LinkedIn

Lunni

Just wondering if anyone could help me figure out LinkedIn. I've been on it for 3 years now and got absolutely nowhere with it, bar a few e-mails from recruiters with jobs that had nothing to do with my skillset. I regularly look at the 'jobs' section and get e-mails about jobs that are 'relevant' to me but they are never relevant at all. They generally require loads more experience than I have or are just in totally different fields.

My skillset is a bit weird and I don't seem to be that employable...I have a degree in modern languages, speak French and Spanish, have some translation/proofreading experience, have done content management as part of my degree and a content management internship at a European institution (which also involved my languages), have designed websites in the past, so have decent knowledge of HTML and some SEO (was a loooong time ago though) and have been teaching TEFL since I left university, but want to leave that, or at least only do it part-time. The TEFL career has rekindled my love of English and I am now really interested in anything to do with writing, editing or proofreading, but have no professional experience in these areas beyond proofreading translated texts and correcting students' work.

Anyway, I have all this on my profile, but the jobs I receive don't really correspond to any of it. Does anyone have any advice? How can I change my settings or profile to receive more relevant jobs ads and maybe attract employers?

WildCardDoW

I have a degree in modern languages, speak French and Spanish

That should be a good boost in tech centers as customer support and similar. Look to the IT companies and try branch out your search, get active use SimplyHired.ie, Monster.ie, Jobs.ie, IrishJobs.ie if you aren't already.

There may simply be a dearth of jobs in the area you're looking at so you might have to branch out your search and think outside the box.

Lunni

WildCardDoW wrote: »

That should be a good boost in tech centers as customer support and similar. Look to the IT companies and try branch out your search, get active use SimplyHired.ie, Monster.ie, Jobs.ie, IrishJobs.ie if you aren't already.

There may simply be a dearth of jobs in the area you're looking at so you might have to branch out your search and think outside the box.

Thanks for the suggestion but I really don't want to do that or any other sort of customer service/call centre work. I did it during and after college and it's low-paid and soul destroying. If I can't find anything interesting related to languages or writing, I'd rather just continue with TEFL. I don't mind TEFL, but I'm constantly being told by anyone who sees my CV that I'm totally underselling myself and could make far more money, so either they're all BSing or I'm looking in all the wrong places!

BTW, I'm based in London at the moment and can stay here, so I'm not limited to the Irish job market.

beauf

In my opinion LinkedIn is best at promoting itself.

Have you researched what jobs you are interested in, require? Have you compared your skillset to these requirements.

3DataModem

http://www.rfts.com/careers.php?id=137

Great place to work

Eoin

Do you actually search the LinkedIn jobs section yourself, or just rely on the emails that come to you? If just it's the latter, then they're likely to be irrelevant; especially if you don't have a typical job title.

You can set up and save custom job searches where you can define the criteria a little better.

If you want your profile to appear in search results that a recruiter might carry out, remember that they're entering search phrases like they would with any other database. Make sure you have all the relevant keywords in your profile, and work on the summary section so it gives a good overview.

LinkedIn can be great for job hunting, but it's not the only route available. If you don't have the experience to get into what you want to, then it may not be the most suitable tool for you, as unfortunately your profile probably won't attract the attention of recruiters.

Mrs OBumble

Reviewing your profile is a start.

But it's only preparation for the real way to use LinkedIn. To do this:

Figure out some companies that you would like to work for, ones that offer the sort of work you want to do.

Follow the companies on LinkedIn.

Then look at who works there: who do you know? Who is a 2nd degree connection of yourss (ie who do your own connections know). Work out which of these people you could potentially:
1) Talk to about what working there is like and what actual opportunities they have, and
2) Ask for an introduction to a relevant hiring manager - either in person, or just by forwarding a copy of your CV.

Then act on this knowledge. "Reach out" (yucky American slang for "email or talk to") these people, and ask for their help.

Some people will ignore you. Some will say no. But stay polite, professional and persistent, and someone will have a lead that they are willing to share or an introduction that they are willing to give. Act on this lead.

Rinse and repeat until you have the sort of job you want.





This is how LinkedIn works. It's all about relationships. Your profile is only the very first baby step in the process .

And forget all the bollox about looing for advertised vacancies - most aren't.

Lunni

beauf wrote: »

In my opinion LinkedIn is best at promoting itself.

Have you researched what jobs you are interested in, require? Have you compared your skillset to these requirements.

Yep, a lot of them require quite 'soft' skills. Ones you can say you have but don't require formal qualifications. Many require several years of experience which I don't really have (when I say 'really' have, I have experience which is kind of connected).

Eoin wrote: »

Do you actually search the LinkedIn jobs section yourself, or just rely on the emails that come to you? If just it's the latter, then they're likely to be irrelevant; especially if you don't have a typical job title.

You can set up and save custom job searches where you can define the criteria a little better.

If you want your profile to appear in search results that a recruiter might carry out, remember that they're entering search phrases like they would with any other database. Make sure you have all the relevant keywords in your profile, and work on the summary section so it gives a good overview.

LinkedIn can be great for job hunting, but it's not the only route available. If you don't have the experience to get into what you want to, then it may not be the most suitable tool for you, as unfortunately your profile probably won't attract the attention of recruiters.

I do both. I will put more keywords in. I think the issue is that I don't have any real experience in the areas I want to get into (copywriting, writing, editing), just related experience.

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Reviewing your profile is a start.

But it's only preparation for the real way to use LinkedIn. To do this:

Figure out some companies that you would like to work for, ones that offer the sort of work you want to do.

