Ready to harness the power of LinkedIn? We promise to transform your job searching and networking strategies, guiding you to unlock LinkedIn's full potential. Today, we're taking a deep dive into the LinkedIn job board, showing you how to master the art of keyword search and filters to nab your dream role - whether it's remote work, a job in your favorite city, or something else altogether.
Finding the right job is just the beginning. We want to help you find a job that aligns with your values too! We're going to explore the intriguing filters that are unique to LinkedIn, such as the commitments and benefits filters, that allow you to discover companies that align with your values such as diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as offer benefits that motivate you as an employee.
However, you can't have LinkedIn without networking. We've got a variety of strategic methods to craft compelling connection requests and conduct genuine networking. We also discuss the potential to continue your professional growth by using LinkedIn Learning. So get ready for a transformative journey into maximizing LinkedIn for your career development!
Access the Public Library LinkedIn Learning: https://www.linkedin.com/learning-login/go
CareeRise: www.careerrise.org
CareerConfidence: www.mjcareerconfidence.com
Follow Us on IG!
Follow Us on LinkedIn:
Ready to harness the power of LinkedIn? We promise to transform your job searching and networking strategies, guiding you to unlock LinkedIn's full potential. Today, we're taking a deep dive into the LinkedIn job board, showing you how to master the art of keyword search and filters to nab your dream role - whether it's remote work, a job in your favorite city, or something else altogether.
Finding the right job is just the beginning. We want to help you find a job that aligns with your values too! We're going to explore the intriguing filters that are unique to LinkedIn, such as the commitments and benefits filters, that allow you to discover companies that align with your values such as diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as offer benefits that motivate you as an employee.
However, you can't have LinkedIn without networking. We've got a variety of strategic methods to craft compelling connection requests and conduct genuine networking. We also discuss the potential to continue your professional growth by using LinkedIn Learning. So get ready for a transformative journey into maximizing LinkedIn for your career development!
Access the Public Library LinkedIn Learning: https://www.linkedin.com/learning-login/go
CareeRise: www.careerrise.org
CareerConfidence: www.mjcareerconfidence.com
Follow Us on IG!
Follow Us on LinkedIn:
Welcome back to Coffee and Career Hour everybody.
Speaker 2:Hi, hi. We hope you're doing well and sitting down, whether it's your morning drive to work or cleaning your living space or just wanting some good old career professional development listening episodes.
Speaker 1:With coffee in your hand, don't forget the coffee.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's what I was getting to. That's the loss of the amount of spaces in which you'd listen to a podcast. Yeah, because we listen to podcasts all the time In random places, yeah, yeah. So tell us in the comments what kind of coffee you're drinking while you're listening to Coffee and Career Hour. Or does it even have to be coffee? Any caffeinated drink? What are you drinking? Yes, mj's weird. I like to know about that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2:No, it helps me feel connected to our audience, just so you all know, MJ is very particular about her coffee. That's very true, so she will only drink certain types.
Speaker 1:It's a whole thing. So please do let us know, especially if you know of any good coffee brands.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Okay, time to get serious. Yes, okay. What are we talking about today, Armin?
Speaker 1:We are talking about LinkedIn, interacting with LinkedIn. So in our last episode we talked all about your LinkedIn profile how to develop and optimize your profile to work for you. So now we want to kind of talk about how to interact with LinkedIn and some of the features that you can use whether you're job searching or networking on there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're going to be talking about all the different aspects on LinkedIn and how to use them effectively to help benefit you as you're growing and evolving in your career and your professional development as well, so we're really excited to talk about that today. So, if we're interacting with LinkedIn, I signed in, I listened to our last episode, did my profile. Now I'm ready to start using it. What do I do first?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so one of the first things you can do. It kind of depends on where you are in your career journey.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like, what are you using the platform for Really? You have to decide that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we'll start talking a little bit about the job search process and then we'll talk about other features too. But let's say you're job searching. One of the first things you want to do after your profile is complete is go to the LinkedIn job board. Yeah so, the LinkedIn job board. We love it. We love it so much and more than other general job boards that are out there, just because there are some pretty unique features in that board and in the filters that it provides. So, for example, the job board, one thing we would recommend is, when you go to the jobs tab at the top, it doesn't give you all of the filters just yet. So this is something we kind of had to figure out on our own when we were interacting with LinkedIn. You want to type in in the keyword search, to type a position you're looking for, and this tends to be an issue with our students and our clients. That's true. What keywords do I put it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, On LinkedIn it'll prompt you to say you can search by a specific title, a skill or a company. I actually really enjoy that. It gives you those options because, as Arminay was saying, our students and clients have a hard time identifying, like keywords, specific roles, job functions that they really want to do. They know and they can describe it, but they don't know how to put it into a role or a keyword. So the fact that you can even search by skill or company is really helpful. But first you have to navigate I'm sorry, not navigate, narrow down what those keywords are for you. So if you're looking to go into public relations or journalism or communication the field of communication, maybe things that interest you are social media managers I think I said that I used that example last time marketing agents, public relations, public relation assistance, anything really to do with that and then you want to start seeing your search. I would also encourage you to look at the different roles and see what language they're using, so you can also go back and refine your search.
