Whether you contact a recruiter yourself or happen to hear from one through LinkedIn, an email, or a phone call, you should be prepared beforehand — so today we’re sharing tips on how to work with a recruiter. We’ve collected seven great tips on how best to use a recruiter, including some directly from Corporette readers — and we’d love to hear more in the comments! 

First, a quick LinkedIn tip: Make sure you’ve selected “Open to Work” feature on your profile. You can choose whether everyone on LinkedIn or solely recruiters can see that you’re interested in hearing about job opportunities. (The site tries to prevent recruiters at your employer from seeing this.)

For all the details, check out the “Open to Work” help page. One reader noted that she heard from a recruiter the day after she turned the feature on! Also, make sure your profile contains the words/phrases that a recruiter in your field would search for. 

{related: Are there differences between LinkedIn and your resume?}

7 Great Tips on How to Work with a Recruiter

1. Don’t provide your resume until the recruiter has found a specific opportunity you’re interested in. If they start sharing your resume, it’s more likely that your employer will find out that you’re job hunting. In the meantime, the recruiter can use your LinkedIn profile information and the info you’ve given them via email or phone.

2. Speaking of resumes, ask to review the final version of your resume before a recruiter submits it to an employer. One reader mentioned hearing horror stories in which recruiters substantially changed a candidate’s resume and then shared it without notifying them (eek).

3. Consider only using recruiters whom your friends or colleagues have personally. Not all recruiters will have your best interests in mind, of course, and not all recruiters are as ethical as you’d hope.

4. If a recruiter reaches out with a position you’re not interested in leaving your job for, but you’d consider making a move for the right opportunity in the future, tell them, and ask them to keep you in mind. You can also say that you’re not actively looking but would like to hear more about a particular opportunity.

Treat it like an informational interview — and get some practice talking about your skills and accomplishments. Simultaneously use it to screen a recruiter by seeing how well-informed they are about an opportunity beyond what’s in a job description. 

Psst: here are some of our latest posts on job hunting!

• What to Look For in Interview Flats
• The New Job Negotiations
• Where to Find Interview Suits if You’re Pregnant
• How Many Paid Vacation Days Do You Get Every Year?
• Gray Suits for Interviews?

5. Remember that a recruiter is going to get paid if you take a job, so that’s their angle. Do your own research, ask targeted questions, and take what they say with a grain of salt sometimes. Brace yourself for recruiters’ sales-y tactics. 

6. Be aware that companies (especially smaller ones) may prefer candidates who apply directly — that way, they can avoid paying a recruiter fee. On the other hand, recruiters may be able to inform you of job openings that haven’t been listed on employers’ websites.

7. Work with at least two recruiter firms — but not too many. One might not be enough for you to learn about enough opportunities, but if you work with several at once, it can become challenging to keep track of where you heard about various job openings, etc., and duplicates will become more common.

Readers, do you have advice to share on how to work with a recruiter? Have you ever been hired after working with a recruiter? What do you think led to your success?

Stock image via Deposit Photos / monkeybusiness.

Psst: These are some of our favorite books if you’re considering changing your career:

The post How to Work with a Recruiter: 7 Great Tips appeared first on Corporette.com.

Here’s an interesting question for 2020: Does a link to your LinkedIn supersede your resume? What are the differences between LinkedIn and your resume? 

We’ve talked about newer resume rules you may not know about, as well as the best LinkedIn settings for job hunting, how to secretly use LinkedIn to change careers, and how to get the most out of your LinkedIn profile — but we haven’t really talked about how to USE your LinkedIn profile in your job hunting adventures.

Some backstory here: A woman I know recently applied for a city council position in her small town, attaching a link to her LinkedIn profile instead of her resume. She was upset that she was rejected from the position without anyone clicking on the link, as she could see from her “who’s viewed your profile” information. In her mind, she was rejected without anyone looking at her resume, even though she submitted it “the more modern way”… but I suspect the people interviewing thought she had not attached any resume at all. 

What Are the Differences Between LinkedIn and Your Resume?

