Top LinkedIn Job Search Tips for New Professionals
By: Madeline Toy
Tags: Job Search, New Professionals, Linkedin Job Search, Job Search Tips, Linkedintips

I applied to 192+ jobs, received 17 emails with the words “unfortunately” or “regret”, spent 8+ months actively searching, and had only 5 interviews total.

Graduating from college without a job sucks. You feel like all those late hours of studying, maintaining a 3.9 GPA, and being actively engaged in extracurriculars did absolutely nothing to help you land a job. I mean, what is the point of college if you can’t even get hired?

Applying to jobs online can seem like a never-ending abyss of no callbacks. It is the land where you can “knock” over 100 times and because of the Applicant Tracking System (ATS), your application can be tossed out of the system without you even knowing. All those hours of applying to jobs were put to waste because of a weird application algorithm that sees you just as a number or a formula.

But, I am here to say that you are not a number. You are a human who deserves to be seen in the job search. So how do you stand out in searching for jobs on LinkedIn? Here are some of the thing I wish I would have done before starting my job hunting journey.

What I Wish I Would’ve Done Before Starting the Job Search

1. Took Professional Experience Seriously

After graduating from undergrad, I realized real fast that a degree is only a check box on the list for recruiters. The #1 thing they are scoping out is your experience in your field.

Did you do any internships? Did you do any volunteer work in your related field? If the answer is “I don’t have experience.” It’s time to get involved.

Once I went several months unemployed, I took an unpaid internship. I know what you are thinking. You probably think I was being used. Honestly, I wish I was paid, but it was that internship that landed me my actual first job at a digital marketing agency in the city about a month later.

Moral of the story? Unpaid internships are not the worst. You will be happy you did the internship in the long-run.

2. Look at Other Professionals in Your Desired Field

Begin to scope out people who are in your desired field on LinkedIn. Take note on what their past experiences look like. If they are using certain keywords on their profile that you don’t have, begin to include them on your LinkedIn profile if they are applicable to you. (You may begin to find certain trends with this, and you can use some of these keywords even on your resume.)

3. Filter Your Job Searches by Date

The sad reality is that employers post jobs online and forget to take them down. In some cases, the job is already filled by an internal candidate by the time they get around to posting the job. I used to type in the word “marketing” and hope for the best.

Again, don’t be me.

Filter out jobs posted in the last 24 hours or past week AT MOST. You want to seem eager and ready to work. You don’t want to be another number in a stack of 300+ applicants.

4. Filter Using “____” & AND, OR and NOT terminology

In the search bar, you can filter for the specifics you are looking for in a job.

Example: You could search “marketing” NOT “sales” AND “Charlotte”

Then marketing positions in Charlotte that do not involve sales will populate your job search list.

Pretty cool right?

Are You Ready to Begin Your Job Search?

Applying online without strategy will lead you to a dead-end 95% of the time. The other 5% is because of who you know or luck.

LinkedIn has a feature where promoted job posts will populate at the top of the page. These posts are tempting to apply to, but if there are 422 applicants, what are the odds that you will actually land the position?

I hope these tips gave you valuable insight about the online job search realm. Happy job hunting!