How to find jobs on LinkedIn

One of LinkedIn’s sources of income is by the advertising of jobs on LinkedIn. On any given day there are literally thousands of jobs covering many different countries and professions. Whilst looking for jobs using the [Jobs] tab is obvious, there are many more places to find jobs.

Let’s take a look at some tips on how to find a job by browsing LinkedIn.

1) The [Jobs] tab

If you are looking for a job, then your first port of call is the [Jobs] tab. You can search by company, job title or keywords. When you click on the search icon, LinkedIn will display the results of the search criteria for your country. But the results screen has a lot more information available to you if you look. Let’s take the example of a search for “intern”.

The centre section will display all the jobs that include “intern” in the title or job description. You can display these results by relevance, relations or date posted (either most recent or earliest). Now, take a look at the job title and below it you will see if any of your connections or anyone in your network, work there. Click on the link to view the job description. You get the option to apply for the job e.g. using your LinkedIn profile or via the company website, or you can save the job listing for later.

The left-hand section allows you to use more advanced search functionality, so for example you could add a specific company, change country etc. to change or filter your results. Now, scroll down, and look at the “Relationship” section. This is a filter that shows how many of your connections are connected to the company’s whose jobs are displayed. When you click on 1st connections, the jobs where you have friends working for the company are shown. Click on the link to the job and on the right-hand side, you’ll see who that person/people are.

At the top right had side, you have the option to save the search. When you click on the “Save search” link, you then get the option to create alerts using that search criteria. The alerts can be sent out never, daily, weekly or monthly. If you are actively seeking work, then set up daily alerts. You will then be sent daily emails with jobs matching your search criteria.

2) The [Careers] tab in a Companies profile

Many of the larger companies can afford to pay to use the careers tab in their company profile. If you are looking to work at a specific company, then use the [Jobs] tab to set up email alerts for jobs posted by that company, but remember the careers section provides a lot of information and updates about the company.

3) The [Jobs] tab in Groups

If a group owner wishes to, they can have a [Jobs] tab displayed in the group settings. Whereas jobs posted in the [Jobs] tab, and seen in the [Careers] tab in the Companies profile are paid for, those jobs posted as discussions in a group are not. What you will also notice is that is that some jobs that are paid for are also shared to groups where the person who posted the job is also a member of the group. This allows them to target applicants with a certain skillset for example project managers.

To see which groups that you are a member of has posted a job, simply click on [Interests], then [Groups]. Under each group icon you will see if there are any new discussions and how many jobs have been posted.

Alternatively, you could carry out a search of groups, using “jobs” (jobseekers, recruitment or hiring) as the search criteria. There are over 30,000 of them. Next, filter by your spoken language and 1st connections to find more relevant groups. Look at which groups are most active and consider joining some of them.

4) Through contacts

One statistic that you may find interesting is that in 2012, 19% of jobseekers had a contact share a job. Some companies offer referral fees if an employee can suggest someone for a job. From their point of view, this saves them the cost of advertising and someone is vouching for them. When thinking in terms of networking therefore, look at people not just in a position of hiring such as HR staff and managers, but also develop relationships with your peers at the places that you would like to work at.

5) The [Home] tab

On the [Home] tab, you will occasionally see recruitment agents post a job via an activity update. Some even offer a referral fee if you can suggest someone who meets their criteria. In this instance, you just have to keep an eye out. If you are lucky, a contact may notice and suggest you, but don’t be afraid to suggest one of your connections. They may not get the job, but the will remember that you helped and will in all likelihood reciprocate.