So let’s discuss. I’m curious for what you guys say here, but here are my thoughts for why a link to your LinkedIn profile does not supersede your resume: 

• A LinkedIn profile is not easily printable. Admittedly, almost everything is online and via Zoom calls lately, but I think that a lot of interviewers (particularly when there is a group reviewing resumes!) would rather look over printed resumes in their hand versus online profiles.
• LinkedIn is not customized. One of the big suggestions I have for people who are considering different career paths is to create more than one resume to emphasize different aspects of your experience and skillset — even just to make small changes in the wording or order of items. But particularly if you’re applying to a new potential career path, I don’t think a LinkedIn link would be helpful at all.
• LinkedIn is public. I may be in a slightly odd situation because I own my own business, but I absolutely think that any future resumes of mine will include numbers that I would not include in a public arena, whether they’re regarding traffic or revenue. 
• There’s a very real apathy/competency check with resumes (vs LinkedIn). Do you care about your resume? Are there typos? Have you formatted your resume properly so it prints well? Is it as brief as possible, or are you that 23-year-old who thinks you need three pages? 

I think there are times when a LinkedIn profile link might be appropriate, such as when it’s a “here’s who I’m connected to!” kind of email, or a “look I DO have a college degree now can we move past this silly requirement to volunteer for the alumni Halloween party” or something like that. (Which, perhaps, it could be argued a seat on city council is equivalent to…) That said, though, in general I don’t think the old-fashioned, PDF’d resume is going anywhere. Looking around the web, I noticed that The Muse, Undercover Recruiter, and Top Resume think there are real differences between the resume and LinkedIn as well. 

Readers, what are your thoughts — what are the differences between LinkedIn and your resume? When should you use one versus the other?

Full disclosure: I own stock in Microsoft, which is the parent company of LinkedIn.

Stock photo via Stencil.

The post Are There Differences Between LinkedIn and Your Resume? appeared first on Corporette.com.

If you type in the phrase “is LinkedIn still relevant” on Google, the autocomplete suggestions include “is LinkedIn still relevant 2015,” “is LinkedIn still relevant 2016,” and so on — and since the answer for 2018 is still yes, it’s worth knowing how to get the most out of your LinkedIn profile. 

The recommendations in our older post on the best LinkedIn settings for job hunting are still relevant, and you can also take a look at LinkedIn’s video guide on adjusting account and privacy settings.

Psst: We’ve also discussed new resume rules, job searching when you’re super busy, unusual ways to get your resume noticed, and applying when you don’t meet the job requirements.

Here are tips for how to get the most out of your LinkedIn profile:

1. Don’t wait until you change jobs to change your profile. Keep it updated with your professional accomplishments — papers, projects, presentations, and more.

2. Write your headline carefully, and be specific about who you are and what you do. Here’s a helpful 4-part headline formula from career expert Laura Smith-Proulx.

3. Improve your profile URL. If you haven’t already, customize it with your name to get rid of that random string of numbers.

4. Don’t have a profile picture that’s clearly a selfie. A photo taken with your computer’s camera is better, but not ideal — if you don’t ask someone to take a headshot for you, you can always prop up your phone somewhere and use the timer function of the camera. This story from The Balance has a lot of specific tips on what your photo should look like.

5. Get rid of that boring, generic profile summary. Make it clear what you can offer employers — include your accomplishments, goals, interests, and skills using your industry’s relevant keywords. Don’t make it too formal — this isn’t your resume.

6. Try to avoid the most overused words. LinkedIn’s “Top 10 Global Buzzwords” for 2018 (just announced a couple of weeks ago) are “specialize,” “experienced,” “skilled,” “leadership,” “passionate,” “expert,” “motivated,” “creative,” “strategic,” and “focused.” (Ladders News also wisely warns against “ninja,” rockstar,” “pivot,” “guru,” “wizard,” and “god.”) Although the advice is specifically aimed at people working in sales, this blog post from HubSpot offers some better ways to describe what you have to offer.

Psst: These are some of our favorite books if you’re considering changing your career:

Do you use LinkedIn? How often do you update your profile? Do you have any tips for other readers on how to get the most out of your LinkedIn profile? Do you often get contacted by employers/recruiters on the site or see that you frequently come up in searches? If you do now but didn’t before, what have you changed that made a difference?

Picture via Stencil.

The post How to Get the Most Out of Your LinkedIn Profile appeared first on Corporette.com.

Ladies, do you sometimes feel a little intimidated or confused by LinkedIn privacy settings and LinkedIn etiquette? If you say “open to new job opportunities” or significantly update your profile, is that a red flag to your boss? Is it creepy if people see that you’ve been looking at their profiles? 

