2 LinkedIn 'MUST's for Job Seekers

In this market, you MUST leverage LinkedIn for 2 job search use cases: (1) general proactive networking with organizations of interest; (2) following up to all 'cold' applications, after you apply. This may seem forward and a bit uncomfortable to some, but unfortunately it's the new reality. Here's how to do it (including what to write)...

Locate your contact of interest, either the hiring manager of your role/the role to which you're applying; their skip-level; and for an application follow-up... a recruiter whom you believe may oversee hiring for that role, function and/or division.

Invite them to connect on LinkedIn (** with a personalized message**), and/or send them an InMail, if you have those available. 

For general networking: 

"𝘏𝘪 [𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦], 𝘐'𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 [𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺], 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘺 [𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘢𝘱/𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘟𝘠𝘡/𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 '𝘴𝘪𝘻𝘻𝘭𝘦' 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦]. 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘺, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 20-𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 [𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺] 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘴? 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘸, 𝘐'𝘥 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶." (You won't always get a response, but if you do this with 5-6 people, you may get a couple who say yes).

For application follow-up: 

"𝘏𝘪 [𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦], 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 ["𝘑𝘰𝘣 𝘛𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦" + 𝘫𝘰𝘣 𝘐𝘋/𝘳𝘦𝘲 #]. 𝘎𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘺 [𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘢𝘱/𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘟𝘠𝘡/𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 '𝘴𝘪𝘻𝘻𝘭𝘦' 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦]... 𝘐'𝘮 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘳. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩, 𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦!" (They may not respond, but as a veteran in-house recruiter, 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘦 when I say that - behind the scenes - they often 𝘥𝘰 pass along the interest to the right person. 

This is simply 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 in today's market. If you're not doing this, you're behind. #jobsearch #layoffs #4SightCoaching

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