How can you create and optimize your LinkedIn profile to make it stand out? Additionally, how can you leverage LinkedIn to find a job in Canada? This article will provide all the essential tips and tricks for newcomers to LinkedIn.
Create Career College is a professional vocational training college in Canada. Our 2-year diploma programs consist of 12-month academic studies and 12-month co-op experience. How to find a co-op job in Canada? Please visit the article: Co-op Program | CCC Helps Students Find a Job in 4 Ways.
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What is LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals and businesses. It mainly focuses on creating and maintaining professional networks and relationships. LinkedIn was founded in 2003 and has grown to become the largest and most widely used professional networking platform in the world.
LinkedIn has a membership of over 930 million individuals around the world. There are approximately 21 million LinkedIn users in Canada. It may not be the largest social networking site, yet it maintains a remarkable concentration of millionaire CEOs and active business leaders.
LinkedIn has cultivated a community of over 61 million registered companies. Every week, about 61 million users actively search for job opportunities on LinkedIn. This proves that LinkedIn is a powerful platform for recruitment. Both employers and employees utilize LinkedIn to explore job possibilities.
According to the Stats Map provided by LinkedIn, it’s evident that over 21 million Canadians are utilizing the platform to foster professional relationships.
LinkedIn Key Features
LinkedIn users can access it through the web or mobile app. The key features include:
- Build professional profiles showcasing skills and experience.
- Expand networks by connecting with professionals.
- Share updates and insights to engage your network.
- Search for jobs and connect with recruiters.
- Directly communicate with connections.
- Access courses for skill development.
- Discover and promote professional events.
How to Create a Pro LinkedIn Profile?
Why is it important to craft a professional and powerful LinkedIn profile?
A well-crafted LinkedIn profile acts as your online resume to showcase your skills, experience, and achievements. Recruiters and hiring managers frequently use LinkedIn to find potential candidates for job openings. The profile is usually the first place people look when researching you. So a strong LinkedIn profile can increase your visibility to recruiters.
Upload a LinkedIn Profile Picture
A professional profile photo helps you make a positive and memorable first impression. If you are job hunting, a photo makes your profile more appealing to recruiters and potential employers. The photo can reflect your personality and the image you want to project to your professional network.
Write an Impressive Headline
Since there are millions of users on LinkedIn, a unique and creative headline can set you apart from others in the industry. The headline can showcase your current role, career aspirations, industry, and keywords related to your skills and expertise.
“Full-Stack Web Developer | Bridging User Experience and Technical Excellence”
“Graphic Designer | Transforming Concepts into Visually Captivating Designs”
Customize Profile URL
The default URL includes random numbers and letters. A customized profile URL looks cleaner and more professional than the default one. Having your name in your URL can enhance your online visibility. Your LinkedIn profile may show up in the search results when people search for you on search engines.
Highlight the Skills
You can reorder your skills based on their importance or relevance to prioritize the skills that matter most in your current career goals. Recruiters often use LinkedIn’s search feature to filter and find candidates with particular skills. Highlighting your skills can make you stand out as a suitable match for specific job opportunities.
Ask for Recommendations
Providing third-party recommendations of your skills, work ethic, and accomplishments helps boost your credibility and offers a more well-rounded view of your professional capabilities. It can build trust with potential employers, clients and colleagues and demonstrate your real-world impact.
Update the Contact Info
If your contact information is up to date, it is easier for colleagues, clients, employers and potential connections to reach out to you.
For example, LinkedIn offers features like InMail, which allows users to directly message individuals they are not connected with. Having updated contact info enables you to take advantage of such features.
Also, if you are actively job hunting, having current contact information enables recruiters and employers to contact you directly with job offers or interview invitations.
Grow Your Network
A significant number of connections can provide social proof of your professional relevance and influence. This also means more people will share valuable resources, articles, and information. Expanding your network can increase your exposure to a broader range of opportunities, including job openings, collaborations, partnerships, or business prospects.
Why Use LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is a dedicated platform specifically designed for professionals for networking, career development, and industry connections. It emphasizes networking and focuses on relationships. These features set it apart from other traditional job boards.
First, LinkedIn profiles act as detailed online resumes, showcasing not just job history but also skills, endorsements, recommendations, articles and more. Users can connect with colleagues, industry peers, and potential employers, as well as follow company pages and influencers on LinkedIn.
Second, LinkedIn is a robust job site around the world. LinkedIn Premium offers several powerful features. For example, Premium members can receive insights into job postings, including information about who posted the job, who you know at the company and how you compare to other candidates.
Third, LinkedIn profiles often rank high in search engine results. We all understand that ranking on Google’s first page is difficult, but we can make use of LinkedIn, the well-known networking platform, to rank our profiles.
How to find a job on LinkedIn?
After building a strong LinkedIn profile, you can start searching for jobs.
Navigate to the “Jobs” tab. Simply enter keywords related to the job title or industry, along with your preferred work location, into the search bar on the “Jobs” page. Once you are on this page, you can further refine your search using filters such as the posting date, experience level, job type (full-time, part-time, remote), company, and more.
Click on the job listings that catch your interest to access more detailed information about the job description, qualifications, responsibilities, and the company’s culture. While some job listings provide the option to apply directly through LinkedIn, others might guide you to the company’s website or an external application portal. Follow the instructions carefully and submit your application.
Apart from the above job hunting method, LinkedIn users can also visit company pages to see if they have any job openings listed. Following company pages can also keep you updated on their latest news and opportunities.
How CCC can help students find a job in Canada?
Create Career College is a private career college offering 2-year diploma programs and English courses. All the 2-year diploma programs consist of 12-month academic courses and 12-month co-op experience. Students can make use of the co-op program to gain real-world experience in their diploma studies.
Apart from LinkedIn, how can international students find a job in Canada? Please visit our blog article: Co-op Program | CCC Helps Students Find a Job in 4 Ways for detailed information.
