Everything you need to know to get a job with LinkedIn

More than two million Swedes are on LinkedIn. Most recruiters use LinkedIn to find candidates or find out more about you. With LinkedIn, it will be easier to discover and develop your contact network.

There are different purposes for using LinkedIn. However, we will focus on one of the most important and common: Use LinkedIn as a tool to get a job and develop professionally. 

The vast majority of recruitments that take place have to some extent, passed through LinkedIn. Even when recruitments take place outside of LinkedIn, the recruiter will in many cases check you out on LinkedIn as part of finding out more about you. This is what job search on LinkedIn is all about:

• As a candidate, you can be contacted directly on LinkedIn even before a job is advertised.
• You can continuously build your portfolio and your CV and have everything gathered in one place.
• You can find vacancies advertised on LinkedIn or that are mentioned by people in your network.
• You can find recruiters, key people and business leaders.
• You can easily keep track of what people in your contact network are doing and thus more easily see possible paths in.

You could say that LinkedIn is like one big business mingle. Or a giant alumni network, a phone book, a collection of business cards, or simply a giant CV bank…

On LinkedIn, you can describe yourself, your experiences and what you are good at. You can make sure that the people you want to find you also find you. You can find and contact people and companies you are interested in. And you can take part in discussions, take part in information on topics that interest you or keep up to date with what is happening in your industry. And you can, of course, use and develop your network of contacts.

A mediocre d LinkedIn profile that is barely used is not worth much. Still, put in a bit of energy and build a good foundation. LinkedIn can be beneficial, regardless of whether the goal is to seek out a new job actively, develop your long-term contact network, or be available when someone is looking for your skills. LinkedIn removes barriers and makes it a little easier to find and connect with new people.

What makes LinkedIn so effective for job search and professional development? Its basically about the size of the network and the available features to make it easier for recruiters and for you who are looking for a job. The better you use LinkedIns strengths and benefits, the further you can go. Here are some of the biggest reasons why LinkedIn is so effective:

• The network is extensive and can be found all over the world. For example, there are two million people on LinkedIn in Sweden alone. A substantial proportion of professionals are thus on LinkedIn, and the ratio is even more significant in knowledge-intensive professions and services.
• LinkedIn has a clear professional focus. So, for example, you generally do not have to see pictures of food and children and can instead focus on the professional.
• Many who are going to meet someone or have met someone check out the person on LinkedIn. And even if you do not start there but google instead, the LinkedIn profile often comes very high up among the search results.
• Smart and well-developed search functions facilitate and help the searcher find what he is looking for.
• Many recruiters seek information about potential candidates online and especially on LinkedIn. As a recruiter, there are extra strong search tools that in many ways make LinkedIn more potent than alternative solutions.
• Its a quick way to get information about people youve met or are curious about.
• And it facilitates communication with both new and existing contacts.

Getting started with LinkedIn can be done quickly. The first step is to register an account. Then, you will be guided step by step on proceeding and what tasks to fill in.

Do you feel that you want to work on your presentation before you make your profile public? If you are going to create a brand new profile, you can skip the steps where LinkedIn asks you to invite your contacts. Even if it sometimes looks like you have to send invitations, you can skip it. When working with your profile, you can also turn off the notifications that are otherwise displayed for your network when you update your profile (the setting is in the right-hand column a bit down when you edit your profile). Just keep in mind that the purpose of being on LinkedIn is actually to be seen. So, for the most part, its best and easiest to take it as it comes: Add the contacts you know and let your network know youve updated your profile.

Become a person that others want to connect with

How to use LinkedIn is, of course, individual. How much time you spend and what strategies you apply depends on, among other things, what you are working on and what situation you are in right now. For example, if you work with sales, recruitment, communication or marketing, there may be reasons to spend quite a lot of time on LinkedIn or other social media - it can even be a central part of your work tasks. The same applies when you are in an active and intense job search phase. Then there is a great reason to work actively with LinkedIn and your contact network.

But you can get good results even with a little less effort. The great strength of LinkedIn is that others can discover you, and you can be even if you are not very active. In all probability, searches for your skills have already been done many times and probably also by your name.

Communication on social media and the Internet, in general, is very much about being relevant and being seen where others are looking when they are looking. And it would be best if you had that as a starting point for your presence on LinkedIn. For example, when someone searches for your skills, you want them to be well placed in the search results. When someone takes a closer look at you, you want to give a credible and exciting picture that makes the person want to make further contact.

Therefore, an excellent approach to LinkedIn is to become a person that others want to connect with. Become a person that others belong to by sharing questions, thoughts, ideas, solutions and suggestions. Or by asking for advice, having lunch, or working together.

It still will not happen by itself. You need to create the conditions for others to find you and you need a strong profile that creates curiosity and interest and makes the person who sees you also get in touch. But it does not have to take a lot of time, you can come a long way in making point efforts from time to time.

Profile strength x Network Outreach = Effect

Effect on LinkedIn is a factor of profile strength and outreach. You should have a strong profile. And it would be best if you had a significant outreach, that is, to be visible to and reach out to many. On the other hand, if you have a firm profile, you can have an effect even without reaching out so much. And if you have assertive outreach, you can have an effect even if your profile is not that strong. It is always best to work keeping both these aspects in mind, but it is possible to focus on one or the other. We will return to both profile strength and outreach a little later on.