In the previous blog we looked at how to make your profile ideal for the work search. In this blog we look at how LinkedIn helps you to find a job fast.
You need to start on your LinkedIn Home page. In the right hand column you will see a section entitled ‘Jobs you may be interested in’. In the box there will be a selection of three or four jobs.
It is worth checking those jobs every day. The jobs will be targeted towards whatever it is that you have populated your profile with in terms of key words and industry sectors. That is why so much emphasis was laid on getting your keywords right in the first blog of this series.
If you click on one of the jobs in the box you will go into the advertisement page for that job. Usually it contains a job description or detailed description of the job.
If you look to the top right of the script in the advert you will see a small box that says ‘Posted by’. This is a useful tool which ordinary jobsites don’t give you.
By clicking on the name in the box you get to find out something about the person who filed the advertisement. You could, if you felt inclined, make a connection with that person or get an introduction through your contacts. As a minimum, it will be worth looking over the person’s profile to see what you can find out about them.
The person concerned will almost certainly have the name of the employer and possibly their website address on their profile, which in turn means you can check out the organisational site and find their website very easily.
If you can find the website for the organisation then check out if they have a careers or jobs section. If they do then that is always the better way of applying. Better still, get a telephone number from their ‘Contact Us’ page and ring the person direct to see if you match their requirements. The personal contact always works best when searching for a job.
To go back to the LinkedIn site, you can decide if you are a good match for that job and if so you could select to apply for the job by clicking on the ‘Apply Now’ button at the bottom. Ideally, have your CV and covering letter prepared and ready to attach.
At the very bottom of the page you will see two very useful additions. A section entitled ‘People who viewed this job also viewed’ and Search more jobs’. Both give you additional search options. If you look at the ‘Search more jobs’ it will help you to narrow down the categories that are most appropriate to you. This will open you out into a myriad of further jobs in that subcategory.
Naturally, the jobs you are shown are only as good as the information in your profile. Equally, the jobs categories you see in the ‘Search for more jobs’ section relate to the particular type of job you are viewing. For example, you may be looking for a job in internal communications, but the job you clicked on may be more marketing oriented. In which case the categories you will see will be more marketing focussed.
You can overcome this problem by going back to the Home page. Go to the top navigation bar and click on jobs. Put in a job title in the ‘Search for Jobs’ box. This will bring up further jobs options. Look at the left hand column on this new page and you will see that you can refine your search even further.
LinkedIn will encourage you to join up to their Job Seeker Premium service. This will cost you £12.95 a month for the basic and up to £32.95 for the Job seeker Plus. Don’t sign up for the annual subscription unless you expect to be out of work for that long. The value of this service remains questionable at present.
By now you should have found a large number of potential jobs. Now the hard work of filtering through those jobs begins.
In the third and final blog on finding a job on LinkedIn the focus will be on raising your profile even further in order to get you noticed.
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Thank you to everyone who contributed to the Discussion Point paper on ‘Survivors in a downturn or merger’.
From the contributions we received, we were able to build a more comprehensive briefing paper. It shows how complex the subject is and how important good communications are to the process of change. We were unable to separate out redundancy issues from survivor issues; they are comprehensively linked. However we did not delve too deeply into redundancy programmes other than how they would affect survivors.
We have toned down some of the comments, especially where the communications process had been non-existent; perhaps we should show those ‘unabridged’ comments to some senior executives who think that retrenchment is just about getting HR to ‘let people know’.
The new paper can be found under ‘Managing survivors after major change’ in the Personal and Management Communications section of Resource Centre. Or click here.
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In one short sentence the boss of Toyota, Akio Toyoda, told the world just how deep the crisis was at the Japanese carmaker.
Whilst many have focussed on his apology, “I’m deeply sorry about the inconvenience and concern we have caused customers”, the most revealing comment was “Believe me, Toyota cars are safe”.
Toyota have a long way to go before they are out of this particular crisis. They have, however, started the process of rehabilitation. What was most damaging for them was the delay in speaking out about the problems with accelerators and braking systems on some of its cars.
An apology and reassurance is the first step a company needs to make in a crisis of this sort. Hopefully, by now, they will have worked out a strategy for talking to each of their key stakeholders.
More messages will be needed in the days ahead. These should focus on the steps they have taken to correct the problem and it should demonstrate that they are acting quickly to correct the damage done.
Whilst they have used You tube to post an apology, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCb2dEFBq7I) they should also watch the chat rooms to see how deep the crisis has gone and discover what people are saying about their cars. For sure the brand is badly damaged and it will take time to recover.
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February may be a short month for the rest of us, but it is guaranteed to be a long one for Willie Walsh and the BA team.
On February 22nd BA will find out if their Heathrow cabin crew have decided to strike following the aborted attempt over Christmas. On Friday 5th we will hear the financial results for the final quarter of 2009; they are expected to show more losses. Then there is the High Court case brought against by BA by the cabin crew union UNITE over changes in work practices. If that were not bad enough BA is also facing problems over the collapse of alliance partner Japan Airlines and pension fund problems.
On the bright side BA may hear soon whether their closer alliance with American Airlines and Iberia will get the go ahead from the European Commission.
With so much happening, February could be the month when BA finally loses the battle to survive; or it could be the turning point.
If they win their battle with UNITE over working practices (including the court case) then this might be the point at which BA takes control over its own destiny rather than being in the hands of a small number of union leaders. If they lose and we have another round of strikes then public perception of BA as a basket case to be avoided at all costs will grow. The phrase ABBA, Anyone But BA has become commonplace with many regular air travellers. One more strike may well see wide-scale desertion by previously loyal customers.
If BA loses its battle to pursue a closer alliance with American Airlines and Iberia then the chances of it being an attractive investment will fade, as will passenger preference. For traditional carriers the only option for some time has been to grow larger and become more international, so BA/AA and Iberia must win.
By the end of February the situation will be much clearer. Either BA will be on the road to recovery or it will continue to lose customers and sooner or later shed large numbers of jobs. Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa and Air France will, no doubt, be there to snatch what crumbs they can – or BA will become the next Cadbury, a target for an aggressive foreign takeover.
In recent times BA has been pretty good at handling its public messages. By the end of February we shall have a communications case study to chew over for years to come.
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