How ACCESSIBLE are YOU and YOUR LINKEDIN PROFILE to Recruiters and Employers? Ten (10) Ways to Increase Your Likelihood of Being Contacted (PART 1 of 2)
This may be one of the most important things you can do to improve the number of contacts you get on LinkedIn (LI).
There are many articles about optimizing your LI profile to that you come up higher in searches performed by recruiters, employers and others. Key among these tactics are optimizing your current title with descriptive and keyword-rich terms, ensuring that your last title is optimized to the extent reasonable, adding "SKILLS" and adding "SPECIALTIES."
My question to all of you is, "Are you making it easy for employers and recruiters (especially) to contact you?" If so, is your status (in transition and available for full-time or consulting work) crystal clear?
When I do a keyword search for candidates, after reviewing each profile and determining their potential suitability, if I decide to pursue them, I look for any way to contact them. Some contact access points are obvious, but perhaps some are not. Here are some things you may not have thought of, but they are VERY critical.
1) Is your phone number or email address anywhere on your profile? I have seen this information in the following areas:
a) Inside a member's title
b) In the Summary area above Work History
c) In your contact info stated in your Other Information section at the bottom of your profile
d) In an attachment such as a resume, a PowerPoint presentation or other document
(Not everyone feels comfortable or safe stating a phone number or email, but including your contact info inside an attachment is an excellent alternative means by which to guard against "pharmers" and "phishers" easily scanning your profile for this information.
2) Have you checked your settings and preferences to be contact-friendly? Some profiles I have seen do NOT state that the member is open to career opportunities. This may discourage recruiters or employers from contacting you.
3) If you are no longer working, does your profile reflect that you are no longer affiliated with your last employer?
4) If you are Consulting, working at a temp agency, volunteering, on a Board, etc., have you added your status as a "New job" to reflect that you may be taking on consulting jobs as an interim measure until you land your next (fill-in-the-blank) job?
5) Have you revised the Summary area above Work History to articulate your status and reinforce your availability (while remaining positive and ensuring that you do not come across as anxious or desperate)?
6) Do you have a personal blog and/or website that you can add to your LI profile? If so, this will add dimension to your capabilities, PLUS will give recruiters another way to contact you.
7) Have you gotten at least the minimum of three (3) recommendations required to qualify for a 100% complete profile? If so, recruiters MAY be able to contact you through those who recommended you if they know them well enough (have a first connection with them).
8) Are you a member of groups, and if so, do you display the ones that best depict the types of jobs/industries you are targeting? (If you do this, those who want to contact you can join the groups you are a member of and contact you through that group affiliation.
5) Are you a member of professional organizations, and if so, are they listed in the lower section of your profile?
6) Have you listed as many employers within a reasonable time frame (e.g., up to 15 years), so that those interested in you can either contact you if they were affiliated with those companies in any way? A variation of this is that if you list more employers, those wanting to pursue you can reach out to their contacts who worked at the same companies within the same time frames and ask THEM to reach out to you.
7) Do you update your status bubble on your LI landing page to state that you are currently exploring new (insert types/categories of positions) opportunities in (state Industry, if desired) and in (state general locations or "virtual/remote", if appropriate)?
8) Do you offer a "FREE InMail" option for others to use to contact you? (I have contacted three people in as many weeks using this feature.)
9) Are your visibility setting set at Anonymous or Private?
10) If you ARE a member of groups, is the last box in your settings for those groups checked so that anyone in those groups can send you a free message?
Bonus (#11): Do you state in your profile Summary that you will accept all invitations! (Many LI members know that if you receive too many "Don't Know this member" results after attempting to LinkIn that you get sanctioned by the LinkedIn team. To avoid this concern, let those viewing your profile know you're receptive to invitations.
The above are just SOME of the measures you can take to facilitate a phone call or email from a recruiter.
As an aside, I now have 23 jobs I am trying to fill (many now listed on my LinkedIn landing page). I frequently go on LinkedIn and I cannot emphasize enough how often I cannot GET to candidates. In several cases, a desirable candidate's headline or summary makes it obvious that the member is seeking work. For example, Current Title reads, "Open to New Opportunities" -- yet, they are unreachable.
So ... how accessible are you to Recruiters, Employers and others and how clear is your current status?
Being found is one thing. If you want to be contacted, you need to do everything possible to make it easy for others to connect with you.
I hope this article sheds some light on how to improve your odds, and motivates you to take action to improve them!