Speaker 1:Yes, I love that, because the truth is, companies kind of create their own titles as they please, so it could be the same type of job but, the title is completely different in one company than the other, so don't get so hung up on the name of the job title, don't worry too much about it. Just think of some general industry names skills, things like that that you could type in in the keyword search to get results related to what you're looking for. From then you can narrow down your search further.
Speaker 2:And once you've searched, once, look at the job description, look for keywords within there, because then you can also use that to refine your search. So using this search bar is very important and you want to be not super broad but also not very specific, because you don't want to pigeonhole yourself into a, like a Tom, a vision of specific roles and jobs. So this feature is really really cool, and also the fact that you can search by city state you know all those good location things, but also if you want to work remotely.
Speaker 1:Yes, which is really cool and I would say probably the only benefit of the pandemic is that there are remote jobs out there now and they're used to people very, very scarce. It's definitely increased, yeah.
Speaker 2:And hybrid. Yeah, I love a good all hybrid. Yeah, work schedule.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, we do enjoy a hybrid work schedule here, but you know you could go with your preference on that. Whether you are wanting in person, hybrid or tool, you can really filter by that, which is great. But before you could get to the filters you have to type in the keyword search.
Speaker 2:So that's the trick on.
Speaker 1:LinkedIn. Once you type that in and then click the search button, it's going to show many different positions. So, for example, I tried one with social media manager and it opened up a bunch of different positions related to that industry. And then it also started showing me the filters at the very top, and the filters include date, posted experience, level, salary range, company name. And then, if you click all filters, it even opens up a lot more.
Speaker 2:So some of the cool filters that that's set out to us include they include the benefits area, position level, where you can search like mid entry level. Entry level is a big one for some of our students and clients as well, and if you're switching careers, you may want to think about entry and mid level commitments. That's at the very, very bottom, which is so cool, right, Like seeing what the company or organization is committed to. And another one as you start using LinkedIn and the job board a lot more, you'll start to see that it shows you how many applicants have applied via LinkedIn, right. So this doesn't mean to the whole job as total, because the job is posted in a lot of different spaces and platforms, but on LinkedIn specifically, it tells you the number of people who have applied and you can even right. There's a specific filter that you can click on that says under 10 applicants, so you can be within a small range of applicant pools when you're applying to specific roles too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a really cool one, because we all know that there's hundreds of applicants per position out there. These days, it's really easy to kind of get lost in the crowd, so that's a great feature that LinkedIn has added, and I haven't seen that in other job search engines.
Speaker 2:No, LinkedIn is really unique and special in that way where it allows you to search for things that you want to search for and other job boards. Don't let you.
Speaker 1:Exactly. Another thing that's really cool about these filters is it has the fair chance employer feature, which is actually you could filter by employers who have fledged to consider applicants with criminal records. I love that. I didn't even know that existed. Yeah, it's by hand or filters, and it's really cool because otherwise how would you know if the company you would have to kind of apply, go through the process and then find out from their HR if you are eligible or not?
Speaker 2:Yeah, LinkedIn has a lot of areas of opportunity for different individuals with various experiences, backgrounds, identities can apply and you can really filter and narrow down the job, the job pool that's there for you too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, within the benefits one, a couple of things I wanted to highlight. I really liked that it had tuition assistance as one of the benefits. Yes, please, yes. I know anyone who's graduated recently or is planning to you know, after graduation work for a company that can either pay off their student loans or pay for their tuition. Any of that this is a great way to find those kinds of companies is it has a student loan assistance filter. It has a tuition assistance filter.
Speaker 1:So those are really great for anybody who is under a lot of student loan debt, like we are Very true.
