ABBEY HINDLE ADVERTISING

In the final years of my university degree I have seen many transitions from an eager and excited first year student to a stressed and scared graduate. Having once thought we could rule the world the worry has finally set in as the term unemployment has slips into our vocabulary.

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This is no surprise after the many articles moving across our newsfeeds featuring the titles such as “unemployment to new graduates” let along the scary stats such as “2 thirds of university graduates will fail to find a job straight out of study” or “71% of graduates will still be looking for jobs well past 4 months“ (Financial Review, 2014).

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While I’m sure I have sparked your fight or flight responses and possibly set you into a job searching frenzy there are ways to beat unemployment and actually assist companies in seeking you out!

But instead of freaking you out how about some solutions?

LinkedIn is a great way to professionally grow your connections and get your name out there in your chosen industry.

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Companies find you through a special and specific algorithm. Essentially the more specific their search is to your profile the higher you appear in the search pages. The amount of people you have in common will make you more reliable, and the more skills people can vouch for the more desirable you will become. You want these to all be high in numbers and high in quality. So in order to be found you should alter your profile in 3 areas in order appear in their radar.

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1. Key Words

When making your LinkedIn profile you should only include key words that are straight to the point. This is because when companies are searching for potential employees they will only mention key words or roles such as “art direction” or “Photoshop” in the search bar. This narrows down the long list of people to those who only have the skills or experience required for the job. A way you can find these key words is by researching 5-7 job openings advertised in your field. There will be words repeated in the advert, which are obviously the skills, or traits they are hoping to find. Find the most reoccurring ones and place them in your profile so you are seen as the best fitting candidate.

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These companies are usually searching for Hard Skills, for example HTML coder, so be sure not to add soft skills like effective communicator forget the fluff words! No one will be searching for them. You should add these Hard Skill words in multiple places of your profile as the LinkedIn Algorithm is very much impacted by frequency.

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An important thing to note is that you should list your desired job somewhere in your profile so you fit all the boxes.

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2. Connections

You should also have as many connections as possible, but make sure they are relevant! While it’s good to have the numbers be sure to make sure they are in your general industry so you can branch out into the appropriate peoples networks. This is really important, as you need to have some form of connection to appear in someone’s search engine.

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To increase your amount of connections you should ‘connect’ with those around you. These include Family and friends, professors and college acquaintances, work colleagues and looking into the LinkedIn’s ‘People You May Know’. So remember more connections= more visibility.