LinkedIn is not a job search tool
Disclaimer: My views and opinions expressed on Medium do not reflect the official policy, position, and representation of LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is a relationship building tool. This may shock many who use it only to job search. Roughly 70–80% of users on LinkedIn are passive candidates. This means people who are employed and not actively looking for work, but may consider a new job if it is better than current role.
This is not to say, “Don’t use LinkedIn to find jobs”. Let’s re-shift how we see LinkedIn to “How can I use it to build relationships to help me find my next opportunity?”. Yes, recruiters use LinkedIn to find candidates. Yet, don’t overlook how current employees, former colleagues and classmates can advocate for you — an avenue to help land more visibility from recruiters in your job search.
I used LinkedIn to get my first job out of college in 2015 — working at LinkedIn! It is crazy to think about, til this day. I connected with one of my classmates who introduced me to an alum who worked there and the rest is history.
This is not to say, “Don’t use LinkedIn to find jobs”. Let’s re-shift how we see LinkedIn to “How can I use it to build relationships to help me find my next opportunity?”.
In short, approach LinkedIn with an always be networking mindset. Share your accomplishments and thoughts in posts, add comments to trending threads from thought-leaders to increase your visibility, and make cold (thoughtful) outreaches to professionals for informational interviews.
This last fact alone is a fast way to grow your network and increase odds for employee referrals (assuming they are willing to refer).
The worst they can say is ‘No’ —- so then what are you waiting for?
LinkedIn, overall, is a unique strategy to add to your job search toolkit. In addition to job applications, LinkedIn increases your visibility to potential employers and encourages them to go after you to work at their companies.
Zach attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he studied Finance and took level 3 calculus for fun. However, it was his intro psychology course in his first year that sparked his passion for teaching and Socratic method. He went on to tutor psychology during undergrad, and later teach professional development courses at Code Tenderloin in San Francisco. Today, he is a product marketing manager at Dropbox, where he supports their sales play program. Follow him on LinkedIn and Twitter!
