Soar with the eagles - how not to apply for a job on LinkedIn

I love the recruitment process. To me as a business owner it is accompanied by a sense of excitement about what the future might hold – so much promise around who will join our team and make our world, our business a better place.

In my twenty years in business, recruitment has changed; most notably through the internet and service offerings such as Seek and LinkedIn. My most recent foray into online recruitment led to a fantastic result but the journey was full of surprises for me. Given that the practices of many will no doubt lead them to long bouts of unemployment I thought I’d share my experiences and a couple of tips about what works and what probably doesn’t.

1 - Your LinkedIn Profile is Not Your Resume

No, really, it’s your LinkedIn profile. Why would you respond to a job advertisement when your only effort is to send through your profile from LinkedIn? When did that become an option? Straight out of the blocks you come across as someone who cares nothing about the opportunity.

2 - Read the Job Ad. Respond to the Job Ad

Yes, when it says, ‘please don’t send me a standard resume, write to me and tell me about yourself’ it stands to reason you would do just that if you want to be considered for the role.

3 - Customise your Resume

Hard as it might be, I believe it is important that you take your story and make it relevant to the opportunity at hand. And while you are there consider whether that sandwich hand job you had 30 years ago really counts for the job you are applying for today.

4 - When you get to the interview think before you speak

I had two situations that come to mind. One, a candidate told me he was high maintenance. Yes, he told me that. He also spent most of the interview telling me how he would run my business. Even after I told him I preferred informed, reflective contributions he continued on and on. And on.

And then there was the person who told me that she thought women were often poor leaders. When prompted to elucidate further she offered that women were often ‘nasty’ bosses. Yes, she told me that.

And who are these people? Well, the statistics are interesting. 100% of applicants were tertiary qualified. 34% had post graduate qualifications. But 50% sent their LinkedIn profile alone as their job application, .08% wrote to me (meaning 99.02% didn’t) and the remainder did not customise their resumes.

Some people contend that it is hard to stand out in a crowded internet market but I think most would agree that the above four points are pretty easy to follow. If you want to stand out based on the statistics of our recent recruitment process that should be pretty easy too.

About the Image

This stunning photograph was taken by renowned Sydney-based photographer Chris Karstens. His words on the photo:

'Lake Tekapo, 2005. First trip top NZ ever. It took us forever to get from Christchurch to our accommodation that night - every rise on the hill I would pull over. I'd never seen such landscape in my life. Taken right as we pulled into town. Right after we had moved to Australia, documenting our new surroundings had become a serious pursuit. Seeing such new and incredible places spurred my interest in capturing and sharing them with others. It was from 2003/2005 that my interest and study of photography started. It was a simple as just starting.'

You can contact Chris: [email protected]