The days of submitting your resume to an online portal (and getting a call back), are virtually dead. It’s hard to believe, but all that time, energy and effort you’ve spent filling out endless tabs of personal information on company career pages or answering questions on “your greatest career achievements,” almost never generate interviews. It wastes time and is distracting you from gaining other achievable opportunities. And yes, I do know that you know that already, and yet you continue to do it, right?
I tend to take a hard stance on this topic, but only because my experience has shown me that the single most effective way to initiate meetings with people who can secure interviews is to make a professional connection with them on LinkedIn. It’s really that simple? The answer is, yes. The best way to get an interview is to know someone who can get you one. And this starts with LinkedIn.
So, do you message anyone and everyone who pops up on your feed and say:
“Hey X, I see that you know Y who works at Z. Can you arrange an interview with them for me?”
If you want to have the same chances you would at securing that interview as you would by submitting your resume to its online portal, then take this approach. But, if you really are looking to move into the career you want, take my advice and start leveraging your relationships right here on LinkedIn and right now.
Here’s how you get started….
1) Have a plan: You need to determine what you want to do, where you’d like to do it and which people are going to get you there. Your target list has to be strategic.
2) Close in on your target(s): Once you’ve identified the key influencers you need to connect with, start connecting with them! But don’t do it in mass and too quickly. Carefully and strategically personalize your invitations. You have to show people you are truly interested in them!
3) Leverage your acceptances: So they’ve accepted your invitation, but ignored your personalized message included in the invite. Now what? Using their contact information listed on their page, send them a direct email and get things going. Most of the time, people don’t respond unless it sources to their direct email. Make sure you repeat much of what you said in that personalized invite, and give them compelling reasons to want to reply to you. Remember, networking is always a two-way street!
Once you’ve created and mastered this plan, leads will start appearing and sooner than later, you’ll be handing in your resume (the one we carefully put together; see my last blog) in person and making your way to the next interviewing phase. Networking your way into the job you want, one lead at a time!
Stay tuned for future blog posts where I cover EXACTLY what you should be saying to your new LinkedIn connections and how to leverage those conversations! In the meantime, keep reading all my content here on the website, and if you haven’t yet, sign-up for my free report Hiring Managers Will Find YOU on LinkedIn that lays out each phase of meeting people on LinkedIn and strategy on setting your page up for success.
Also make sure to keep an eye out for all of my upcoming webinars which will offer jam-packed tips and strategies that will leapfrog you ahead of your competition and into the job you’ve always wanted!
Looking forward to charting your course to success!