If you’ve not created an account yet, visit www.linkedin.com to do that. Do the necessary verifications, admire the dashboard and start working on completing your profile.
This is a very important step because this ensures that you make a good impression on potential employers. Here are a few tips to help you complete your profile:
- Use a professional profile picture: A high-quality profile picture helps you look like you know what you’re doing. One thing you don’t want to look like on LinkedIn is “clueless”.
LinkedIn says your profile picture should be at least 400 x 400 pixels and at most 4320 x 7680 pixels. File size of 8 mb at the most and the format should be PNG, JPG and GIF.
- Write a compelling headline: Your headline should clearly state your profession, industry, or job title.
Your headline should be a brief summary of what you do (emphasis on brief). Don’t write an article in your headline.
- Optimize your summary: If you are familiar with the term SEO and how it makes works that use the right keywords visible then you should be working on that for your LinkedIn profile.
Go to search and type in the title of your role or job title, go through the first 10 and check what made them come up in the top 10.
What did they write on their profile that makes them seen by the recruiter? What if the recruiter doesn’t want to move past that first page?
Take note of these.
Also, write about yourself and your experience in the summary and don’t forget your keywords here. Add in your experience and educational background.
- Update the experiences and education section: Take it as you filling in your CV or Resume with all the details of when you started a job and finished it or when you started school and graduated.
2. Join Relevant Groups
Another advantage of being on LinkedIn is the connection and news you get from the groups. Search for groups relevant to your industry and there you can ask questions, answer questions, connect with others in your industry, stay informed about industry trends, and establish yourself as a thought leader.
3. Connect with Others
Connecting with others on LinkedIn is the start of a great series of opportunities. You just never know where your career might start growing from.
Here are a few tips to help you get started:
- Find people to connect with: Use the search bar to find people to connect with, such as colleagues, industry leaders, or potential employers.
- Personalize your connection requests: Personalize your connection requests by mentioning how you know the person or why you want to connect with them and request that they connect with you.
- Engage with others’ content: Engage with others’ content by commenting, liking, or sharing their posts.
4. Share Valuable Content
Don’t just be on LinkedIn, share something.
There’s this popular question of, “what do I post?” That is one of the things that discourage many people from taking the wiles of LinkedIn.
But we have them narrowed down in this post. Here are a few ideas on what kind of content you can share on LinkedIn:
- Share industry news and trends: Share industry news and trends to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise.
- Share your story: Behind the scenes, stories of your experience, what people can relate to and learn from.
- Share your own content: Share your own content, such as blog posts, articles, or videos, to showcase your skills and expertise.
- Use relevant hashtags: Use relevant hashtags to make your content more discoverable.
- Source images for your post: Your images should make people want to open your post and read more. You can design a simple image on Canva or source of any interesting stock image on the net or use a professional image of yourself.
5. Using the LinkedIn’s Job Search Feature
The LinkedIn job search feature you can find job openings, you just need to filter by location, industry, and experience level, and apply directly through the platform.
6. Let LinkedIn’s Messaging Feature Work for You
Use personalized messages to connect with others, and build relationships. With the right keywords you can make your messages more discoverable.
Also, don’t forget to follow up with others to build relationships and establish your professional network.
7. Get Recommendations
Recommendations are a way to establish credibility on LinkedIn. They represent several people vouching for your professionalism and experience to potential employers on LinkedIn.
How do you go about this?
- Request for recommendations: Ask for recommendations from colleagues, managers, or clients.
- Provide value: Provide value to others, and they will be more likely to recommend you.
- Showcase your recommendations: Showcase your recommendations on your profile to establish credibility and attract well-paying employers.
8. Utilize LinkedIn’s Learning Platform
With LinkedIn learning you can upskill, reskill, and enhance your career prospects.
- Find relevant courses: Find relevant courses that match your skills and experience.
- Take online courses: Take online courses to upskill, reskill, and enhance your career prospects.
- Earn certificates: Earn certificates to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise. these certificates can be showcase on your profile.
9. Attend LinkedIn Events
On LinkedIn, you can randomly enter a live video or audio webinar that is all about your field and could help you find your feet. Through these events, you can connect with others, build relationships, and attract well-paying employers.
Here are a few steps to harnessing events on LinkedIn:
- Find relevant events: Find relevant events that match your industry or profession.
- Attend events: Attend events to connect with others, build relationships, and establish your professional network.
- Follow up: Follow up with others to build relationships and establish your professional network.
10. Monitor Your Online Presence
LinkedIn has its inbuilt metric system (analytic tool) which helps you track who has engaged with your posts or has viewed your page. Monitoring these metrics helps you establish a strong professional brand and this way you are well on your way to building your career prospects. Here are a few tips to help you get started:
Other Platforms that offer you a professional profile and career opportunities
Though LinkedIn is the more popular one, there are other platforms where you can showcase your professional experience, connect with other professionals and get job opportunities.
Here are some alternatives to consider:
Anutio
Anutio is a career development platform offering several resources to make you ALL YOU CAN BE in your career journey.
Anutio offers a range of tools and resources to help individuals have a professional profile, bridge the gap in their resume, capture their achievements, participate in career competitions, land 1:1 expert mentorship sessions and build or join professional groups.
On the Anutio Career Mapping tool you can upload your Resume to get predictions on how well that resume might do for a job by showing you the missing skills you should add to your resume as well as similar job roles to apply to.
Anutio can help you take control of your career.
AngelList:
If you’re interested in the startup ecosystem, this platform is for you. AngelList helps connects professionals and job seekers with startup companies and job opportunities.
This platform is more popular for people in tech. AngelList is a marketplace for startups to raise capital and hire talent. Startups get to showcase their ideas to potential investors and job seekers.
Xing is a professional networking platform that is popular in Europe. It allows you to connect with others, share content, and find job opportunities.
Xing is a professional networking platform similar to LinkedIn, but it is particularly popular in German-speaking countries such as Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Xing focuses on connecting professionals and building career development, networking, and job opportunities within these regions.
Here, you can work on your profile and connect to people. You can also send connection requests and views the job board for well-paid jobs. You can also access events, learning resources and industry trends on Xing.
As you job search, make the most of platforms that could connect you the best clients you’ve ever met.
They help you become visible, you also gain a vast network, easily find opportunities and your brand becomes more solid with an active audience which could include your potential client.
Do more in your career journey by visiting www.anutio.com or download our app on play store or App Store.
What should you do when you log in to Anutio for the first time?
Upload your resume
Capture achievements
Watch our space for events that build your career prospects to become tangible.
