9 Steps to LinkedIn Networking to Get a Job

From New Grad Life | Jan 2010

Competition for advertised jobs is fierce. An advertised job posting
can generate applications from thousands of potential candidates.
Likewise, employers can cherry-pick potential employees. So how do you
differentiate yourself while job hunting on LinkedIn? With all the tools for job seekers on the site you may get overwhelmed. Try this step-by-step process below and land a job on LinkedIn successfully!



To increase your chances of generating a response including an interview from a job posting, you should:

• Use LinkedIn to locate a company insider with a common connection (professional association, alum, etcetera)

• Request an informational interview to determine if the job is still
available, name of the hiring manager, desired characteristics of the
potential employee, and etcetera

• Customize your resume and cover letter using this information


• Ask your company insider to deliver your resume and cover letter to the hiring manager

Next, I am going to provide you with the steps I used to apply for a position last week with a Fortune 100 company.

1. Go to http://www.linkedin.com/

2. Click on the "Advanced" link for the Search People field in the upper right region of your screen

3. Select "Located in or near:" for the Location field

4. Input a zip code for the Postal Code field and select the appropriate entry (such as 50 mi) for the Within field to ensure the location of the company is within this geographical range

5. Input the name of the company in the Company field and select Current in the box below this field

6. Click the Search button

7. If the search generated several results, you can limit the results
by relationship by selecting the 1st Connections, 2nd Connections, and
so on under the Relationship field.

8. Next view the profiles to locate current employees who have a common
connection with you (professional association, alum, etcetera)

9. Contact these individuals to set up an informational interview. I
have discovered that I generate better results by sending an email
for the initial contact. The email I sent via LinkedIn listed the name
of the position in the subject field and the body of my email included
this:



"Hello X,



I hope all is well. I'm a current X association member and want to
set up a brief chat this upcoming week to discuss your company. I can
be reached at 469-892-5092.



Let me know what you think.



Thanks-Kenrick"



The individual replied the next day listing the time frame we could talk. I replied by stating:



"I prefer to have my resume/cover letter hand delivered to the
hiring manager, if there is a match. Tomorrow after 1PM is good. Let me
know what you think.



Thanks-Kenrick"



10. We had our 10 minute discussion, I customized my resume and cover
letter, and I sent it to my new connection for delivery to the hiring
manager.



Whether or not you are invited to interview for the suitable positions
you'll apply for using this process; your response rate should be
higher than if you just apply blindly to a job. Hopefully you learned quite a bit reading this, good luck on your job hunt!