Sometimes accounting, finance and IT professionals scoff at the mention of social media. Often because social media has little bearing on their job responsibilities, and determining a return on investment — especially for finance folks — can be difficult to measure. So, it comes as no surprise that popular social networks are often saved for personal use at home by these professionals, if at all. However, most working individuals agree that LinkedIn has become wildly used in the professional setting. In fact, it’s become the number-one professional social network in the world.
If you’re in search for a new job, whether accounting, finance or IT, this particular social platform should be an avenue of focus.
LinkedIn Statistics
LinkedIn has more than 330 million users, with more than 100 million residing in the U.S. The average LinkedIn user is over the age of 45, has a graduate-level education and makes more than $150,000 a year. These are all characteristics of people you’d want to associate yourself with when trying to locate that perfect tax manager, internal auditor or Java Developer role. And, more than 94 percent of recruiters use LinkedIn to source their candidates, according to 2014 LinkedIn statistics.
Therefore, whether you are an advocate of social media as a whole, or not, having a presence on LinkedIn is necessary in today’s job market, especially active job seekers. Millions of accounting, finance and IT professionals are active on LinkedIn. Your LinkedIn profile serves as a digital resume of your current and past experience, skills and qualifications. So, chances are hiring managers, recruiters and other like professionals are right at your fingertips to help you with your job search.
We wanted to share with you important tips for leveraging your LinkedIn profile in order to find your next accounting, finance or IT role.
Make yourself searchable
By having a fully optimized LinkedIn profile, you’re more likely to get found by hiring managers and recruiters looking to hire someone with your accounting, finance or IT qualifications! LinkedIn works as a two-way street in this respect. While it offers job opportunities for you to research and apply to, it also works as a database for hiring companies and recruiters to comb through. They perform searches based off of various filters which is why it’s essential to fully complete your profile. You want them to find you! Here are some tips:
- Look up someone with a similar job title as you, that has more than 150 connections, and copy some of the same key words or phrases that they use in their job description. When a hiring manager or recruiter searches for job responsibilities that you possess, your profile can populate in their searches.
- Customize your URL. You can modify the link to your profile so that it includes your first and last name, not just a jumble of numbers and characters. Once you claim your customized URL, you can include the link on your resume or in your email signature. This makes it easy to direct a hiring manager or recruiter to you online profile.
- Include a profile picture. Profiles with pictures show up higher in searches as well as look more professional to hiring managers and recruiters. Be sure to use an appropriate, professional-looking image that demonstrates your professional personality.
Increase your network
LinkedIn was created with the Kevin Bacon theory i.e. six degrees of separation in mind. You know someone who knows someone who knows someone…and so on. The whole purpose of LinkedIn is to increase your network exponentially through a digital means. By accepting LinkedIn connections, joining groups, following companies and sending requests to individuals who visit your profile, you’ll help build your network and increase your chances of finding individuals looking to hire you. You also find new available job opportunities you may not have seen posted elsewhere.
Further, LinkedIn groups drill down to almost every profession. There are groups for CFOs, groups for accounting and audit professionals, groups for financial analysts, groups for SQL Server developers — you name it! There are even groups for accounting, finance and IT professionals in search of new jobs!
Utilizing LinkedIn for its fundamental use, connecting you with other like professionals, will undoubtedly help you in your job search.
Be active
Finally, once you connect with other professionals and take the time to join groups and follow various companies, you have to then engage. By sharing articles to your news feed, commenting on other posts, starting discussions in various groups or commenting on other discussion topics, you’ll start to get recognized within your profession and industry. You’ll also start to appear higher in LinkedIn searches. Any of your activity on LinkedIn can show up if others search for related information. You can become an authority on various topics just because you’re active on LinkedIn — and find a new job at the same time.
All of these factors increase your exposure on LinkedIn, overall, and can help you land that next accounting, finance or IT job you’re searching for!
What are some other ways that you can leverage your LinkedIn profile to help in your accounting, finance or IT job search? Comment below and let us know!