Wednesday, January 27, 2021

4 Reasons Why A Recruiter Views Your LinkedIn Profile But Doesn’t Contact You

Caroline Ceniza-Levine

Recruiters and others look at my Linked In profile all the time but I get no further queries. What can I do, as a job seeker, to improve my chances? – Sarah

If you have a premium account on LinkedIn, you can see who looks at your profile, and if you haven’t heard from that person, you might assume that they saw something in your profile that made them decide not to reach out. If you see multiple views from different recruiters and no outreach, you might start to worry that there is an outright turn-off on your profile. What do you need to fix to improve your chances?

Your marketing – whether it’s your LinkedIn profile, your resume, your networking pitch or something else – can always be improved. You should always review your marketing as your interests change, you gain more experience or update your skill set or as market conditions change and you want to appeal to different types of companies or industries. It is good practice to identify ways you can improve.

That said, there might not be anything wrong with your LinkedIn profile, just because someone views it and then you don’t hear from them. As a longtime recruiter, I have done hundreds of LinkedIn searches. Sometimes I click through to the profile, if the headline is enough to make me think the person is a fit for my opening. Sometimes I contact that person, if the profile has something in it to make me think the person is relevant to my search. But when I do not, it doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with that profile.

Here are four reasons I have viewed a profile but then decided not to reach out:

3 - Your profile matched a keyword but didn’t have enough of it for further consideration

Sometimes your profile gets swept up in a specific search tied to a keyword, but there isn’t enough of a match upon further review. For example, I once did a search for a designer who needed to have knowledge of Affer Effects, an animation software. I actually found the hire within the company’s existing candidate database, but something this specific is also searchable on LinkedIn. If I got to your profile and saw that After Effects was used many years ago and not since, I may decide not to call, if I have many other candidates with more recent experience.

It could be that you mention After Effects in just one role, but I see others who have used consistently in their career. Or you listed it as a skill you have, but it’s not named in any of your jobs, so it doesn’t look like you have used it substantially. Depending on how many other candidates I have and the quality of their experience, I may not go any further with your profile because it matches a little but not enough.

4 — You’re still on the radar but haven’t been called yet

In the above example of having some After Effects but not enough, I still might call you. Let’s say that it looks like there are other candidates with more relevant experience so I set your profile aside (reason 3). But then, as the search gets underway, it becomes apparent that After Effects is but one criteria and actually there are other things the employer prioritizes, so they’ll go lighter on the After Effects for someone heavier on…team management experience or B2B marketing knowledge or some other criteria or [INSERT other criteria the employer wants]. Jobs are usually not just decided on a single factor.

In this case, you might have seen that a recruiter checked you out two months ago and then crickets. But, if you have that management experience or B2B marketing, etc., you might still get a call. At this point, the search might have been handed off to another recruiter and so it looks like you were dismissed by the other recruiter, but actually you weren’t.


Given that a lack of outreach isn’t necessarily a bad sign, why don’t you reach out directly?

If you’re interested in getting to know that recruiter – say, they specialize in your target industry or role so it makes sense you should know each other – reach out directly. Let them know they popped up on your LinkedIn feed and since you run in the same circles, it makes sense to connect. Offer to help them on their searches – recruiters LOVE that.

Of course, you should be prepared for the recruiter to accept your invitation and even to schedule an exploratory interview. Time your outreach for when you’re prepared to introduce yourself effectively

See reasons 1 and 2 plus the full Forbes article

 

 

 

Thursday, January 21, 2021

17 LinkedIn Profile Writing Tips To Make You Standout

Robin Ryan

Today, my first phone call was from a Baby Boomer who asked if she really needs a LinkedIn profile? She was not job hunting, and she didn’t realize that employees, customers, clients, and other colleagues might be checking her out. “Oh no,” she replied. “No one will be impressed if they see what I have up. I haven’t updated it in years.” She was mistaken to think only job hunters use LinkedIn. However, US News reports that 95% of recruiters use LinkedIn to find and evaluate job candidates. It seems everybody is using this professional network. One of the best things you can do for your career is to have a terrific LinkedIn profile. These 17 useful tips will help you create a profile that will impress others.

2) Job Titles

Your profile headline and job titles are weighted heavily in LinkedIn’s search algorithms. State the most accurate name for what you do to clarify to a reader if your formal title isn’t clear. For example, “Tech 3” might be the internal title, but “Network Engineer” is the actual work you do, so you would want to use that instead. You have 100 characters available so add anything distinctive, example:  Product Manager - Global Emerging Countries

4) Keywords

You need to display a distinct skill set, noting your key strengths and accomplishments. You must create the right keywords if you want LinkedIn to be an effective tool for you. Peruse current job openings that you are a fit for and note the critical skills and experiences they want. Identify 5-10 typical job tasks you perform and list these keyword job skills deemed imperative to perform the job. Make sure you pepper these keywords throughout your profile.

