With the support of your LinkedIn community, career opportunities may be closer than you think.
One of the easiest and most impactful ways to help you connect to a new job opportunity is by growing your LinkedIn network and engaging with them.
Proactively growing one’s network may come in handy when you’re looking for a job.
Based on data from the 2020 LinkedIn Opportunity Index, 82% of Malaysians are aware that knowing the right people or having the right connections is important to get ahead in life. This means that the door to your next opportunity might be just a connection away. Here are some tips that can help you.
Regularly offering your thoughts on conversations relevant to your desired industry, learning from your personal life, or gaining take-aways from a connection’s LinkedIn post is something you should explore. These not only help grow your network, but also show future employers or colleagues how you think and what you value.
In addition to posting your own content, a great way to share your insights is by finding information and conversations on topics that are interesting to you and commenting on them.
Searching hashtags is a fast way to do this. If you recently discovered a video conferencing hack that helped your team have more efficient meetings, search #videoconference and comment on posts with your advice.
You can also share your story and tag co-workers or close connections that may need similar advice. You can follow and join conversations for topics on LinkedIn by simply searching for a hashtag and hitting “follow.”
Recommendations are personal testimonials from your network that vouch for what you can do and what it is like working with you.
LinkedIn has made the process easier with a drop-down menu that allows you to reach out to specific contacts and request recommendations. Take time to personalise your request, let the person you’re contacting know that you value their opinion of you.
Pro tip: an excellent way to start a request? Recommend them first.
Go through your network and find people you feel comfortable endorsing. This is a two-way street — you feel genuine about endorsing them and their endorsement is something you’d deeply value.
Once you’ve endorsed them, they’d most likely return the favor. If they don’t, don’t be afraid to make a polite request for a recommendation.
We’ve also made it easier for LinkedIn members to share in a simple post that they are willing to offer a helping hand — by connecting people, reviewing resumes, or providing general job-seeking guidance — to others in their network.
LinkedIn has made available 10 Learning Paths free for Malaysians, aligned to 10 jobs that are in-demand in today’s economy and are well-positioned to continue to grow in the future.
These 10 jobs were identified as having the greatest number of job openings, have had steady growth over the past four years, pay a livable wage, and require skills that can be learned online.
All you need to do to get started is visit opportunity.linkedin.com to see current job opportunities and the different learning paths available. These 10 role-based learning paths are:
Software developer - Become a Software Developer
Sales representative - Become a Sales Representative
Project manager - Become a Project Manager
IT Administrator - Prepare for CompTIA Network+ Certification
Customer service specialist - Become a Customer Service Specialist
Digital marketer - Become a Digital Marketing Specialist
IT support/help desk - Prepare for the CompTIA A+ Certification
Data analyst - Become a Data Analyst
Financial analyst - Become a Financial Analyst
Graphic designer - Become a Graphic Designer
You can then share your completed learning paths with your LinkedIn network.
Engineers Without Borders member and mechanical engineer Ooi Teng Hao shared, “During this pandemic, I have been using my time taking up online courses to enhance both my analytical and coding skills. My goal is to be industry-relevant by identifying key skill sets that will be needed as we progress into the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4.0).
“Online learning platforms provide both professionals and students with the tools to learn during this crisis. LinkedIn Learning has given me the opportunity to keep on learning relevant skills such as cloud computing.
“In fact, I was very excited to apply my knowledge of cloud analytics at a Asean Data Science competition. I encourage everyone to be open to more opportunities through online learning, as this will add more value to both hard and soft skills."
According to Avinash Sagran, an experienced brand and marketing communications professional, “I realise that the current economic climate requires me to have more proficient marketing skills to stand out from the crowd of potential candidates.
“This is where online learning comes in. For example, as a marketer, I believe that having a good understanding of behavioural economics would be relevant to my field of work, especially in these trying times. And so, I’ve taken up online courses to develop this area, as well as other technical skills and soft skills.
“I believe lifelong learning will help me to improve my quality of life in the future. It will allow me to map out my career strategically and adapt to new work requirements easily.”
The more active you are, the higher the chance of landing your dream job.
So be proactive in all aspects. Keep endorsing, sharing, liking, and commenting - don’t be afraid to update your skills list regularly. Your skills today may not be the same skills you’d want to highlight next year. Your LinkedIn profile should reflect that.
Under the #OpenToWork feature on LinkedIn, job seekers can now indicate to employers and their network that they are ‘Open To Work’ by adding a specific photo frame to their online profile photo.
With these tips, you’ll be able to find the opportunity for you and even help others connect with theirs.
