Using LinkedIn in Your Job
Search
March 2009
©2009 Lapine Group. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of the Lapine Group and may not be
reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.

LinkedIn: Introduction
LinkedIn is a professional social networking site with over 35 million members in over 200
countries. It includes executives from all Fortune 500 companies.*
Why use LinkedIn for your job search?
And LinkedIn members are just the kinds of people you want
to be talking to as you look for your next opportunity.
• Networking: Maintaining your network is the
single best thing you can do to enhance your
chances of finding a job – LinkedIn provides easy
ways to connect with your network of
existing/former colleagues, classmates, interest
groups (e.g., other marketing professional)
• Job Listings: Recruiters and hiring managers are
increasingly using LinkedIn to list jobs and find
qualified candidates.
• Company Information: Quickly view vital
company information including people that you
know working there, recent hires, promotions,
common job titles, age etc. – Reviewing this
information can provide you with a contact at the
company who can give you the inside scoop,
insight into the experience the company is looking
for and if the company is hiring at all.
• Showcase your Expertise: Use the “Answers”
section to show your expertise in a given area and
in turn gather feedback on questions you might
have.
*LinkedIn website
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Profile Page: Summary
Think of your profile page like the Web 2.0 version of your resume. Weave a story together that
highlights your accomplishments and brings them to life in a way that a traditional resume format
does not allow.
Embrace the format and include
your photo!
Status Update: Tell a compelling story
Let people know
what you are
working on –” job
“Experience” is a great place to list “wins”,
hunting” is one of
different companies you have helped,
the default
seminars or workshops you have
selection options
presented, a mini-shot of your personal
website.- linkedinexpert.wordpress.com
• Label your
website for what it Recommendations (both from colleagues
is e.g., Lapine
and those you provide to others) also help
Group
tell the story of your past performance
• Using your full
and helps highlight your best attributes.
name in your
public profile will Not only that:
enhance chances
• Having 3+ recommendations will
of coming up in a
increase your chances of coming up
Google search
in a recruiter’s search for candidates.
• Recommending others will not only
help your colleague, but also it will
drive others to your profile
Using keywords
in your summary,
specialties and Mine opportunities to join
experience groups and, start your
sections make it own – it will give you yet
easier for another channel to
recruiters to find connect with others as
you via search. well as show your
expertise in a given area
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Generating Contacts
An recent study of LinkedIn members uncovered a strong correlation between personal income,
professional success and the use of LinkedIn. Those who were most active on LinkedIn had on
average 61 connections – the most of any segment.*
Leveraging your contacts to augment your network
• Review the individual networks of all your connections –
chances are it will be a treasure trove of people you know
and may have lost touch with
• If you find someone working at a company/field that
interests you but don’t know the person, look through your
network to see if anyone has a connection to the person.
• Forward your profile to select people in your network
when something changes in your profile e.g., you are
looking for a job or recently accomplished something “big”
– this will help keep you top of mind.
• When searching for someone you don’t know e.g., a hiring
LinkedIn offers a multitude of ways to find manager, the “How you are connected” feature comes in
people you know: handy as it shows the degrees of separation between you
• Search
and who might be able to introduce you
• Import addresses from webmail or other
• Connect with others in your industry/skill set – you will
email client e.g., Outlook
increase your chances of recruiters finding you
• Past jobs, education
• Through others that you know
“Build up your contacts, and then communicate with them. Look, it doesn't do you any good to have 500 contacts and then
ignore them. You need to communicate with them. And I mean communicate, not pester. One of the things that scare
people away from LinkedIn is the thought of someone inviting them into their network and then harassing them for
business or to make an introduction to a contact.”
Source: http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/21944.asp
* Source: http://www.marketingvox.com/linkedin-users-enjoy-apparently-high-personal-financial-success-041878/
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Finding Jobs on LinkedIn
LinkedIn also provides a fairly robust searchable job bank – with the added benefit of providing
information about connections you may have to a given job.
In addition to submitting your resume, your
LinkedIn profile will be included with your
application – yet another reason to ensure it’s
complete
This is a great tool to find people you may
know who have connections to the job – take
advantage of this information
If it isn’t possible to get to the hiring manager
“you can still use LinkedIn to find someone
inside the company to walk your resume to
the hiring manager or HR department. When
someone receives a resume from a coworker
even if she doesn’t know the coworker, she
almost always pays attention to it. “– Guy
Kawasaki
“If you don’t have an inside connection, look
Points of caution:
at profiles of the people who work at the
• Some headhunters only link to people to scour their contacts and spam company to get an idea of their backgrounds
• Many people in sales will not expose their contacts- and important skills”
• Tags such as LION - LinkedIn Open Networker label people who have – Guy Kawasaki
http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2009/02/10-
thousands of connections. Likely very ineffective.
ways-to-use.html#ixzz06pI69nMh
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Targeting Specific Companies
Once you've targeted certain companies and/or have possible interviews with a company,
LinkedIn can help you find out who is working there, or has worked for that company – giving you
an inside advantage.
Company Profile Page
All of these LinkedIn provides numerous ways
contacts are useful to search including by Company –
in your job search Once on the company page, you
are able to see who works at the
“If you have real company and how you are
chutzpah, you can connected.
ask these new hires
how they got their Use the “Get Introduced” function if
new job. At the very you know someone with ties to the
least you can company you are pursuing
examine their
backgrounds to
surmise what made
them attractive to
the new employer.”
- Guy Kawasaki
Check this out to see if you can
leverage your alumni network
to get an introduction
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Recruiters and LinkedIn
LinkedIn has become a database for recruiters -- both for retained search as well as internal
recruiters in companies
Recruiters often look for prospective candidates via keyword search, therefore:
• Make sure your headline includes relevant keywords – This is the first thing
recruiters see if they find your profile so it is to your advantage to make it
highly descriptive
• Load your Summary and Experience sections with descriptive keywords to
increase your chances of being found
• Being Linked to people who have similar backgrounds heightens the chance
that a recruiter will find you via someone else
If you find a recruiter with
whom you have a shared
contact (2nd connection)
• Have your shared contact
introduce you
• Email the recruiter and
ask if they are currently
searching for someone
with your experience,
including a brief
description of what you
seek.
\"I think that LinkedIn is the single most useful tool if you're looking for a job\"
- Jason Sanders, Managing Partner, J. Sanders Associates, LLC
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More ways to impact your search
Most experts agree that the best way to maximize the value from LinkedIn is to put more into it
than you expect to get out of it. Use the Answers section to maximize your ability to give as much
as you can.
Thought leadership is incredibly important to a
business. What are your specialties and what
knowledge can you impart on those willing to
listen? Chances are someone is asking a question
that you can answer every day. Start answering.
After a while, you'll become recognized as an
expert. More importantly, each time you answer a
question, you get your name out there and
increase what's known as your \"search equity\" --
the opportunity for your name or company's name
to come up in a search engine.”
– Larry Weintraub
http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/21951.a
sp
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Resources
In addition to the suggestions that are outlined here, use various sources to keep up to date on
the latest tips and advice
Linked Into Business:
http://linkedinexpert.wordpress.com/2009/02/04/whats-the-point-of-linkedin/
Guy Kawasaki (How to Change the World):
http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2009/02/10-ways-to-use.html#ixzz06pI69nMh
Larry Weintraub:
http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/21944.asp
Mashable:
http://mashable.com/2008/11/02/reexamining-linkedin/
www.lapine-group.com
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