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In the early 2000s, the job search was tiresome and frustrating. With few digital tools utilized, many job seekers needed help to get in front of key decision-makers in their industry. However, in 2023, it should not take 43 job applications, 15 phone screenings, and 7 interviews to get in front of the right hiring manager. And for many, it doesn’t.
Imagine having job opportunities fall into your lap, hiring managers sending you interview invitations, and the overall job search, effortless. Well, with posting and regularly engaging on LinkedIn, that is possible.
Leveraging LinkedIn for the job search is more than adding an “open to working” banner on your profile, or using LinkedIn’s Advance Search option. Those features are helpful, but you are still a resume in a vortex when you fill out an application.
Experts are saying the future of work involves more creation and less consumption. Research done at Kinsta found that “only around 3 million users share content weekly. This means that only about 1% of LinkedIn’s 260 million monthly users share posts, and those 3 million or so users net the 9 billion impressions.” The easiest way to leverage LinkedIn in your job search is to do what the other billions of job seekers are not doing: create content.
Why does creating content help your career advancement? To answer that, let’s play pretend for a moment. Your alum connection, Josh, was recently laid off from his sales position at Sam Tech. Until his post, you hadn’t a clue where Josh worked or what he did for a living. Josh posts monthly, but his inspirational quotes on “knowing your worth” and “leaving toxic work environments” don’t offer much context for what he does for a living. Sure, you sympathize with the layoff but are not sure how to support him. However, suppose you celebrated with Josh when he landed the role, celebrated his promotion, and were up to date on each significant triumph at Sam Tech. In that case, the “I was laid off” post would resonate deeper—it would hit different. And you’d have an idea of possible certifications, volunteer work, or introductions to offer. Inviting your network into your career journey keeps them invested in YOU.
Experts at Top Resume say, “your connections can increase your exposure and access to other connections.” Leveraging your online network and consistently engaging on digital platforms is the future of work.
So being active on LinkedIn is important, but “I do not have time to be an influencer, creating content daily.” If that is you, here are three effortless ways to create content on LinkedIn, attract hiring managers, and land high-paying jobs.
This article will cover
- text posts
- reposts, and
- polls.
Text Posts
It may sound boring, but text posts can be very effective posts to engage with your network. LinkedIn likes it when you are long-winded. Sounds insane? You might think so, but studies show that long posts between 2,000 to 3,000 characters get increasingly more shares. Remember that content performs differently per platform. While short-form (meaning short video clips or small paragraphs) content performs well on Tiktok and Instagram, long-form content (meaning longer videos and large paragraphs) does really well on LinkedIn.
Prompts for a text post:
- How did you overcome a challenge today at work?
- Who did you connect with to overcome the challenge?
- Can you think of a small mistake you made this week? What lesson did you learn from it?
For text posts, keep them organic. And while it is tempting (and dangerously easy) to spend 1-2 hours writing and re-writing your text post, don’t do it. You should spend around 15- 25 minutes writing the post and about 5 minutes fixing the grammar. Perfection and accuracy are not valuable here. What matters is authentic, relatable, and specific thoughts from you.
Reposts
So, you’ve just completed a project management course on LinkedIn, and you are very proud. LinkedIn offers the option to share your accomplishment with your network. After clicking the option to share, and it is posted to your feed, you wait for a response from your network and… silence.
And you think, “why isn’t anyone commenting or reacting to my course completion?” The main reason is that your network does not have anything to say about that. Promotion posts, if you notice, often earn several “congrats,” “excited for you,” and other forms of engagement. Content that prompts the audience is content that earns engagement. If you want a discussion, you have to offer a prompt. Posts that perform well tell a story, provide specific reflection/advice on one topic or ask their audience to give their opinion or critique (which people love doing).
Reposts can perform well, but when sharing about a course completion or certification, think of what you can add to the post. And consider these questions:
- Does this tell a story?
- Does this offer advice or reflection on one specific part of my work?
- Does this invite my network to critique or share their opinion on something?
Polls
Speaking of inviting criticism, one effective way professionals invite their network’s thoughts is through polls.
Take a look at one of our polls that increased our engagement one week by over 4%.
Polls are designed to gather feedback on your networks’ feelings, perceptions, and thoughts about a subject. This poll performed well because it was:
- Asking people for their thoughts on a subject
- Relevant to the lifestyle/interests/concerns of our audience
- Specific to our field (career, tech, HR trends, professional development)
If you want job opportunities to flock towards you and high-paying roles to fall into your lap, share your career journey with your LinkedIn network. Make sure your connections know what you do, and remind them often. Treat your LinkedIn feed like your work diary (excluding the complaints and rants) and share it.