We did a story many moons ago about how to secretly use LinkedIn to change careers, and I thought it would be helpful to everyone if we did an update on LinkedIn settings, whether you’re looking to change careers or just generally job hunting or networking. – Kat 

Whether or not you’re one of those people who complain that LinkedIn is turning into Facebook, it’s important to keep up with the site’s changes and new features and to always know what your privacy settings are. (By the way, if you don’t have two-step verification set up, which became an option a few years ago, go do that right now.)

Have you noticed the recent changes made to the LinkedIn Settings page? It’s simpler and more streamlined, but you might find it harder to locate certain options you’ve used in the past. Now is a great time to make sure you’ve got the optimal Linkedin settings for privacy — especially if you’re looking for a new job.

Here’s a brief guide to ensuring your job hunting (and networking with an eye to job hunting) activities stay private by picking the right LinkedIn settings:

{related: how to get the most out of your LinkedIn profile}

Psst: These are some of our favorite books if you’re considering changing your career:

Turn off your activity updates

Even if you’re not looking for a new job, making tons of updates to your LinkedIn profile or following a lot of companies in quick succession will make it look like that’s just what you’re doing. To make this kind of activity private, go to “Privacy & Settings,” and then the Privacy section, and look at “Sharing profile edits.” Choose “no” for “Should we let people know when you change your profile, make recommendations, or follow companies?”

Browse other people’s profiles anonymously

If you want to be discreet about checking out employee profiles at companies you’re researching, it’s easy to make your cyberstalking — I mean, profile-visiting — anonymous. Go to “Privacy & Settings,” and then the Privacy section, and look at “Profile viewing options.” Choose “Private mode” for maximum discretion. (The tradeoff: When you select this setting, you’ll no longer be able to find out who’s viewed your profile.)

Keep your group activity private

A group-joining frenzy can definitely reveal that you’re job hunting (especially, of course, if the groups are meant for announcing job openings), so turn off the setting that shows your connections which ones you’ve joined. To find this option in your LinkedIn settings, go to “Privacy & Settings,” and then the Communications section, and look at Group notifications. Choose “no” for “Would you like to publish an update to your network whenever you join a group?”

If you don’t like the new LinkedIn settings look, use the old one (for now)

We’re not sure how long this will be an option, but if you want to go back to the old LinkedIn settings view, you can. Click “Go to previous version of Settings” at the bottom of the page after you navigate to “Privacy & Settings.” (You may have to enter your password again.) You’ll find both “Choose whether or not to share your profile edits” and “Select what others see when you’ve viewed their profile” in the Profile tab, as well as “Turn on/off notifications when joining groups” in the Groups, Companies & Applications” tab. 

What are the activities on Linked that you should let others see? 

Now that we’ve talked about the actions that job seekers shouldn’t make public on LinkedIn, here’s some advice from an HR professional regarding what you do want others to see: “When you’re job searching, take the time to be active on LinkedIn, “liking” and sharing articles — this will demonstrate that you follow your industry and profession,” says Lisa Shuster, president of WorkMoreHuman, an HR consulting company in the D.C. metro area. “Consider blogging to validate your relevance and show that you’re a subject matter expert, and have LinkedIn references that are current and speak to your expertise.”

Have you changed your settings on LinkedIn before starting a job hunt? Have you ever made any mistakes that revealed more than you wanted to about your LinkedIn activity? How much do you actually use LinkedIn for networking and job searching?

Psst: here are some of our latest posts on job hunting!

• What to Look For in Interview Flats
• The New Job Negotiations
• Where to Find Interview Suits if You’re Pregnant
• How Many Paid Vacation Days Do You Get Every Year?
• Gray Suits for Interviews?

2020 updated images via Stencil. Originally pictured: linkedin, originally uploaded to Flickr by sue seecof.

The post The Best LinkedIn Settings for Job Hunting appeared first on Corporette.com.

Should you friend your boss on Facebook or other social media sites? What about colleagues? What do you do when your superior sends you a request?  We haven’t talked about Facebook and bosses for a long time, so I thought we’d revisit.

While there are still a ton of amusing stories of people getting fired when their boss saw stupid stuff on Facebook (Buzzfeed, HappyPlace), a recentish (2014) study says that adding your boss to your social networks can have advantages (Time).

For my $.02, I agree with most of the experts: privacy controls are HUGE here.

I keep a variety of different friend lists anyway — one very small one for my BFFs, a general one for my friends, one for parent-friends (so I don’t annoy my single/childless friends with a bunch of baby questions), and one for Brooklyn friends (so I don’t annoy friends elsewhere if I see a good deal somewhere local).

