Applying for jobs can be a clumsy process. You could spend hours manually entering your work details into an online application form, uploading your keyword-optimized resume, and hunting the name of hiring managers for your catchy cover letter. Enter, the ‘Easy Apply’ button on LinkedIn and we move away from tedious to easy. The only bad thing is that applying for a job using LinkedIn’s ‘Easy Apply’ option can put you at the back of the pack. ‘Easy Apply’ equals quick fix, right? The short answer is, “No.” In short, you are trading the opportunity for customization and targeting by using this button. Yes, all you do is push/click the button, enter your phone number, and email address and you’re done! In some cases, you’ll be asked to upload your current resume, but most of the time it’s optional. This simplicity can be tempting! When a recruiter acquires an ‘Easy Apply’ request, all they get to see is a snapshot of your LinkedIn profile. Specifically – your photo, education, headline, past and present work experiences, and skills you’ve listed. That’s it! So, if your LinkedIn profile is very bare-bones, isn’t up to date, or doesn’t elaborate your complete journey you likely won’t be hearing from potential employers anytime soon. Check out this article, How to perfect your LinkedIn profile to get noticed by recruiters. Throw your resume at a bunch of jobs and hope something sticks Sad to say that the “Easy Apply” button is so much like mailing your resume to a hand full of recruiters and hoping to hear back from them. When you decide to apply without uploading your resume or cover letter, the hiring manager only has an approach to your LinkedIn profile. The message that pops into their email will say, ‘(Name) applied to (Job Title)’ and it will contain your headline, location, and profile photo. If your headline is like most people’s headline – with the title of your current role and present company name – you will blend into the sea of sameness. The main idea of applying for any job is to get their attention. If you look like every other candidate, you’re not doing that. What incentive does the hiring manager or recruiter have to click on your application? All hiring professionals have the question ‘So what …?’ playing in their minds Are you answering the ‘So what…?’ question or do you fall into the ‘Meh!’ category? Not only do you have to give them a reason to open your profile, but you have to do so in about 6 seconds. Your LinkedIn profile is only providing a high-level overview of your career experience with some achievements sprinkled in here and there. Originally, the format was laid out in a way that aided with networking. Did you know that about 80% of all jobs are landed through networking? Effectively networking using an optimized LinkedIn profile is a great way to open yourself up to recruiters and hiring managers. However, now that LinkedIn has created the ‘Easy Apply’ feature, the platform isn’t being used just for professional networking anymore. This means you must completely customize your profile so that it is specifically targeted to a particular job or job type. This helps to answer the ‘So what…?’ question. It shows how you add value. Use your LinkedIn profile together with your resume to complete your career picture Every resume writer everywhere will tell you to customize and tailor your resume to each job that you apply to. Your ATS-optimized resume calls attention to your career accomplishments as they are associated with a certain job. When you combine your resume with the information on your profile, you provide hiring managers, recruiters, and HR personnel with a full overview of what you have to offer. Additionally, because your LinkedIn profile is written in the first person, it helps you inject a bit of your personality into your job search. Never say never It sounds like you’re being told to never use the ‘Easy Apply’ button. There are two possible scenarios where you can get away with using the “Easy Apply” button: 1. When you intend to upload a keyword-rich resume: Don’t let the fact that you’re also sending your resume make you think you can neglect your LinkedIn profile. The profile is still going to be the first thing they see. When you use ‘Easy Apply,’ your uploaded resume is shown as a hyperlink at the bottom of your application. What happens if the hiring manager misses the hyperlink or if they simply decide to not click on it? If your profile doesn’t catch their attention, there’s very little chance they’ll spend more time on your application by clicking on the hyperlink. 2. When you intend to follow up: Companies know that applicants who use ‘Easy Apply’ are usually only glancing at the job descriptions. For recruiters, the Easy Apply button tells them that you just pressed a button and don’t have much information about the full extent of the job. Whereas, when you follow them up, it portrays that you’re truly interested in what they are offering. Take-away Theodore Roosevelt said, “Nothing worth having was ever achieved without effort.” Applying to a job may be a tedious, overbearing, and time-consuming drain on your time. It’s worth it in the end, though, isn’t it? Always remember the value you get out of the time you spend. When you find that you meet the qualifications of a role, it’s time to get your resume ready. You’ll need a document that gets past the Applicant Tracking System and impresses the hiring manager. Always Typing Resumes has been helping clients do this for years. It would be a great honor to be a part of your career journey, too. 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How to perfect your LinkedIn profile to get noticed by recruiters