Follow the companies on LinkedIn.

Then look at who works there: who do you know? Who is a 2nd degree connection of yourss (ie who do your own connections know). Work out which of these people you could potentially:
1) Talk to about what working there is like and what actual opportunities they have, and
2) Ask for an introduction to a relevant hiring manager - either in person, or just by forwarding a copy of your CV.

Then act on this knowledge. "Reach out" (yucky American slang for "email or talk to") these people, and ask for their help.

Some people will ignore you. Some will say no. But stay polite, professional and persistent, and someone will have a lead that they are willing to share or an introduction that they are willing to give. Act on this lead.

Rinse and repeat until you have the sort of job you want.





This is how LinkedIn works. It's all about relationships. Your profile is only the very first baby step in the process .

And forget all the bollox about looing for advertised vacancies - most aren't.

I have tried that and got some OK results (good advice about courses to do, people to contact). It is a bit cringey and self-promoting but I agree that I should probably do this because it does seem to work.

I suppose the issue is that I feel like a fraud and a poser because I don't really know what I'm doing. The people I've asked who are writers and copywriters just say 'just start doing it' but the job ads I've seen ask for proven experience, which I can't get without a job.

beauf

You can probably volunteer on projects for free. Once you've a couple under your belt you'd have some experience. Experience doesn't have to be paid.

Mrs OBumble

Lunni wrote: »

I have tried that and got some OK results (good advice about courses to do, people to contact). It is a bit cringey and self-promoting but I agree that I should probably do this because it does seem to work.

I suppose the issue is that I feel like a fraud and a poser because I don't really know what I'm doing. The people I've asked who are writers and copywriters just say 'just start doing it' but the job ads I've seen ask for proven experience, which I can't get without a job.

Yes, it's totally cringey. But if yiou want to make this sort of career change, then you will get over that and do it anyway, because this approach is what it takes when you don't have the expereince/networks to get the jobs naturally or get past the CV screening for advertised vacancies.

Like I said .. polite, professional and persistent.

brianblaze

With your content and international background, look at companies like Hubspot. They pay well and are growing very fast.

fg10291

+1 on hubspot, also keep an eye on a company called square space, due to start hiring next year looking for people with HTML skills. With your languages and computer background you should be able to get a role that's not customer service, most of the larger multinationals in Ireland, I realise your in London and May stay there, use people sigh languages for variety of back office roles, db it compliance, marketing or translating policies etc.

WildCardDoW

I just got recruited on LinkedIn! It might be that there isn't much in your area?

Lunni

beauf wrote: »

You can probably volunteer on projects for free. Once you've a couple under your belt you'd have some experience. Experience doesn't have to be paid.

I have sent out some e-mails. If anyone knows of a charity/good cause/start-up venture who might be able to provide me with some work for free, I would be super grateful if you could PM me. I have quite a bit of translation experience (into English) for animal charities and NGOs, so not a total newbie/amateur.

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Yes, it's totally cringey. But if yiou want to make this sort of career change, then you will get over that and do it anyway, because this approach is what it takes when you don't have the expereince/networks to get the jobs naturally or get past the CV screening for advertised vacancies.

Like I said .. polite, professional and persistent.

Yep, not too proud to give it a go! Getting some business cards made up in the New Year for some cringey real-life networking too.

WildCardDoW wrote: »

I just got recruited on LinkedIn! It might be that there isn't much in your area?

How did it happen? Did you get an e-mail from a recruiter and take it from there?

I'm in London, so I'd imagine there must be dozens of opportunities here, I'm just not finding them.

FURET

LinkedIn is absolutely superb. It only has to work for you once in order for it to be worthwhile. It's gotten me plenty of opportunities and two concrete offers, one of which I took.

The prerequisite for a successful LinkedIn experience is to have a profession. If you simply list a collection of skills and random experiences but don't have a profession, you probably won't show up in a recruiter's search results, or, if you do show up, you won't be an attractive prospect when compared with people who are declared professionals.

Once the above prerequisite is met, in my experience, there are a few techniques that you can use to maximize LinkedIn's effectiveness.

• Ensure that your profile is search engine-optimized by using a profession title that recruiters are likely to search for.
• Populate your work experience with relevant bullet points.
• Try to amass a few authentic recommendations.
• Use a clear, respectable photo. Don't use a selfie or try to look seductive or vain.
• Don't accept connection requests from randomers and don't randomly try to connect with people. Always have a strategy in deciding whether to connect. If you work in IT and an IT recruiter wants to connect with you, accept, even if you aren't currently job-seeking. If someone contacts you with a genuine opportunity and you aren't interested right now, don't just ignore the mail. Respond by saying you're not currently looking, thank the person for contacting you, and ask them to keep you informed about future opportunities just in case. If you like, offer to pass the opportunity along to a colleague or suggest peers or former colleagues who the recruiter might have better luck with. Be strategic and build alliances!
• If you want to connect with a recruiter or hiring manager in a company you want to target, don't just send a connection request - send a short note too.

WildCardDoW

Sorry Lunni, I should have been more clear. I'm in IT, IT recruiter emailed me and I replied wasn't interested in the jobs he was offering (I'm just 6 months in where I am and I think I'd rather feel things out as it feels quite positive, where as those jobs seemed to be quite short contract!)

Yeah, maybe you need to keep adding more experience that would be relevant to those fields. I think the problem on LinkedIn is you are competing with a large pool of talent!

I will say I'm only in the job I have now because I branched my search out from a narrow field to just anything IT in general that didn't require very specific languages!