Three Ways of Using LinkedIn to Find a Job
LinkedIn enjoyed a surge of popularity during the great recession. The social media platform makes a great tool for job searches because it’s a business-oriented. Almost everyone of any significance business has an account. So how can the platform be used to help find a job?
1. Research Companies – Check out a company’s business page to learn what they do, find out how big they are, and how many of their employees have linked-in accounts. You can also look at a list of the employees to see if you are connected to anyone. Note that some of the information might be removed depending on the level of your own account.
2. Find the Hiring Manager – If there is a company you want to work for, you can research who the decision-maker in your preferred department is likely to be. With a paid account, you get InMail access. That means you can even send a note of introduction to this critical person. If you have a common connection, getting introduced is even more powerful.
3. Research the Interviewers – If you get a list of people who will be interviewing you in advance, you can make good use of that information by looking up their LinkedIn account to learn something about them. Perhaps you’ll discover a common interest that can be used as an ice-breaker.
Paid accounts do, of course, allow greater flexibility. The lowest paid access account is specifically for job-seekers. It allows for limited InMail use and a few more search options than the free account allows.
There you are, three ways of using LinkedIn to find a job.