To be honest, I’d probably keep my boss off all of them but the general one for my friends.

LinkedIn can be another ball of wax — it can be a great job-search tool, but it’s tough to use it if your boss is already your friend. (Here’s our last guide to using LinkedIn secretly, as well as some of our review of the best LinkedIn settings for jobhunting.)

What about the other social media sites — Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, TikTok, etc, etc — how liberally do you use those as ways to connect with your friends (versus using them without much expectation of connection with your friends, such as pinning a million different ideas to Pinterest for a home renovation project or something, or using Twitter as a newsfeed). Do you often send things to Facebook from the other social media sites?

Ladies, what are your thoughts? Have you friended your boss and other colleagues on social media? (Do you think less of people who seem to be on all the time, or use it solely for whining or boasting?) If you ARE the boss, what’s your take on it?

Psst: some must-read business books for women: one / two / three / four / five…

Photo credit: Shutterstock/Nicolesa.

The post Should You Friend Your Boss On Facebook? appeared first on Corporette.com.

How do you use LinkedIn to get a new job — without alerting your coworkers or boss that you’ve got one foot out the door? Reader B has a GREAT question about how to secretly use LinkedIn to change careers:

I am nearly six years into my first job, which is in commercial insurance. I want to transition out of this industry and thought augmenting my LinkedIn profile would be helpful (to show up in search results, connect to new contacts, etc.). HOWEVER, my entire work history and a good proportion of my contacts skew insurance. Since my current co-workers can view my profile (through second and tertiary contacts – I am not directly linked to any of them at present), I don’t want to raise any red flags at my office. Any suggestions?

Excellent question! I’ll be 100% honest here: whenever I get a little LinkedIn activity notification that someone has updated their experience, I wonder whether they’re starting to look around for a new job. I suppose it’s a bit like wearing a suit — if you never, ever wear a suit to the office and then one day, you do, everyone starts to wonder whether you’ve had an interview that day. But if you’re savvy about your LinkedIn usage, though, you can get around that.

(2020 updated images via Stencil. Originally pictured (“shhh” written on finger): Secret, originally uploaded to Flickr by val.pearl.)

{related: here’s all of our advice on LinkedIn}

I think there are two phases to using LinkedIn to change careers.

Psst: These are some of our favorite books if you’re considering changing your career:

Even this can be tricky, but if you change your settings you can do it mostly on the down-low. (Log in –> click your name on top right –> “Settings” –> Privacy. You can turn off your activity broadcasts, limit who can see your activity feed, and more.

You may want to ask a friend who’s privy to your job-hunting plans to make sure that these settings have worked. All LinkedIn groups are supposedly members-only, but you may want to check to make sure that your friend can’t see if you’ve recently joined job hunting groups or the like.

I would recommend using the research phase to a) figure out which skills you need to acquire in order to transition, as well as which skills you should highlight when you update your own resume, and b) figure out who you may know who you can talk to off-line.

Look for people who are in your ideal career, as well as people who have transitioned out of your current career and how they did it — even if they’ve transitioned to a different career they may have some great tips for ways to distill your insurance-specific skills and experiences into a more general resume. 

{related: check out more of our advice on changing careers!}

I think you have two ways to go here: the first is to build up your LinkedIn profile so it resembles the resume you’re shopping around — focus on your general skills, decrease your insurance-specific experience, showcase all of the new-career-specific groups you’ve joined, and so forth. The second option is to DECREASE your online footprint — just have the companies and years on there, and hide some of the insurance-specific groups that you’ve joined. Your LinkedIn profile won’t really be working for you — but it won’t hurt you either by making you seem like a diehard insurance fan.

I do think there’s a third phase as well, which is what most people seem to address when talking about how to use LinkedIn for job hunting — commenting on various groups so you’re thought of as an expert, having a very built-out LinkedIn profile so recruiters can find you, even changing your headline to something like “Experienced insurance manager looking to transition to X.” 

I think a lot of this advice is better suited for people who have been laid off, or are hunting for a new job out of school — but if you’re actively employed it can be a little hard to make those changes without making it obvious that you’ve got one foot out the door.

Readers, what are your best tips on how to secretly use LinkedIn to change careers or hunt for jobs? Have you found that it helped you, hurt you, or didn’t make a difference in your last job change?

This post was originally published Sept. 27, 2012, but last updated July 27, 2020. 

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