Speaker 2:I'm also seeing paid. Yes, maternity leave is there, but also paternity leave. So, again, adhering to the wide variety and diverse communities that there are and different things like that. There's also like vision assistance, commuter benefits right, these are so important and things that you want to know and look for while you're working for the place that you're giving you know at least 40 hours of your time to every week.
Speaker 1:Exactly, exactly, because when you're working full time, it easily becomes, you know, a big part of your life. Like you spend more time at work than you do at home or with your friends or anything like that, so you want that employer to also benefit you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know very true.
Speaker 1:I want to also highlight the commitments filter. I mean mentioned that earlier, MJ. This is really cool. I haven't seen this in any other job search engine. You could filter by companies to see it. You know, if they have commitments that maybe you're also passionate about, such as diversity, equity and inclusion, or commitment to social impact, environmental sustainability, work life balance, career growth. So if you're passionate about any of these topics, you could filter to make sure the company also values the same things you value, which is we've talked about this in many other episodes it's so important to work for a company that is aligned with your values.
Speaker 2:I was just about to mention that. So it's a great reminder to really self assess what your values are and to who you're working for and how they align with what you value, because you definitely want to be happy and healthy in all areas of your life, especially in your job.
Speaker 1:So once you go through the filters okay, mj. Let's say I type in a keyword search, I go through the filters. I, you know, check off all the filters that are important to me. What's next?
Speaker 2:Okay, you check off all the filters, you're ready.
Speaker 2:Now is the most probably tedious part, which is going through all of the different positions that show up right, and LinkedIn, again, because it's so unique in this way where it has multiple different features and options to it.
Speaker 2:You can see different parts of the position right that are not would be normally considered on, like Google job or or indeed, or Glassdoor, such as, because it's a social media platform and site for you all.
Speaker 2:You can see, like maybe somebody in your network or in your connections also works at this, at this company or organization, or maybe they have, they've went to school there I'm thinking about institutions, that's why. So maybe they went to school there, or maybe it's an easy apply on LinkedIn where all you have to do is submit your resume. But this is the most tedious part, because now you have to go through each job posting, read the description, read the about the company, look at the skills, see who's there. And also, linkedin is really cool, right? So the one that I'm looking at, I put in the search bar consultant, and the first job that came up for me also shows me who's on the hiring team, so it even allows me the opportunity to see who may potentially be reading my application and who I can reach out to if I have any questions. And there are sometimes when LinkedIn also has the direct company link, so I can go and check out their profile too. But Arminate this is the most tedious part about the job search.
Speaker 1:Yeah, first of all, that's awesome that they listed the contact person's name, because when writing a cover letter you could address it to that person. So that's awesome, because it's really hard sometimes to find the name of the contact person. Let's say, you do have a question about the job or you're trying to address your cover letter directly to someone, so that's really awesome.
Speaker 1:It made it really simple for the applicant to be able to find that information. But you're right, this is the most tedious part because it's really it really is just going through the job postings, reading the descriptions, and I know as counselors what we've seen is that our clients sometimes really don't want to go through this process and they want a fast, easy, quick fix to this process. And I always have to break the news to them Like there is really no quick process here. You do have to go through and read the job descriptions.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the easy apply is a really cool feature because it takes a lot of that like that nuanced away from it. But I will tell you that this may not always benefit you right, so you can click easy apply to the first ton to jobs that show up. But then we'd have to take a look and say, okay, well, I sent a general resume to about a hundred different places. How many callbacks will I get? Not very many, because your resume and your cover letter and any other documents or information were not personalized towards the industry slash field or the position itself. So the recruiter right, the employer has a hard time seeing now how you are the best and most competitive candidate for this opportunity.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and even on the back end of that too, with easy apply how the application reaches them it's easier to get lost in the pool, because everybody was probably wanting to do easy apply right.
Speaker 1:But if you go through. So what I always recommend to my clients is if you go to the company website, find the position posting on their company website and actually go through their website application process. Yeah, even though it's a little bit longer and more tedious, it does have more of a guarantee that your application will reach the right place and won't get as lost in the crowd, and you've got a better opportunity to tailor all of your application materials to upload into their website. Versus with easy apply. It's more general, like you said.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I was also going to mention now that you're on the website, you can look at their mission, you can look at their values, you can look at the different teams they have. You can look at the different things of the website that intrigue you maybe the team you want to work for, or a project that you saw, or a product you're passionate about. Now that you're on the website and you're looking there, you really have the opportunity to tailor every piece of document that you'll be sending their way, so they don't have to do the extra work of trying to see how you will fit into this position, because you're already doing that piece for them.
