Are you on LinkedIn? As I sit here on a plane to the annual LinkedIn Talent Connect Conference my frustration is growing. Why is it growing? Glad you asked. Literally thousands of recruiters and HR professionals are traveling to Talent Connect to discuss and learn how best to find and retain TALENT through things like employment branding, employee referral programs, creating better job postings, data/analytics etc. with a LinkedIn narrative.  I hear people say all the time there are no jobs and I would have to say that’s not completely true (I’ll explain more in a separate post). One of the biggest and best tools to find a job or networking opportunity is, LinkedIn.

The majority of the world’s professional talent and hiring authorities are on LinkedIn. I tell jobseekers all the time there has to be more effort on your part these days. I know it’s probably not fair, but when you have hundreds of candidates applying for the same role it’s necessary. We are living in a digital world and you, the jobseeker, have to physically reach out to people to highlight what separates you from other candidates. I have personally used LinkedIn as a tool to pursue 3 job opportunities that have been wonderful for my career. Submitting your resume and just letting the chips fall as they may, is not always going to get you that dream job. Companies pay thousands of dollars to LinkedIn for sourcing great talent despite the fact they have a stream of online applications. My charge to you is, make sure you have a professional online presence via LinkedIn and that you use it to your advantage. Here are a few tips to get started:

1. Go to LinkedIn.com and setup a profile
2. Upload a professional headshot/photo (no selfies!)
3. Make your summary interesting and marketable (include keywords that make you searchable)
4. Don’t list jobs dating back to 1990
5. Make sure to check your settings so people can find you
6. Connect with people you know you build your initial network  (i.e. school alumni, former colleagues, etc.)
7. Join affinity groups based on your skill set

We’ll be talking about LinkedIn more in the coming months so stay tuned. Our friend Julie Huval from Benchley Design, wrote a great post last week on Branding Yourself like a BOSS! Take her advice and follow through with creating a profile on LinkedIn.com.  If you’re not on LinkedIn, in the words of Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg) from the movie Ghost, “Molly, you in danger girl!”

Follow @thecareersalon on Instagram and Twitter to keep up with the happenings at the LinkedIn Talent Connect Conference this week!