Should you put seeking employment on LinkedIn

Should you put seeking employment on LinkedIn ShareShare Its hard to know how to fill in your title when you dont have one (or think you dont). But there are ways to handle it that will get you a lot more attention from recruiters than Seeking. First, have you already updated your profile to show that youve left your most recent job? If you havent, I encourage you to put it off a while. Your resume needs to show an ending date for that job, but your profile doesnt, and its common practice to leave it alone for a few months. If youve already put an ending date on your job, heres how to handle the current job issue honestly yet effectively. First, lets think about how recruiters use LinkedIn. Recruiters go to your LinkedIn profile for more information if your resume interested them. Do you want the first thing they see to be the fact that youre unemployed? Many recruiters see that as a possible negative. They may wonder: Were you fired? Did you quit because of a problem? Were you viewed as dispensable when staff cuts needed to be made? Dont emphasize the negative. Theres a better way. Recruiters search for people with relevant keywords in their current job title. Seeking is not a relevant keyword when a recruiter is looking for a Data Scientist. The most relevant keywords are Data, Scientist, Analyst, and having those words in your current title field tells LinkedIns software to include your profile in the search results. You may have those keywords listed in your past jobs, but your current title has special power to put your profile near the top of the list. So, what should you put in the title field if youre unemployed? Tell them what business youre in (or want to be in). Because the good news is: An unemployed Widget Developer is still a Widget Developer.Ditto for Product Manager, Marketing Specialist, Finance Executive, Human Resources Manager, Administrative Assistant, and so on. Youre still the type of professional you are, even if youre between roles at the moment. What about company? Listing your industry is a good choice here. Another option is to two or more companies youve worked at in the past, if theyre well known and respected. Or combine these two approaches, as Ive done in the Project Manager example below. Heres an example: Lets say youre a project manager. In the title field, you could write: Project ManagerPMP Certification, SDLC, Waterfall, Agile, and in the company field: Top Tech Firms including Google Workday. Doesnt that look a whole lot better than Seeking Employment at None? Whats with all those extra words in that title, Thea? Remember the importance of keywords and the extra power of the title field? You can load up your past job titles this way, too. Just be sure its transparently clear what your official title was. What do I put under Description? Keeping in mind you want keywords but also an engaging and readable profile, you could include: A description of your expertise and the type of role youre looking for A few of your best accomplishments, maybe heading them Career Highlights or Key Wins or such Quotes from your LinkedIn recommendations or other kudos youve received A list of your top skills Media: photos, charts or documents What if Im seeking a career change into a job I havent done before? Much of the above still applies. You might need to adjust the title a bit. Lets say you were in sales, with some experience in marketing. Now you want to go into marketing full time. Your title might be something like: Sales and Marketing Professional. Or if you were a public school teacher but you want to go into Learning Development (training), and youve earned a certification, you could use the certification as a job title: Associate Professional in Talent Development (APTD). Knowing how to update your LinkedIn profile when youre unemployed will help you get a great job sooner. And dont forget the basics. Read my post, 10 Tips for an Impressive LinkedIn profile. Should you put seeking employment on LinkedIn ShareShare Its hard to know how to fill in your title when you dont have one (or think you dont). But there are ways to handle it that will get you a lot more attention from recruiters than Seeking. First, have you already updated your profile to show that youve left your most recent job? If you havent, I encourage you to put it off a while. Your resume needs to show an ending date for that job, but your profile doesnt, and its common practice to leave it alone for a few months. If youve already put an ending date on your job, heres how to handle the current job issue honestly yet effectively. First, lets think about how recruiters use LinkedIn. Recruiters go to your LinkedIn profile for more information if your resume interested them. Do you want the first thing they see to be the fact that youre unemployed? Many recruiters see that as a possible negative. They may wonder: Were you fired? Did you quit because of a problem? Were you viewed as dispensable when staff cuts needed to be made? Dont emphasize the negative. Theres a better way. Recruiters search for people with relevant keywords in their current job title. Seeking is not a relevant keyword when a recruiter is looking for a Data Scientist. The most relevant keywords are Data, Scientist, Analyst, and having those words in your current title field tells LinkedIns software to include your profile in the search results. You may have those keywords listed in your past jobs, but your current title has special power to put your profile near the top of the list. So, what should you put in the title field if youre unemployed? Tell them what business youre in (or want to be in). Because the good news is: An unemployed Widget Developer is still a Widget Developer.Ditto for Product Manager, Marketing Specialist, Finance Executive, Human Resources Manager, Administrative Assistant, and so on. Youre still the type of professional you are, even if youre between roles at the moment. What about company? Listing your industry is a good choice here. Another option is to two or more companies youve worked at in the past, if theyre well known and respected. Or combine these two approaches, as Ive done in the Project Manager example below. Heres an example: Lets say youre a project manager. In the title field, you could write: Project ManagerPMP Certification, SDLC, Waterfall, Agile, and in the company field: Top Tech Firms including Google Workday. Doesnt that look a whole lot better than Seeking Employment at None? Whats with all those extra words in that title, Thea? Remember the importance of keywords and the extra power of the title field? You can load up your past job titles this way, too. Just be sure its transparently clear what your official title was. What do I put under Description? Keeping in mind you want keywords but also an engaging and readable profile, you could include: A description of your expertise and the type of role youre looking for A few of your best accomplishments, maybe heading them Career Highlights or Key Wins or such Quotes from your LinkedIn recommendations or other kudos youve received A list of your top skills Media: photos, charts or documents What if Im seeking a career change into a job I havent done before? Much of the above still applies. You might need to adjust the title a bit. Lets say you were in sales, with some experience in marketing. Now you want to go into marketing full time. Your title might be something like: Sales and Marketing Professional. Or if you were a public school teacher but you want to go into Learning Development (training), and youve earned a certification, you could use the certification as a job title: Associate Professional in Talent Development (APTD). Knowing how to update your LinkedIn profile when youre unemployed will help you get a great job sooner. And dont forget the basics. Read my post, 10 Tips for an Impressive LinkedIn profile.