Speaker 1:Exactly so. With that said, that is essentially the main components of the job search process on LinkedIn. The important thing is to use the filters to really narrow down, because there's thousands and thousands of job postings right so to avoid getting overwhelmed by all of them, because I know as a job seeker myself when I've searched for jobs in the past it could get really overwhelming and draining.
Speaker 1:That's the point where you want to stop because it's so many and you don't even know at that point like which one is a good fit, which one is not a good fit. But use the filter scenario down to avoid feeling overwhelmed from all of the postings and then from there have a system. So one thing we always tell our clients is have a system to keep track of the jobs that you are interested in.
Speaker 2:So whether that's an.
Speaker 1:Excel document, whether whatever format you want to use to kind of keep track, but have a system where you put the link of the job description, the title of the job description, the application deadline, when is it due? What application materials do they ask of you? Because some jobs might ask for very specific things like writing samples, case studies, like consulting ones might ask?
Speaker 1:for case studies, things like that. So, whatever job application materials they're asking for, make a note of that and then, once you submit the application, make a note in your chart that you submitted it. When you hear back from them who the context people are, any information that you can have about it to keep track of every single posting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was just about. You took the words right out of my mouth and you probably said them better, because I was gonna say always, always, always, save the job description and have a system, and how you want to organize all of this, because you have no idea how many times individuals will apply, forget the position they applied for, cannot find the job description to save their life. Now they have an interview, have no idea what position they're applying for, have no idea how to prepare for the interview, all these different things. So do yourself a favor get organized first thing.
Speaker 1:Yes, I love that. You mentioned that. That's happened to me before too where? I like yeah, I looked for the job. I was like wait, they took down the job posting, so what is the position now? So it's always important what I always do. After that experience I learned if I'm interested in a job, I will copy and paste that description into a Wordorg document. Yeah, and save that doc on my desktop so I can access it easily whenever I'm building my application materials, prepping for an interview or anything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and if you are the more traditional or old school and if you want to print it, that's also really cool. I really enjoy printing job postings, especially when preparing materials and for interviews, writing them down, annotating different skills, highlighting things that sit out to me, connecting examples from my past experiences. Or, if you're a little more techie, because it depends on the day and depends on if I've had hot coffee or cold coffee I'm just kidding, it really depends on what I want to use, because sometimes I really enjoy physically writing, highlighting, coloring, all that good stuff. But sometimes I also just like to save the PDF on my iPad and just write on my iPad and prepare that way too. So really, point of the story, right Point of this whole last five minutes, is get organized, save the damn job description.
Speaker 1:Yes, okay. So of course, we know that with LinkedIn, the job board is probably one of the most popular features on there. People are often searching for jobs and LinkedIn is definitely a trustworthy website, so the job search feature is one of the most popular ways to interact with LinkedIn. But in conjunction with the job search feature, there are other ways to interact with LinkedIn that could also benefit you if you're job searching or if you're not job searching and you kind of just want to expand your network.
Speaker 2:Yeah, linkedin has so many different features in which you can interact with, and then, more specifically, what we're getting at, too, is who you can interact with, right, so you'll notice that once you've made your profile, you'll start to see different people come up right, whether if you already have a couple of professional peers on there or if you don't, whatever, so have you, they are called specifically. Your network on here is called your connections right, it's called your connections, and if you have content code, the content creator mode on, you will also have things that are followers. Right, and followers and connections are two different things where think of a connection as more of a friend, right, someone you know, you see their updates, you see kind of what they're posting, and your followers are people who can see your posts and things that you share, but not intimately, so maybe like a position promotion or the start of a new job, or maybe something you write about a stressful day and how you handled it at work, right, so they're very different, but you can interact with people in this way on LinkedIn, which leads me to the messaging tab. Right, and you can message, I like to say, almost anyone. If you're fortunate to have, like LinkedIn premium, you literally can message anyone, but it's a little too expensive for what you can do with it, in my personal opinion. There's a lot different cool features, but having the free versions, absolutely fine. I have the free version, so it's not that big of a difference.
Speaker 2:But with messaging you can really message different people at different organizations and you'll start to notice everybody you start to see has different numbers next to their name. What am I talking about? I'm talking about first, second and third Individuals will have this next to their name and it depends on the levels of degree. You're separated from them, right? So you'll start to see individuals with first degree separation, where that means it's a connection of a connection, right? So friend of a friend, second degree, so on and so forth. Right, it's a connection of a connection, of a connection that you don't really know. So think about it that way and you'll start to see different people on here as well who you can connect with.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that kind of brings me to one of the most intimidating aspects of LinkedIn, which is that connection, messaging, networking aspect of it. Right, because we could create our profile and make it beautiful and make it a good representation of us. We could go on the job board and look for job postings, but then, when it comes to reaching out to people, that's usually what we see as the most intimidating part of.
