#014 - 8 LinkedIn Job Search Hacks That Actually Work

1) 8 LinkedIn Job Search Hacks That Actually Work

2) Q&A (how to network if you feel uncomfortable & how recruiters see candidates who quickly leave a job)

3) In Conclusion

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8 LinkedIn Job Search Hacks That Actually Work

People ask me all the time*, “Hey Matt. What are the LinkedIn job search hacks that actually work? Are there maybe 8 of them you could share with me?”

And I go, “I actually do have exactly 8. What are the chances.”

Crazy, isn’t it? Can’t make this stuff up.

Most people don’t use LinkedIn to anywhere near its full potential. They have a profile and it’s maybe filled out and they might use it to apply for jobs. But that’s about it. It’s like having a car and using it as storage space. You know you can drive that thing, right?

I hope the below work for you. Still, the real ‘hack’ here is to try them all and see which works best for you. Some might prove more fruitful than others. One might give you a much better ROI than the rest. But please, get your car out the garage and take it for a spin.

Here we go:

1. If you want to change role and industry, ask people who have done it

"How do I get into the [x] industry without previous industry experience?"

"I want to change the type of role I do but I can't get an interview. I know I could do the role but how can I get the hiring manager to take a chance on me?"

"I'm looking to move into both a different role and industry. How do I get a foot in the door when there are much more qualified candidates out there?"

Quite the conundrum, isn’t it?

There’s a lot not in your control here - the market, other candidates, whether or not the company has the resources to help someone with a lack of experience - but what you can control is searching on LinkedIn for people who have your “dream role” and then look at their LinkedIn profile. Their experience, in particular.

How did they start out their career? What did they do after that? Did they ever move out of the industry and then back in? How long did it take them to reach this dream role? Did they do anything unconventional along the way?

And hey, reach out to these people. Play into the mentor / mentee dynamic.

“Hi [name]. Saw you got into the [x] industry with no previous [industry] experience. That’s so cool and I’d love to do the same. Do you have a few words of wisdom for me? It would be great to hear from you but even if I don’t, thanks for reading this and have a great day.”

Perhaps you’ll notice some commonalities. Perhaps you’ll develop some relationships. Perhaps you’ll end up working together one day because they used themselves as a case study to vouch for you.

2. Search for “starting a new position” and ask them how they did it

How? Here’s how:

- Go to the LinkedIn search bar and type in ‘Starting a new position’

- Click on ‘Posts’

Voilà.

You can filter by 1st/2nd/3rd level connections, you can filter by date posted, you can filter by industry, you can filter by title.

If you don’t know what to write, try something like this:

“Hi [name]. Congrats on the new [x] role! That’s amazing. I’m on the job hunt myself. Do you have a few words of wisdom for me on how you got your new role? No rush to reply, would love to hear from you.”

I imagine a good amount of these people would be happy to hear from you. After all, when you get your new job you’ll be happy to share your hard-earned wisdom with others, right?

And hey, maybe these people did something you haven’t thought of. Maybe they did something you’ve resisted doing but you know deep down might work. Maybe they did everything you’re doing and you can feel confident that for you, it’s simply a matter of time.

3. Search for jobs (but not through the ‘Jobs’ tab)

Go to the LinkedIn search bar and use the following template: “[role] hiring [city]”

You can also swap out your city for the word ‘remote’ if you truly need a remote role. (I say ‘truly need’ because they’re becoming less and less frequent. Hybrid appears to be the way forward.)

You can then filter by date posted (past 24 hours, past week, past month) and also filter by ‘top match’ or ‘latest.’

You’ll still have to do a bit of digging through the posts but you’ll find plenty of roles this way. And, not only can you apply for the role, but you can also connect with and message the person who posted about the role. Win win.

(PS Remember to search for different job titles. If it were me, I’d search for Senior Recruiter, Recruiter, Talent Partner, Talent Acquisition Specialist, etc.)

4. Use the ‘contact info’ to send a cold email (but only if it’s their work email)

If they only have their personal email there, do not do this. (Thanks, legal team.)

If you want to get in touch with someone on LinkedIn, you can do something that very, very few people do (or are able to do): send them a cold email.

Go to their profile. Click on ‘Contact info’. If their work email is there, we’re in business.

You can use this ‘hack’ to reach out to someone you know is recruiting for a role, any potential hiring manager, recruiters, or just someone you want to learn from because they’re in an industry or role you want to do.

As ever, keep it short, personal, relevant, and kind. For example, you could send something like this:

“Hi [name],

Found your work email on your LinkedIn profile. Hope that’s okay!

I saw you’re recruiting for [role]. I have [briefly list your relevant experience]. I’ve already applied online so my name should be in your system.

If you think I could be a good fit, I’d love to chat. Even if I don’t hear from you, thanks for reading this and have a great day.

PS [mention bit of news about the company / something on their ‘About’ page / etc]”

You might hear back, you might not. But it’s worth trying. I built a small freelance writing business back in the day using only cold email, so there’s definitely potential for a return on investment equal to when LeBron James’s mum bought a 2-year-old LeBron a mini basketball hoop. (Okay maybe not quite equal.)

5. Click the company page to see if you have 1st or 2nd connections

• Search for the company name in the LinkedIn search bar.

• Click on the company page.

• Click on ‘People’.

If you scroll down, you’ll see all your 1st and 2nd (and 3rd) connections. You can also search for the right people using the search bar, just under where it says the number of employees.

