Using LinkedIn to Find Industry Leaders (and Potential Employers!)

There’s so much more to LinkedIn than creating a profile. LinkedIn can be a powerful tool in the development of your career, or in your job search.

For example, last year, LinkedIn launched a nifty little feature called the Influencer program. They hand-picked about 150 thought leaders in a wide variety of industries, from publishing to politics, and gave them a forum to share their thoughts through status updates, as well as through longer form and original posts with videos, photos, and Slideshare presentations.

What does this mean for you?

You’ll find plenty of thought-provoking content and ideas to share across your own LinkedIn network and on your other social media sites. This will increase your visibility and activity. You may find inspiration for a blog post of your own, or start a discussion among industry peers. And yes, you can participate in a professional discussion with some of the most influential people around!

And what can LinkedIn do for the job-seeking professional? LinkedIn has executives from all 2012 Fortune 500 companies as members. And hiring managers at all kinds and sizes of companies are being proactive and looking through LinkedIn profiles to fill open positions.

Here are seven ways to get the most out of LinkedIn in your pursuit for the right career:

1. Make sure that every part of your profile is complete.

2. List as many relevant jobs as you can. If you only list your last or current job in the experience field, you could look inexperienced, even if you’ve been in the workforce for years.

3. Keep your skills up to date and detailed. The more (relevant) information you display on your profile, the higher your chance of getting noticed by recruiters.

4. Be active on the site. Share professional content like an interesting article or information about an upcoming industry event. It’s been estimated that professionals who share articles or content with their LinkedIn network at least once a week are nearly 10X more likely to be contacted by a recruiter for new opportunities than people who don’t participate.

5. Network on the site by joining industry groups.

6. Mention volunteer work. More than 70% of hiring managers consider volunteer work as legitimate experience.

7. Target companies you want to work for by following them on LinkedIn, similar to how you would follow them on Twitter or ‘like’ them on Facebook. This way you can stay up to date on relevant information like product launches, contract wins and personnel changes.

No matter what stage you’re at in your career, LinkedIn can help you advance it. It can provide you with guidance, your next great idea or even your next great job! Another way to jump to the head of the pack? Contact the IT staffing professionals at Triumph! We specialize in finding the right jobs for the right people—we’d love to see what we can do for you!