LinkedIn Job Search Tips: Part One
Once you've learned how to identify relevant job postings using Twitter—as discussed in my Twitter Part One and Twitter Part Two articles—next you should:
• Use LinkedIn to identify company insiders with common connections (alumni of the same universities you attended, members of the same professional associations, and so on).
• Request a phone or face-to-face meeting to determine if these jobs are available, name of the hiring managers, desired characteristics of the ideal employees, and etcetera.
• Tweak your resumes and cover letters using this intelligence.
• Ask your company insiders to deliver your CVs and cover letters to the hiring managers.
To accomplish this:
1. Visit www.linkedin.com and select the “Advanced” link for the Search People field in the upper right region of your screen.
2. Select “Located in or near:” for the Location field, enter a zip code for the Postal Code field, and select the appropriate entry (such as 50 mi) for the Within field. Make sure the location of the company is within this geographical range.
3. Enter the name of the company in the Company field, choose “Current” in the box below this field, and click the Search button.
4. Sort your results by relationship (1st, 2nd, and so on) by selecting “Relationship” under the Sort by: list box at the top left corner of your search results and afterwards view the profiles to locate company insiders with common connections.
5. Contact these individuals by phone or email to request brief meetings. I generate better results by sending an email for the initial contact. The emails I typically send via LinkedIn list the position in the subject field and the body includes this:
“Hello X,
I hope all is well. I’m a current (X association member, alumnus, or so on) and want to set up a brief chat this upcoming week to discuss your company. I can be reached at XXX-XXX-XXXX.
Let me know what you think.
Thanks
-Kenrick”
6. During this meeting ask questions about the company, your new contact's experiences, and so on. Next, alter your resume and cover letter and have it delivered to the hiring manager.
Whether or not you are invited to interview for the relevant positions you’ll apply for using this LinkedIn process; your response rate should be higher than if you just apply to these positions blindly.
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