LinkedIn operates the world’s largest professional network on the Internet with more than 175 million members in over 200 countries and territories. In the last 12 months these 175 million Linkedin members did around 5 billion professionaly-oriented searches. How many of them do you think were actually looking for someone with your skills?

While you may find it difficult to find a job, emloyers are actually complaining that there are no strong candidates on the market. You may wonder how this is possible and how you can avoid it happening to you.

Take this simple analogy. If you were to go fishing what were your chance of catching fish without a bait? You could probably get around it, but it could take a lot of effort. Would it not be nicer just to sit and wait by the pond while the fish do the job for you and hook themselves up?

When searching for a job, think about employers as the fish and your profile as the bait. Imagine the possibilities an optimized linkedin profile can do for you, if targeted for the keywords employers are looking for. With a little upfront investment these employers will start seeking you out and new opportunities will start coming in your way.

Now sticking with the fishing analogy, it’s clear that the pond with myriads of hungry fish would offer more chances of success than the one with just a few fish swimming around with no apetite. Those hungry fish are employers in your network of connections and fellow group members who may hire you for your next job. The more people you’re linked to, the more employers will find you.

Let’s take some actions and start fishing on Linkedin! See below steps you’ll need to make in order to attract employers on Linkedin.

#1. 100% complete profile

For a 100% complete profile you’ll need to have the followings:

• A profile photo
• Industry and postal code
• A summary
• At least 50 connections
• Current job title and description
• Two previous positions
• At least 5 skills
• Education

Most of your competition already have a complete profile and also note that an incomplete profile ends up in the far end of search results. Because of this, it’s essential for you to make yours complete, too. And yes, your current position can be Job Seeker, if that’s the last thing needed for the 100%.

Once it’s complete, it’s time to make your profile stand out. Now I’m going to show you how to do that.

#2. Keyword optimization

You need to include your keywords (your next job title) in below areas on your profile to make it appear in top search results for them:

• Headline
• Summary
• Current and past job titles
• Websites

#3. Create a custom public profile url

A custom public profile url is easier for others to remember and as one of the many SEO (search engine optimization) techniques it will also help your profile in ranking higher in Google searches.

#4. Recommendations

Try to get at least 3 recommendations, but the rule here is the more the better. They will help you establish your credibility and will also help you rank higher in searches.

#5. Increase the number of your connections

Try reaching 500+ connections by connecting with your industry peers, potential hiring managers, recruiters, etc. Remember those fish are somewhere in the network of your connections.

#6. Join groups

Joining groups relevant to your industry, location or interest will link you to all members of those groups in an instant. This means that even if they’re not in your network of connections, your profile will still be able to turn up in their searches for your keywords.

#7. Sharing

Similar to recommendations, being active and sharing value in group discussions can also help you establishing credibility and be seen as an expert in your field.

Conclusion

There’s nothing fancy here, these are just simple changes. And while you don’t need to put all these idea in practise, the more of them you implement, the more results you’ll get. At the time of writing this post, my profile appears in around 1600 weekly searches and this is something you can achieve with your profile, too. Contact me for a step-by-step coaching session to create a killer profile and to increase your appearance in searches.