Speaker 2:LinkedIn? Yeah, because you don't know what to say. You don't know who this person is. You don't know what their experience has been. You don't want to feel like you're bothering or annoying them. It's something we hear all the time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it breaks my heart when I hear that, because the reality is that we are human beings, we are social beings and we function in this world with one another. So the people who have the positions that they have, that you're also admiring, they got there by being mentored by someone, by asking questions, by trial and error and failure and success, so it's not like they were born into that position. So when reaching out to them, there's so much that can be learned from these folks. And, worst case scenario, I always say what's the worst that can happen if they don't respond? True, if they don't respond, it's a reflection of maybe that person not being in the space right now to be able to offer advice or mentor somebody.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I want to quickly add. I can't remember where I heard this, but I want to remind you that if somebody doesn't respond, they're not personally rejecting you. So they're not saying oh Armin, a message me, I'm not going to respond to her. People don't go around being mean just to be mean, and if you do, stop because that's not nice. So I remind you that people don't intentionally ignore you or don't respond because they intentionally do it. Myself, I have gone weeks without like responding to someone, just because the general abyss of my life is crazy and I forget that.
Speaker 2:I have LinkedIn and I need to connect with people on there. So I apologize if you're listening and I haven't messaged you back, but remember people aren't personally rejecting you, so don't take it. Where you're not going to the extreme, where you're not going to message another person because somebody didn't respond once, right. The best people get as far as they want in life because they don't stop trying.
Speaker 1:Yes, mic drop, it's a very inspirational statement, but it is very true. I mean, if one or two people don't respond, the third one will. It is likely that you're going to get a response from somebody on LinkedIn.
Speaker 2:However I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. I was going to say and follow up, Please follow up. If it's been one to two weeks or a month, follow up. Nothing's going to hurt. And if they don't respond again, that's okay. Just go to the next person right, Follow up. That's something I told the student today, so that's why I had to sorry, I had to stop you because I was like they asked me if they should follow up and I said heck, yes, you should follow up. You don't want to make sure you lose an opportunity because you didn't try.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, you're good You're going to make, because one time maybe the person might see it and then forget.
Speaker 1:And then when you follow up, they're like oh yes, I totally forgot to reply back. I meant to, and then you're likely to get a response. So follow up for sure. But I was going to say what do you say? Yes, however, it's the way you approach it to ensure that you are getting putting your best foot forward so you're likely to get a response. So it's not just sending a quick, it's not like a DM. You're not sliding into anyone's DMs here.
Speaker 2:Yes, you again. We should repeat that you are not sliding into anybody's DMs here on LinkedIn.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it's the messaging. Okay, the messaging gets a little tricky, though, depending on if you're connected to the person or you're not connected.
Speaker 2:Yeah, walk me through it, walk us through it.
Speaker 1:Yes. So if you find a person that you want to connect with and you're sending them a connection request, waiting for them to hopefully accept your request, there is a short message box that comes up and you can type in. It's a very brief, probably like a couple of sentences.
Speaker 2:I think it's like a hundred or 300 characters, something along those lines.
Speaker 1:Very short so you could barely feel like two to three sentences there max. But I always recommend, when sending a connection request to somebody that you don't know, always fill in the message box so you can introduce yourself and in that introduction you always want to start with your name, your affiliation. So if, let's say, they went to the same school you're going to or they worked at a company that you are interested in or somehow maybe you have a common connection, mutual connection, whatever affiliation you can find, state that in the very first line of your message to catch their attention, and then finish off that message by saying I'd love to connect with you and learn from you because I'm also interested in X, y and Z field. And then, once they actually accept your connection request, then you're able to send a real message, a longer message, through kind of like the chat I don't want to say chat, but like the messaging feature on LinkedIn where there's really no character count.
Speaker 1:You can type up an essay in there if you want and have full on conversations with people via the messaging app.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and a lot of people do use this and have genuine conversations on here. This is where I want to quickly address, like when you're talking to people, now you're connected and now they're in your network, right, the people in your connections section whatever you want to call it group they are your network. Now it's up to you to really identify who are the people you are going to job network with and who are the people you're going to career network with right.
