Disclaimer: This article was written few years ago and may no longer be relevant as software engineering has changed a lot in the last few years. This is what may be more relevant now: Future of Software Engineering - Gaurav ChandakLinkedIn is not only a networking site but a great tool for recruiters to find and connect with good talent. Given that we recruiters rely a lot on LinkedIn search, candidates should make sure that they are easy to discover.
Your profile coming up at the top of the search results along with it being compelling enough for the recruiter to open it is the key to be easily discoverable.
Recruiters search the LinkedIn database in several different ways. If you want to stand out from the other candidates and engage the interest of the recruiters then this article may help you.
Being a recruiter, we get hundreds of requests per day and multiple applications on our job postings. It is generally not possible for us to go through these many profiles every day.
We generally do an initial screening from the profile headline. We open a profile only if it is suitable and matches the requirement. Then we skim the profile for a maximum of 6 seconds before going ahead.
Now let's see what you can do to get a recruiter's attention and get calls from multiple companies.
Good Headline
- Your headline is your selling point in the search results.
- Be thoughtful about what you write here. Your headline will influence whether the recruiter will open your profile or not.
- Mention relevant keywords in the headline to boost your profile in search results.
- Recruiters mostly search using keywords and so mentioning your top skills here will help.
- If you went to a Tier-I college or have worked at a top tech company, mention that.
- Good headline: Fullstack Web Developer | Python, React | Silver Medalist, IIT Kharagpur
- Bad headline: "Looking for Job Change" or "Actively Looking for Opportunities". This does not provide any insight and creates a negative impact.
Complete Profile
- Make sure to have a complete profile with all the relevant sections filled.
- Make sure that your profile includes keywords that the recruiters might be searching for.
- About Section: Add your achievements and other selling points in your about section. Keep it concise.
- Education Section: Always add your education in the correct format. Add the original college page to make your profile visible when the recruiter does an alumni search.
- Skill Section: Add all the skills that you have expertise in and get endorsements from relevant people. This will help your profile appear when the recruiter does a skill search.
- Recommendations: Get recommendations from people you have worked with.
- If you are actively looking for opportunities, enable the "Open to Job opportunities" feature on your Linkedin profile, and mention what roles you are interested in.
Connections
- Make your network strong by connecting with people in your domain.
- Try to connect and engage with people from your domain who are active on LinkedIn and post regularly.
- Your profile will come up at the top of search results if you are 1st/2nd connection of the recruiter.
Do not get lost in a crowd of 675 million LinkedIn users. Make the best use of it.
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