Branding yourself effectively is essential in today’s labor market. It’s important to “sell yourself,” and market your skills to land a career that you’re after. And a huge part of selling yourself to employers is how you appear online.
In 2003, the social networking site, “LinkedIn” was founded, with the intention of being a place for professionals to connect with ease. Today, the site has over 238 million registered users with over 3 million business pages [links]. Now that’s some serious opportunity to connect... right?
Well, sort-of. In What Color is Your Parachute by Richard Boles (2012 edition), Boles says that research has shown that only 4 out of 100 job-seekers who use only the internet to job-hunt are successful. He does note, however, “If you are seeking a technical or computer-related job... the success rate rises, to somewhere around 10 percent.” (sweet for us CS majors)
I suspect these numbers will go up as services like linkedin improve, and employers get more comfortable with them. But for now, linkedin is less about job-hunting and more about professional image. Two of Boles’ “best ways to hunt for a job” are: asking for leads from family members and friends (33% success rate), and knocking on the door of any employer that interests you (47% success rate). Once you’ve gotten in contact with those employers, then linkedin comes into play. An employer who is interested and is worth their salt will look you up (especially in computer-related industry), and having a good online impression is key.
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| The incredibly simple to use Skills section of linkedin |
Linkedin continues to make soliciting your value as an employee easier and easier. It currently functions as a great tool for employers to evaluate prospect employees. Hopefully soon it’ll become the main place employers look to fill positions in the first place.
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