LinkedIn Hacks to Get Hired Now

Two in-person Nashville meetups in one week?? Yep. My social battery is going to be dead by tomorrow. I had the chance to hang out with the JavaScript User Group for a quick second last night giving away two RenderATL tickets, and I am speaking on a panel this evening aka Thursday night on how to keep yourself sane through the job search. Pretty pumped about this meetup…it’s a joint meetup between RenderATL and The Black Codes. 

But wanted to talk about in-person meetups for a second. Listen, I get it, it’s annoying to get out of your house and go to one. Especially when you live like 45 minutes away HOWEVER it was so nice to be around people last night even though I was at the meetup for 15 minutes. I’m thoroughly looking forward to hanging out with folks this evening, and I was even talking to a Director of Eng last night about the fact he literally has his job now because of a meetup. 

As someone who lives his life down to the minute by my schedule (my wife hates it) I’m encouraging you to start showing up once a month to a local meetup. Who knows, maybe your next job is at the next meetup you attend!

Wanted to summarize my live recently talking about how to use LinkedIn to find a job. Lotta folks have been asking me so I figured I would share!

Is your LinkedIn just a couple coworkers and some people you took a class with in college? Then you’re not using it to it’s fullest potential. And, tbh, LinkedIn is a little clunky. But, as of right now, there’s no better platform to connect people with other professionals, companies, and job openings all in the same space.

Now if one of y’all wants to help me build a new/better platform, hit me up. 

So here’s how you’re going to use LinkedIn to find your next job:

• Use search filters

  • Always search job posting from the last 24 hrs. You’re going to be served some stale old postings otherwise. And I would check the postings this way at least once a day.

• Don’t go too narrow too quickly

  • Some of the senior postings you see in title are actually a mid-senior position. So read the details.

• Look for connections

  • Instead of quick applying, see if there’s a connection you could reach out to instead. And if you don’t have a connection…

• Connect with people from the company & send a note

  • Make every note intentionally and tactfully crafted. Copy and paste is not appropriate here.

• Work on your DM skills

  • You only have your opening line to humanize yourself from all the other spam bots in their DMs. Work within the formula of flattery/acknowledgment + specific question + specific amount of time.

• Your title should match the role you’re looking for

  • Titles are the tl;dr of profiles for recruiters and hiring managers. Make sure you’re easily searchable and visible.

• Invest in Premium

  • *not sponsored. You can literally do your whole job search on LinkedIn so pay the $30 or whatever and give yourself the freedom to connect and talk to all the people you need to.

• You don’t have to post to make yourself visible

  • Liking and commenting could honestly be just as effective as posting your own content every day. It’s all about making sure people are familiar with you and your name. If you are posting, take into account your content will be pushed to the people you most recently connected or interacted with.

I’ve given you my recruiter insight before, but I think it’s really important to add in more of a personal narrative and branding strategy. I mean looking for a job is just trying to find someone to invest in you and your skills. It never hurts to already have who and what that is established. Alright, happy searching.

You’re not alone.

-Taylor

Gun.io/taylor