A resume is the most common and necessary item when searching for a job. However, it’s not the only thing in your toolbox. This is where networking and job referrals come in. One, or both, of these things can easily get you a job.
Most people prefer hunting for jobs on their own. Sometimes, though, it’s important to make your job search easy by leveraging your network. For instance, a job referral from your network on LinkedIn can help you expose your resume to the appropriate recruiters, headhunters, and hiring managers.
In this article, we cover essential things to help you land your dream job.
Networking and job referrals
Networking is all about finding the right people to connect with and build a good reputation. Do not underestimate your network on LinkedIn, because therein lies vital connections.
How do you find and build a network
It is understandable that not everyone will have a ready-made network to capitalize on. Your first step will be to search for the company that has the job you want. Click through to see the list of their employees.
In the spirit of understanding before asking to be understood, don’t jump right into asking for help with finding a new job when you reach out to these people. Build a good rapport with them, then introduce the conversation about your job search later.
What happens if you don’t know anyone at the new company?
They may know someone with whom you’re connected. If they do, then that’s a great person to reach out to. Mention knowing/how you know the mutual connection to help you build a good rapport with the third-party contact. Doing so will make it easy for you to request a job referral.
Other ESSENTIAL ways to help you network on LinkedIn
Join LinkedIn Groups
The fun part of LinkedIn is the various groups where you can find like-minded individuals to connect with. Be smart by joining some interesting LinkedIn groups. You’ll be able to see what members post and know how best to interact with them. It will also help you to learn how to engage with others through your posts in the group.
After some time, you should be able to share appropriate information and connect easily with group members to build your network. You should learn to encourage one-on-one conversation through your engaging posts. Go ahead and invite members of the group to share their experiences. Your posts should be geared towards the benefit of many group members. However, you should make personal comments in direct messages.
Respond to posts
Responding to other people’s posts is a great aspect of networking. This will help you expose your profile to many people. The posts you respond to can receive recommendations from LinkedIn with huge traffic. People who like your may have connections who are likely to see the post as well. As a result, you may get new connections, enabling you to increase your network on LinkedIn.
Using LinkedIn to network and search for referrals may just be the key to landing to taking the next successful step on your career journey.
If you need help perfecting your LinkedIn profile, let us know and we’ll get to work with you on it.
