Job Search Tips
Fastest Way to Find a Job Series
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On LinkedIn, you can find people, you can message people, you can find people who work at companies you would be interested in working for. There are no limitations.
LinkedIn is efficient, too. Are you familiar with the 80/20 Rule? The 80/20 Rule says that, in general, 20% of your actions get you 80% of your results. Some actions are much more productive and useful for you than others. LinkedIn falls within that 20% of productive activity time. It’s easy to make contacts on LinkedIn. You don’t have to spend an hour driving to a 3-hour event and an hour drive home to get 3 good contacts (which ends up being a 5-hour event for you to get 3 contacts). LinkedIn allows you to maximize your time. In less than 5 minutes, you can meet those 3 cocktail contacts and spend the other 4 hours and change making additional contacts.
It’s also easier to find those like-minded people on LinkedIn rather than at that cocktail party. You can connect with people who have like interests in groups. Find groups that are focused around your career area. Not job seeker groups; career-specific groups. That’s who you need to be talking to. Those are the people in your space who have information and who have the connections you need to get the jobs you want.
As I tell you to do that, I realize that you might be someone who’s uncomfortable with reaching out to make those connections. As insecure and uncomfortable as you might be reaching out to make those contacts on LinkedIn, remember that to some extent, most other people are uncomfortable, too. Not Human Resources people or recruiters….they’re not uncomfortable. (Connect with Peggy McKee on LinkedIn.) But many of the “regular” people on LinkedIn are in the same weird, uncomfortable place that you are. When they get a connection request from you, they are excited that someone wants to connect with them. It’s a positive thing. You can show leadership by initiating these connections and move your job search and career forward.
Don’t be afraid to say on LinkedIn that you’re looking—not in your headline, because that should say who you are and what you do. But your summary is a great place to say that you’re looking for a job doing X, whatever that is.
Here’s a story for you: I just talked to a job seeker who wants to move to a specific town in Texas. She has been looking for about 5 months, and has had 5 interviews. When she applies for jobs through listings she sees, she gets interviews, but she’s not getting the job. So she’s starting to feel like a loser because it’s been 5 months and she can’t find a job. My position is that it’s not her; she is not the problem. The problem is she hasn’t had enough interviews. She’s a great employee, companies are interested in her, but she just hasn’t found the right match. The right match is out there for her somewhere…she’s just not looking hard enough. What she needs is more interviews. What I told her is that her best move going forward is to get on LinkedIn, find hiring managers at companies in the town she wants to be in, and spend time contacting them. That’s how she’s going to get enough interviews in the town she wants to be in.
Use LinkedIn to search for the people you need to be talking to about the job you want.
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