Speaker 2:Because as soon as you make that connection and you start talking and you start asking for information, interviews or whatever, so have you? You have to make the distinction. Am I reaching out to this person to find out more about the position they hold or the open position on their team or the company they work for right Informational interview questions or am I reaching out to this person for mentorship or guidance or things like that? They can go a little bit hand in hand and a career I'm sorry, a job network person can turn into career network person. But it's really important to make that distinction because a lot of the time that's why individuals feel really awkward about networking, because they have this idea that networking only fits the sole purpose of looking for a new opportunity and it feels like you're using people or taking advantage and we don't want to feel that way. But it's important to make that distinction. Job networking short-term goal right, looking for a next opportunity, career networking long-term goal. Like I always say, networking and your network is a garden. Career networking is watering that garden.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah and with that said, we've talked about this in a previous episode too is like when networking you don't want to come across as you're only reaching out to them to find a job yes, right, which is why we encourage career networking, so that, one the time comes, you're looking for a job, you don't have to do job networking. You already have your career network that you have authentic or relationships with or conversations with, that you don't have to worry about finding new people to network with right, because you're job searching. So, with that said, we encourage you, no matter which phase you're in and which type of networking you're doing, you still want the conversations to be authentic and in your approach, in these messages, it's more about you wanting to learn from them, not you asking them for a job.
Speaker 2:Very true, and we will tell you that people actually prefer you to be straight up too. So if, in the case, you are in a rush looking for a job, just say it too. Don't make that your first sentence. Please don't make that your first sentence, but throw it in there that you are seeking out opportunities to grow and to evolve and expand in your career. Be honest with them from the front, because that's the last thing you don't want to do to a connection or somebody in your network is not really tell them the whole truth. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you just want to embed it into your story. So maybe schedule that informational interview or a phone call meeting, have a conversation, ask them a few questions about the field and then in that conversation you bring up that you're in the transition phase and you're looking for new opportunities. Like you said, I'm ready to learn and grow. So it still comes off very authentic because you're embedding it into your conversation. Right, you don't want to put in that very first message I'm looking for a job. Please accept my connection request.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's very awkward, and then maybe somebody might intentionally not respond to you. That could be the case.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. So these are the major ways to interact with LinkedIn, right Like? The platform is mainly used for expanding your network and job searching, and actually they go hand in hand. They really can't do one without the other.
Speaker 2:Yeah, linkedin is a great platform, as we were talking about last time. In our last episode, we were discussing how to create a solid profile right Things that you may not have known, but that will be really beneficial in you creating your online presence and establishing your personal brand. Now, after you've done that, you can take this episode and all of the tips and information and use it to networking, using the different features and really showcasing yourself and evolving in your career and professional development.
Speaker 1:Yeah, speaking of evolving in your career and professional development, linkedin has a great feature called LinkedIn Learning, yes, that you can use to really advance in certain skills. Add it to your resume, get certifications in specific areas. So LinkedIn Learning is basically like an online set of modules on a variety of different topics, ranging from soft skills, transferable skills to technical skills. So let's say you're searching for a job and you're noticing the job descriptions, that it asks you for a specific skill. I always say this this is your skills gap, right? You're analyzing the job description. You identify a gap. They're looking for something. You don't have it. So how can you gain that before you apply to this job?
Speaker 1:You can look to LinkedIn Learning and look for the specific topic. So, let's say, microsoft Excel is something they need you to know how to use and maybe you're not so confident in your Excel skills. You can go on to LinkedIn Learning. There are some of them are paid, some of them are free, depending on the level of content it's covering, type in the topic that you're trying to learn and find different modules. Pick the one that works for you at self-paced. It's not graded. It's not an academic course. It's just self-paced modules and usually has video components and things like that, and some of them certify you at the end. But whether you get a certification or not, you could put this on your resume that you completed a LinkedIn Learning course in this given topic and that will at least show the employer as well if they're looking for that skill. At least you've got some familiarity with that skill set that they're asking.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and guess what, linkedin Learning is free if asterisk here if you have a public library card. So you definitely need a public library card which is free to be able to access LinkedIn Learning and you have access to over like 5,000 videos, training, certification modules, whatever it is that you want. Really, that'll help boost you wherever you are in your career and professional development, for you to be the best you.
Speaker 1:Yes, we will add the link to the LinkedIn Learning public library website in the show notes. So if you're interested, check the show notes for that link so you can access this amazing tool. But it is one of the gems that LinkedIn offers.