LinkedIn – it’s where the professionals go! You may be thinking that LinkedIn is just another social media platform; however, it is so much more than that. We all spend so much time perfecting our Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat profiles. The profile pictures must be just right, we play with the settings to ensure privacy is the way we want it, we talk about our kids, discuss our relationships, update our job statuses, and spend hours organizing the photos into neat albums. In fact, we should be spending our time on LinkedIn, instead. LinkedIn has over 600 MILLION registered members in over 200 countries. These registered members are all professionals talking about their companies, seeking job candidates and, yes, some members are seeking jobs. In fact, some companies only list their job openings on LinkedIn. If you’re not on there, then you’re missing out. If you’re on there but you haven’t taken the time to perfect your profile, you could also be missing out. The goal with your LinkedIn profile is to get it to what they refer to as ‘All-Star’ status. Here’s what you need to do that: A profile photo Industry and Location Experience An “About” section Skills – LinkedIn allows 50, but you have to have at least 5 Education At least 50 connections Your profile picture Considering those first impressions are everything, then the photo you choose for your LinkedIn profile is of utmost importance. Most career coaches recommend a professional photographer. That’s not necessarily accurate, though. If you work in a professional setting If the position you seek is a professional, office-type, or executive position, then you should hire a professional photographer. If a professional photographer isn’t in the budget, then have a friend take a picture of you. Instruct them how you want to be framed in the photo, and make sure there’s no weird background to distract viewers. Alternatively, you can choose the best picture you have — just make sure it is a picture of you and you alone. Don’t crop someone else out of it or leave a levitating arm dangling around your shoulder. If you work in a creative setting If you are going into a field that requires you to be creative, then be creative with your profile photo. Just remember to keep the creativity of your profile photo slightly muted so that it’s not overwhelmingly distracting. You don’t want hiring managers trying to figure out what’s going on in the photo when they should really be reading your profile. If you work in an industrial/manufacturing setting A great profile photo for you would be one in which you are outdoors or even in the place you work. There’s a vast difference between people who work indoors and people who work outdoors. Use your first impression to demonstrate that you’re not afraid of being outside. The bottom-line for profile photos Discussing profile photos can go on and on. The general idea is to make your profile photo match what you do the best way you can. Make sure it’s clean, not overly distracting, and that it’s only you in the picture. The recommended size for a photo uploaded to LinkedIn is 400×400 pixels. LinkedIn does say that it’s okay to upload a larger photo as long as it’s square and doesn’t exceed 8MB of 4320×7680 pixels. Your professional headline (120 characters max) Headlines grab our attention. They make us want to read what’s in the article. Sometimes, though, the headline tells us all we need to know. This is the same with your LinkedIn headline. You want it to grab their attention and make them read, you DO NOT want them to read it and move on because then you’ve just lost. Most people don’t take the time to write a custom headline. In fact, most headlines on LinkedIn simply say, “Team Leader at ABC Company.” Recruiters and hiring managers are seeing 100s of profiles that have the exact same title. You have to write a headline that makes them stop. You want them to think, “Wait … what?!” That will make them read your profile. LinkedIn allows 220 characters for your headline, including spaces. Utilize this space to say who you are by listing your target Job Title and then a short blurb that says how you do what you do. Here are a couple of examples of the headlines Always Typing has written for clients: “Cunning entrepreneurial advisor, trade expert, & venture capitalist with a track record for ethical success.” “ICAT System and Healthcare Project Manager Working Toward Technological Innovation and Improved Patient Care.” Use those 220 characters to your advantage. It is valuable real estate that gives your LinkedIn profile curb appeal. Your profile summary – “About” section (2000 characters max) The professional summary is the next section on which to spend a bit of time. Generally, a professional summary on a resume is written in a very professional (some might say “stuffy”) tone. With LinkedIn, it’s a little different. The summary is a GREAT place to showcase your wittiness and creativity. Use your voice in a way that invites open dialogue from colleagues, recruiters, and prospective employers. One thing to keep in mind is that 2000 characters are a limit, not a goal. Always Typing consistently begins writing profile summaries using a quote that’s relevant to a job seeker’s field. For example, a profile for a Regional Manager in the field of sports memorabilia could be started with a quote by Vince Lombardi. Work Experience (10 years max) Julius Caesar said, “Experience is the teacher of all things.” Prospective employers believe the same thing. So, how do you reflect what you’ve learned through experience? You pay close attention to detail in your work experience section and highlight achievements. Why should you highlight achievements? No one cares what you were supposed to do (i.e., were responsible for) at your previous job. They care about what you actually did that made the place you were
