Career – LinkedIn Masterclass

Among more popular social media platforms, LinkedIn is often treated as the poor cousin. Allow us to help you up your LinkedIn game!

Think about your social media habits — how often do you log on to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in a day, as opposed to your LinkedIn account? No need to answer that out loud [chuckles]! LinkedIn is such an underused gem. It’s aim is to create engaging content for professionals and jobseekers. With over 500 million members globally, we should in fact be looking at this platform as a “dark horse”.

LinkedIn currently boasts approximately seven million users in South Africa, and of those, majority use the site for networking opportunities and to stay up-to-date with industry news. Only a measly 28% of South Africans engage with the platform to actively seek employment opportunities. Whether you have aspirations of working abroad, or being headhunted by your dream company, LinkedIn has made such hopes accessible.

Many turn to LinkedIn to try secure new job prospects, but struggle to navigate it — it’s a tad user unfriendly, but that shouldn’t put you off. “I wasn’t following recruiters, and therefore potential employers were not searching for my profile, or viewing my applications. It was only after an encounter with a career coach that I understood the importance of a strategy, keywords and a detailed profile,” says Nonhlanhla Duze, a 35-year-old jobseeker who’d been job searching on the site for a year with no success.

Duze is like many of us who suspect they’re doing something wrong on LinkedIn, but can’t quite place a finger on it. In her case, a career coach helped her curate a thorough strategy, whereas for the rest of us, seeking the help of a career coach is still, somewhat, a far-fetched dream. The trick with a LinkedIn strategy, is to follow these four Cs:

Underusing this platform is one of the most common mistakes people make, says Vumile Msweli, CEO of corporate advisory services firm, Hesed Consulting. “People often don’t fill in their LinkedIn profile correctly or actively pursue relevant connections, which will help in their long-term career strategy. Relevant connections include people who already work in the industry you wish to join. Establish a true connection and grow a professional relationship with them,” Msweli advises.

Unlike with Instagram, for instance, making relevant connections on LinkedIn is not about the number of followers you have, but rather the quality of strategic relationships you’re able to build.

The first step is to create a jobready profile, Msweli suggests, adding that a comprehensive profile should include your skills, detailed work experience, education, availability for new roles and adding endorsements. The thought of this task may make you want to pass out – but trust us, it will be worth the effort. Include as many relevant industry related keywords in your profile so as to make it easier to find. To ensure that the basics on your profile are up to par:

1. Fill in all the required fields so that your profile is comprehensive

2. Have a professional image as your display picture (no cleavage please!)

3. Have a clear headline that describes your expertise and goals. If you’re job hunting, mention it on your profile. This will make it easy for recruiters and HR professionals to reach out, Msweli suggests.

Elise Ronquest, managing director of Career Management Consulting, Outplacement & Career Specialists agrees with Msweli on the professional prowess of LinkedIn: “It’s a fantastic resource for career direction, creating meaningful business connections, job searching and staying current in your industry. With recruiters using it to source candidates, LinkedIn is a great tool for helping you positively optimise your professional brand and social media presence.”

Ronquest says in order to build a community of professionals around you, you have to attract the ideal target audience — one that you can showcase your offering to.

She adds: “Whatever your career goals are, identify people who can help you achieve them and ensure that your profile speaks to them. For instance, will your intro catch their attention in the first two lines? Do you demonstrate your value offering?” These are some of the questions you should ask yourself while completing your profile, outlining your objectives and chasing them accordingly.

COLLABORATIONS

Seeing that most aspects of our lives are digitally-driven, you might as well have a career profile online. “LinkedIn gives you access to career opportunities, thought leaders and captains of industries. It also enables you to have an up-to-date CV and endorsements by your peers, which increases your credibility. You can be endorsed by any of your connections for a myriad of skills,” Msweli shares.

Although people have different objectives, Msweli says there’s plenty of room for collaboration as it allows you to connect with people in your industry, learn the latest trends, as well as give you opportunities to upskill yourself with courses and different packages. If you’re unemployed, you can directly connect with HR professionals and recruiters.

CONSISTENCY

Both experts agree that more and more recruiters are flocking to LinkedIn to source the perfect candidates. “In essence, it offers recruiters a database of candidates who’ve been verified and endorsed. It also gives insights to their interests and opinions on what’s happening in their industry without any restrictions,” Msweli reveals.

And, Ronquest explains, LinkedIn gives you a chance to become and be seen as a thought leader in your field. But, participation is key. “Use your profile as your CV and digital footprint. Follow companies you’d like to work for, get or stay in touch with old colleagues, develop a professional network, receive industry content and participate in relevant group discussions. It’s not just about ‘liking’ content or comments, but sharing, posting, and engaging while using hashtags and tagging,” she says. In order to maintain good relations at your current job, Msweli suggests having an honest conversation with your current employer, so they know when you start looking for your next big career move prior to stating so on your LinkedIn.