10) Open to Work/New Job

Let recruiters on LinkedIn know you’re open to new job opportunities by turning on this section seen only by Recruiters unless you use the “OPEN to WORK” tag (which I don’t recommend displaying). You can specify up to 5 job titles that you are interested in and your preferred location. LinkedIn does an excellent job shielding you from your current company’s recruiters. They take steps to prevent LinkedIn Recruiter users who work at your company and related companies from seeing your shared career interests, although they don’t guarantee it.

15) Connect to recruiters on LinkedIn

Chances are, some recruiters specialize in your industry. Make sure you know who they are and that they know you. The easiest way to do this is to conduct a search on LinkedIn for recruiters that source talent for your industry. Use LinkedIn’s search box designating PEOPLE, and type “Recruiter AND [the name of your industry].” Scroll through the results and click on profiles that look interesting. When you find a match, send the recruiter a PERSONALIZED MESSAGE (no resume) with the connection request.

See all 17 tips and the complete Forbes article

 

 

  

 

Wednesday, January 6, 2021

Catch Recruiter Attention: 5 Critical LinkedIn Profile Elements Recruiters Want

By Biron Clark

Recruiters can help you get more interviews if you are an active job seeker.

They can also bring you the occasional career-advancing opportunity even if you are not looking.

It all starts with catching their attention, though.

Recruiters sift through hundreds of LinkedIn profiles in a typical week.

So, they do not have time to read each profile carefully. 

In this article, I’m going to share how the typical recruiter reads your LinkedIn profile and how to grab their attention so you can get more interviews and hear about more opportunities.

The 5 Elements Recruiters Need to Find on Your LinkedIn Profile

You have many opportunities to gain attention on LinkedIn. Start with these five ways to make a big impact for your job search:

1. Information in Your Headline  

Your LinkedIn headline is the first thing I see when landing on your profile. It is also one of the few things I can see before clicking on your profile when sifting through LinkedIn search results, so that makes it even more important to optimize.

If your headline is totally unrelated to the type of jobs you are applying for, or unrelated to the rest of the content on your profile, that is a big red flag. And, you are out of consideration.

Make sure your LinkedIn headline is clear about what you do and aligns with the types of jobs you want to be considered for.

You can put your role or job title, but add more.

Numbers and metrics are a great way to make your LinkedIn headline stand out.

For example, if you are a Project Manager, your headline could be:

"IT Project Manager at XYZ Company. Leading Projects with Budgets Exceeding $2MM"

Or, you could say:

"IT Project Manager at XYZ Company. 49 Client Projects Completed in 2019"

You can also add an additional keyword to show what industry you’re in (this is a good idea if you want to stay within that industry).

For example, if you’re in the software industry and only want to hear about Project Manager jobs in this space, your LinkedIn headline could begin with:

"Software Project Manager"

If you need more ideas of what to put, look at some of your colleagues and peers in your industry. There are thousands of great LinkedIn profiles that you can take inspiration from, and this is much easier than starting with a blank page and trying to write from scratch.

Do not plagiarize, but do take general ideas and make note of what sounds best on other people’s profiles. Use the ideas as inspiration for your own headline.

4. Skills & Keywords  

After checking your work history, I’m going to search your profile for important keywords and skills that are required for the job I’m considering you for.

To do this, I will click on CTRL+F in my web browser, to activate a search of the page I am viewing, and then type in the most important keywords for the role. This is usually between two and four keywords, focused on the skills required for the job I'm filling.

This quick search saves me time and prevents me from having to read your whole profile if you’re missing the top one or two skills that are required for the job.

What does this mean for you as a job seeker? If you are targeting a certain type of job, make sure the essential keywords appear on your profile.

Look at the job descriptions of the positions you’re applying for, and include as many of those skills and keywords as possible and appropriate for you.

Pay extra attention to skills that are listed as “required” and/or skills that appear near the top of the job description. (This usually indicates that they’re more important).

Notice if something is mentioned multiple times. If so, it is more likely to be important to the employer, too.

Once you have identified the most important skills for the types of jobs you want, find ways to include these in your Experience section and your Skills section on your LinkedIn profile.

Not only will this help you get contacted by recruiters, it will also get your profile seen more because these keywords will help your profile appear in more search results when recruiters conduct keyword searches.

Read all 5 elements and the complete job-hunt.org article