You can search for recruiters, hiring managers, people in your field, people who are doing the roles you want to do. You can then connect with and reach out to these people. If they post content, you can follow along.

And hey, maybe someone you used to work with now works at one of your dream companies and they can refer you for a role. You never know.

LinkedIn has 900 million users. 300 million monthly active users. The people you want to be in touch with are probably on LinkedIn. This is a great way to find them (in a non-stalkerish way).

6. Commenting on posts will help your DM get a reply

If a recruiter or hiring manager or creator gets 50 DMs a day - and some get a lot more - who do you think they’re more likely to reply to:

• Someone they don’t know

• Someone who comments on their posts with thoughtful, engaging, kind content, and has done so consistently for weeks

An easy decision.

And when I say comment, I don’t mean ‘Great post!’ I mean adding something thoughtful, engaging, kind, and that maybe even demonstrates your expertise. These are the types of comments that will get you noticed (for the right reasons).

Bonus tip: for certain people, click the little ‘bell’ icon at the top right of their profile so you get notified when they post. That way, you can be one of the first to comment and be more likely to get a reply (and therefore noticed).

7. Make sure you have all possible job titles for LinkedIn job alerts

If it were me, I’d have Senior Recruiter, Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist, Talent Partner, Talent Acquisition Partner, Recruiter, Talent Acquisition Specialist, Lead Recruiter, Principal Recruiter, and any other titles I could think of.

Job titles are all over the place and you don’t want to miss out on something because you didn’t cover all bases.

(If you don’t have LinkedIn job alerts set up, you’re breaking my heart.)

8. Post content about your expertise in the roles you’re looking for, not just your job search

What’s going to be more valuable for potential hiring managers to read: posts that demonstrate your experience in the role they’re hiring for, or posts about how your job search is going?

I’m not saying to never post about your job search. I know how lonely it can feel to look for a job and I also know how supportive fellow job seekers can be. That’s a powerful combination and if it helps keep you going in your search - as well as inspires others - then that’s an important thing.

What I am saying is that if you’re only posting about your job search, you’re missing a huge opportunity to demonstrate to potential hiring managers that you know your stuff.

You don’t even need to create your own posts. You could just follow a few people in your industry who are thought leaders and comment on their posts. (These are the people you could click on the little bell for, as mentioned above.)

You could give your own viewpoint, you could ask a well-thought-out question, you could add an example. Whatever you do, make sure it’s more than just ‘Great post!’ or 3 fire emojis.

(Another bonus point: connect with as many potential hiring managers/decision makers per day as LinkedIn allows. It’s an easy way to add to your ‘audience.’)

Q&A

1. “I am uncomfortable directly contacting people to initiate the start of a relationship. What advice can you provide for people like me who are job hunting?”

Provided you’re not a total dick, your current network is almost always going to produce a great ROI than cold reaching out to people you don’t know. So if you don’t want to start new relationships, there’s some good news for you.

Get in touch with your current network about your job hunt. That means friends, family, people you used to work closely with, people you used to work with a little bit, people you’ve met once or twice in previous roles, people you met only once ever but had a great connection with, people you haven’t spoken to in years but are connected with on LinkedIn. Barely anyone is off-limits here, except maybe that one ex.

Let them know you’re on the job hunt. Set up some coffee chats. Maybe they’re on the job hunt too and you can help each other. Maybe they can’t help you right now but you can help them in some way.

I also can’t help but think being ‘uncomfortable’ isn’t necessarily a reason to not initiate the start of a relationship. I’m sure you’ve felt uncomfortable doing new things before but have done them anyway, right? If you want a more low-key way of doing this, instead of sliding in the DMs just comment on their LinkedIn posts (and do it consistently). They’ll appreciate the engagement and you’re potentially initiating the start of a new relationship. Win win.

2. “How do you and recruiters see candidates who joined a startup in a leadership position and left in under a year? (After a lot of confusion and lack of meaningful work, I pushed the CEO to close my role, and now I am back on the job hunt.)”

Any half-decent recruiter or hiring manager knows a start-up is volatile. (Although these days you could replace ‘start-up’ with ‘any company’.) The money dries up, they can’t get more funding, projects fall by the wayside, CEOs/Founders change their minds. These shouldn’t be surprises or secrets any more.

I don’t ask about these kinds of things. Same with a lot of recruiters I know. The most I’d ask is something like, “How was your time at [company]?” That way, the candidate can tell me whatever they like and hopefully doesn’t feel any pressure to defend themselves or justify anything.

Some recruiters and hiring managers, however, will ask. So it’s a good idea to have a solid answer. You can be honest about what happened, though it probably won’t go down well if you talk crap about your colleagues. In the above case, your role was made redundant. Pretty simple. You can say that you and the CEO had ongoing conversations and it seemed like redundancy was the best option. Perhaps that felt disappointing but you agreed it was the right decision, given the lack of meaningful work.

At this point, if you’ve been made redundant and a company is holding that against you then be wary. I’m not saying it’s definitely a red flag, but it might be.

In Conclusion

As always, thank you for reading. I’m hoping this newsletter was as practical as the invention of the wheel.

Here’s to this coming week being a success for your job search.

Cheers!

PS *Nobody has ever asked me this.

PPS If you missed last weeks newsletter, here you go: The Only Silver Lining Of This Brutal 2023 Job Market

PPPS Want to book your 1:1 job search strategy session? Click here.