Often times people focus on getting a job by applying to several job postings, obsessively editing their resumes, and networking with several different professionals for the chance to get a referral. Today, I will be introducing a new way for people to find a job through being sourced.
Being sourced is the passive way of getting a job where recruiters who work for companies or agencies find your profile on websites like LinkedIn and invite you to apply for a position based on your skill set, past experience, and education.
As a recruiter who spends many hours each day sourcing people, I can tell you that being sourced is a highly advantageous and effective strategy for any job seeker. Instead of spending countless hours scrounging job posting sites hoping to the find the perfect opportunity, the job comes to you! How awesome is that!
For that, here are some tips and tricks to help you get sourced by a recruiter:
- Populate your LinkedIn profile with updated information
This might seem like a no brainer, but there are many people who often leave their LinkedIn profiles bare of any information and don't update their page.
To avoid being skipped by a recruiter by the lack of information, try to keep your page updated and this way recruiters will be able to match your experience with an available job posting and hopefully send you an inmail!
This doesn't include only mentioning the title, company, and years of employment in a company. Rather, the whole profile needs to be up-to-date including any skills you previously or recently learnt, your eduction, and any other pieces of information you think would be helpful for recruiters and hiring managers to know.
2. Put keywords all over your LinkedIn profile
Often people think keywords should only be used when describing your job tasks in the experiences section of your LinkedIn page; however, you can get creative and include important keywords in the about section too!
When a recruiter tries to find ideal candidates for different types of positions, one of the first things they search for are keywords.
If you are a social media manager; mention your experience with different types of social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, Twitter, etc. Mention also different types of softwares that might be required in such a roles, for example Canva or Hootsuite.
Keywords are your best friends in this algorithm game.
3. Populate your skills section with hard skills
The skills section on a LinkedIn profile is arguably the most important part of the profile. It tells recruiters what your abilities are and how likely you are to meet the requirements for the job.
Often, people fill the skills section with soft skills such as "teamwork" and "communication" and although these skills are important, it would be wise to focus on the hard skills instead.
For example, if you are a graphic designer; mention "Adobe Creative Suite" in your skills section and maybe even go as far as listing the different programs that you use within this software.
A word of caution, most recruiters are not going to go over every single skill so I would suggest sticking to the hard hitting ones and avoid mentioning "hiking" unless you're a hiking instructor. Maybe save that for your profile's 'about' section 🙂
4. Be very specific in your descriptions
This point, I would say, ties in all the above points and that is to be very specific in your job description. Include keywords, go over the tasks your were responsible for, mention any relevant accomplishments, and be specific.
When going over profiles, nothing is more disappointing than finding an experiences section that only mentions a title and company name. This tells me nothing!
It might seem self-explanatory since most job titles involve doing the same tasks. I thought so too! But again, we need to focus on efficiency.
For example, most Zumba instructors teach Zumba classes and that can include tasks such as: leading a class, teaching for a number of hours, and being available for customer complaints to name a few.
However, there are still some question marks that I might have.
- How many students did you teach? (this would help me determine whether you are a good fit for a bigger studio with more clients or a small business).
- How many hours do you teach? (this would help me understand whether you're working full-time, part-time or freelance)
- What does being "available" for customer complaints entail? (are you actually solving the problems or do you just tell the client to go talk to the front desk?)
LinkedIn is an incredible tool and if used properly it could be a gold mine of opportunity!