A serious jobseeker takes serious actions

For those of you who have read some of my previous posts you are well aware that I am somewhat hesitant to give out tips to jobseekers, particularly when I am speaking to a large group of people that are all different and that all have different needs. What suits some does not suit others I tend to say. Yet, I have decided to venture into the unknown world of tips and hints to jobseekers out there. Thankfully, I am certain that these tips will be relevant to at least 80% of the readers, in particular those jobseekers who are serious about getting a new job.

In terms of lending a “helping hand” to jobseekers there is nothing I find more rewarding. In fact, I thrive on it. Due to the fact that I am so passionate about this often means that I speak right from the heart and fear not, from the heart it will be this time too. As you may know by now I have nothing good to say about those who comes with tips and hints that are hidden in complex sentences that includes “fine and professional” words and expression. If you are not willing to take it the way I say it then all you need to do is to stop reading this now. Go and find something else to read.

So here we go.

If you are a jobseeker and serious about the task in hand, you have to understand and accept that LinkedIn is increasingly being used as a tool to find the right candidates.

As soon as you have accepted and understood this, you are suddenly a lot closer to your goal: The dream job and to get even closer to the dream job you can follow these tips:

1. Don`t act as if you are “God” in terms of who you accept a connection-invite from or not. Don’t be the person who have not yet realised that LinkedIn isn’t a true copy of Facebook, and neither expect those wanting to connect with you to send you a long email with the invite to explain why they want to connect.
2. Don’t be scared of making new connections yourself even though you may not have a personal relationship with the person you want to connect with. The worst thing they can do is to decline.
3. Set yourself a daily target of e.g 10 new connections. As a jobseeker you need to reach out to as many relevant people as possible and a network of 90 people is simply not good enough.
4. Become member of relevant groups. You can join up to 50 groups in total and there is a high number of groups that are relevant to jobseekers.
5. Follow any relevant and / or interesting companies. This means you will get automatic notifications in relation to any news from this business, including any new positions. Why not set yourself a target of adding three new businesses per day?
6. Be an active LinkedIn user. You can become active through participating in group discussions, liking or sharing posts and through your own status updates. In doing so you will make it easier for a recruiter to find your profile.

Now on to what is even more important:

If you are a jobseeker, you have to make yourself noticeable for those who are recruiting. During last weekend, I found a high number of profiles of jobseekers with so incredibly poor profiles that I can easily understand why they are jobseekers. It doesn’t take a lot to make yourself noticeable and you can do this by:

1. Under your name, write the following: E.G “Software Developer looking for a new position in Oslo”. This explains what you are, that you are looking for a job and where you are looking for a job. Clear and precise, and very simple. Even better, recruiters are much more likely to look at your profile as opposed to the person who has simply put; “Jobseeker”
2. Have a profile that is open for anyone to connect with you without having to have your email address. In other terms “don’t play God”
3. Have a profile where you clearly show your email address and contact telephone number so that it is easy for recruiters to get in touch with you
4. In the summary part, write a few bullet points of your key technical skills. Avoid “silly” soft skills such as hard worker, motivated and all that b…s..t but focus on key technical abilities.

That was all from me this time. As most of you will realise, the above tips are relatively easy to implement and as of tomorrow, you can significantly increase your chances of securing a new position.

Good luck, and have a great week out there hunting for the dream job.