Keywords are Key

by Shannon C. Kelly                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Raise your hand if you’re looking for a job, to build your network, to make the right connections, to get noticed in your field, to enhance your reputation, etc.  If you did raise your hand and you are on LinkedIn, remember this: keywords are key.  This is not shocking, but if you are not incorporating the right terms in your profile, you may not be getting pulled up in a search.  

FastCompany published an article, titled “LinkedIn’s Algorithm Taps Talent Graph, But Still Needs Human Touch” last week.  One of the important trends discussed was LinkedIn’s algorithm to help recruiters find the talent they want in the most efficient way: typing in a few key words or phrase and, bam, candidates.   Just hitting enter can be pretty time efficient, and recruiters agree.  The moral? Be sure you are including key words in your skills section.  Look at the jobs you are interested in, the descriptions, your connections on LinkedIn – what keywords are listed?  Incorporate those terms in your own profile.

Now, as the article mentions, and DePaul Career Center’s Douglas L. Miller explains further, the human touch is still important.  Remember that.  Social media is not a replacement for in-person interaction. It is here to help get you to that point – the conference, the networking event, the interview.  When you are having the fact-to-face interaction, use those keywords to impress people and demonstrate your knowledge of the field or position. 

Joining LinkedIn to Take the Lead in Your Job Search

By Kelly Cleary

If you haven’t already, you should certainly consider joining LinkedIn, one of the most important and effective tools in your job search kit these days. I’m sure you’re at least familiar with the social network, often referred to as the professional version of Facebook, but nearly every day I talk with students and alumni who aren’t using this basically free resource to its potential so I think it’s worth another mention in this blog.

If you don’t already have an account with an up-to-date profile, you should since your LinkedIn profile is usually one of the first hits a person finds when they Google your name.  And employers certainly are using social networking sites to find and check up on potential candidates (See Most Businesses Use Social Nets for Hiring from emarketer.com). Your LinkedIn profile is a great way to be proactive in creating an impressive professional presence online.

Here are a couple of tips for making the most of LinkedIn for your job search:

Finding & Making Contacts

Advanced People Search If you don’t find what you’re looking for in the Penn Alumni Career Network PACNet, you can search for alums (or even people with whom you don’t have a common affiliation) who work in the fields and/or organizations that interest you  by using the Advanced People Search function. You can view profiles of professionals in your field of interest to see sample career paths and gather ideas for prospective employers.

Make It Personal If you want to “connect” with people (like “friending” on FB) you should always include a personalized message introducing yourself and explaining why you want to connect. I very rarely accept an invitation that doesn’t come with some type of note that explains why a person wants to connect with me, and I think most people who don’t fall into the friend/contact collector camp take the same approach.

Making Contact If someone is one of your contacts or is a member of one of your group affiliations, you can contact them directly through LinkedIn to ask specific career related questions or to request an informational interview. With an upgraded account you can send direct messages to people who are not your connections to ask for advice. Personally I haven’t upgraded. If I want to contact someone who is not in my list of “contacts”, I use Google searches, employer websites, and the general Penn directory to find email address of people with whom I want to connect. While this is more like cold calling, if it’s done respectfully and professionally, it can be worthwhile.

Joining Groups

There are thousands of groups in LinkedIn (i.e. alumni affiliations, specific industries, national and regional professional association etc.) where people share job postings and other career-related information, and they also serve as a forum for asking questions and gathering answers from more experienced professionals. Joining groups, both industry-related and personal history related (like joining the UPenn alumni group) is an important first step toward maximizing the benefits of using LinkedIn to advance your job search.

Want to learn more about maximizing the benefits of LinkedIn? This overview of LinkedIn will help you get started.

For more general information about networking visit our Making Contacts page.