How to Network on LinkedIn…. And Hopefully Land a Job
Everything you need to know to increase your connections while job hunting
I love LinkedIn. Why? Well, it is a place where you can chase your ambitious career dreams. It does not have the energy or vibes, as the kids are saying, of other social media apps. This is because LinkedIn is strictly used for networking, posting about professional topics, and job searching. I wrote a newsletter on LinkedIn earlier last year to be an introduction for people new to the site.
This, however, is more in-depth on how to take those next steps and maximize your time on this application. If you are interested, keep on reading! But come on, you know you want to keep reading.
Networking is Scary
The word networking is everyone’s worst nightmare. Introducing yourself to people with the intent to talk about potential job opportunities and overall introductions about business is terrifying.
The first thing to remember is we have all been there, and this will not be the last time you are doing this either. That big corporate big-wig who you are too nervous to approach, has literally been in your exact shoes with an even older corporate big-wig. Now that we have given the friendly reminder that we are all doing this together, brush off any angst and let us get to work.
Where to Begin
I begin my networking journey when I am searching for a job and perusing the job listings page on LinkedIn or a company’s website. This will maximize your chances of coming across something that catches your eye. Either a potential company or specific job you might want to apply and work for, or an industry you want to explore and make connections in, etc. LinkedIn is also great because it is filled with advertisements from a plethora of companies that have paid to be sponsored on their site. You won’t just see the typical big-name companies.
LinkedIn has a great feature where you can “pin” or save job listings that you want to apply for to check them out after your search. When looking for a job, I would utilize this feature all day long!
Got a List of Jobs/Companies?
Now that you have this great list of jobs and specific companies that have caught your eye, here is what I have found to be the best next step. After you apply for the job, I would then search for the company on LinkedIn. On their company page, you will see a tab that says “People.” Click on that tab and scroll through the list of people who work for this company. This is now where you get specific. Create a list of the people who work in the department of that company you are applying for; they are your targets. If you are trying to land a sales job, look for other sales representatives at the company or the Vice President of sales. Then, look for Human Resources or recruitment employees as well. This list will come in handy as these are the people you will be reaching out to to connect and network with.
You might be saying to yourself, “Griffin, this seems a little weird to send out a bunch of messages to people at a company about wanting to connect or work there. I would rather just do it the traditional way.” I am here to tell you that I have not gotten one negative response to a message I have sent out (yes, 9 out of 10 times I got a response). I can also tell you there is not one company that does not want a hardworking, creative person working at their company.
The traditional way was so 2020, the job market is tough out there and if you cannot adapt to the new methods of getting your name in people’s faces, you are looking at an incredibly long job search. This is what LinkedIn was created for, use it!
The Message
You have your list of people to reach out to, check. You have the companies, check. Now it is time to prepare messages to send to these people. The way I have done it is to create a template, and then add in personal flares for each person or company. Lucky for you, I am here to help create that template for you. I am going to write below a really basic example message I would send out to a company or person working for that company.
What I want you to do is use this as inspiration and add personal touches to each message to increase your likelihood of getting a response. Let me make that clearer, do not copy and paste the message below into your text box, you will sound like a robot. You do not want the recipient knowing you have been sending the exact same message to a bunch of people (even though you have, LOL).
Think of this as a cover letter that you get to send directly to an employer instead of to a company as a whole. If the person is in HR and has worked there for 10 years, add a piece into your message about how you noticed they have been at this company for a long time and you would love to learn more about why this company seems to be special to that person. Let that person know you have read up on them and their company.
Like I said, there are a bunch of things you can say. Below is the basic template message to give you inspiration:
Header: I see [insert company name] is hiring. Here is why I would be the perfect fit!
Message:
Hi [insert individual recipient’s name],
After looking over the [company name] website and career page, I see that there are many job openings. I just graduated from [insert your college name, Go Cougs though] after four wonderful years and I am ready to start my career! What I bring to the table other than my vast previous work experience is relentless reliability, boldly adaptive nature, and always being engaging for impact. I believe I can bring great value to this organization and would love to learn more about the opportunities presented. I am looking for roles in marketing, sales, business development, or HR. I have attached my resume to this message, and you can find the same information and more on my LinkedIn profile as well. I would love to schedule an introductory phone call with [insert company name]. Feel free to connect me with other people in the organization as well if need be. I look forward to hearing from you and learning about the company.
Best,
[Your name]
Email: [Your email address]
Resume attached* [Then attach your resume, obviously]
See how easy it is! I want to reiterate that this is a very basic message and should not be the only things you write. Make it more personal and show that you have put time into shooting your shot. This example should be used as a template that you alter and expand on for every person you send it to. The worst that can happen is that the person either does not respond or says something along the lines of, “the job is not available anymore.” But, hey, at least you tried.
It is also important to note that this template is specifically for job searching purposes, so if you are just looking to add connections, you can send a much simpler note.
What Now?
Keep grinding away on these messages and exploring all that LinkedIn has to offer. This process can be mentally draining because you might not find a strong response rate. Do not let that shake your motivation. Like the old saying goes, “Nothing good ever comes easy.”
Other Options
If you are not finding success on LinkedIn, you might be surprised by this, but Twitter is the next best thing. I know, it is surprising to hear that Twitter is not just hub for memes and celebrity drama. You can actually make meaningful connections and network there too!
Take it from me, a young Griffin once wanted to work for a company called Stocktwits, and so I followed the CEO on Twitter and I reached out to him via direct message. I wrote to him about how I have been following the company for years and would love to learn about potential job openings. You probably won’t believe me, but he actually replied. It didn’t stop there either, he connected me with the Stocktwits HR team, and I got to talking about career opportunities at this company. You can have this same story with a company you are interested in!
Use the same principles and formulas that worked on LinkedIn and take it to Twitter as well. Just make sure you don’t have too many damning retweets on your profile, employers might not find them as funny as you do.
To Conclude
This newsletter is here to inspire you all to try something new and step out of your comfort zone. That is how all successful people became successful. They reached out and took what they wanted. If you are in between jobs, industries, or schools, then this is strategy should be your next heading. We all know how powerful these social media applications are, so take advantage of them. You never know what might happen!
While you are at it, follow me on Twitter ;) @griffin_prock
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