Job Search and Recruiting with Zac Engler
Three people are hired every minute on LinkedIn. There are over 55 million companies and 14 million job openings (1). Around 86% of recruiters say they use LinkedIn to check on applicants (2). It takes between 100-200 job applications to get a position and it’s no wonder when most corporate positions receive 250 resumes. But how do recruiters find candidates, how do they filter applications, and how do you stand out when you do get in front of a recruiter?
Zac Engler, Head of Talent Acquisition at PaR Systems, has been in HR for almost 15 years. Learning about people’s career goals and helping them turn those dreams into reality drives his passion for recruiting. Zac answered some of the top questions about job search and recruiting on LinkedIn.
How do you use LinkedIn?
Mostly for recruitment, business news, and career updates from people in my network. In the past, I’ve used LinkedIn to find jobs, but my main focus with the platform has always been networking with professionals. Lastly, the SlideShare and hashtag features are great for learning new tips from other content creators and improving your skills.
What is the biggest mistake you see job seekers make with their profile or otherwise?
The biggest mistake people make on LinkedIn is asking, instead of giving. LinkedIn is all about building your network and helping others further their career. Many people take their understanding of their resume and apply it to LinkedIn, and this is backward. Instead, job seekers should look at LinkedIn as a place to connect with people of similar hobbies/jobs/goals and build them further. By connecting, working together, and giving back you’ll get so much more out of the platform. TLDR: Build your network, don’t DM recruiters and ask for jobs
What is something above and beyond that you like to see on profiles?
Multimedia is a great feature that allows you to showcase your work portfolio with videos or photos. Don’t underestimate the power of a good slide deck or video demo of your latest skills. Check out these profiles for inspiration:
How can job seekers make sure they come up when you are searching?
Research the keywords in the job descriptions for your targeted employers. Odds are if they use those words (systems/skills/experiences) in their job ad, they’ll be looking for them on your profile too.
How can job seekers make sure their application is seen?
Find someone you know at the company you applied to and ask them to refer you. Some organizations push referrals to the top of their applicant pools simply because referrals are one less step of separation.
Why do you like using LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is a great social media tool for business news within your network and keeping up to date with key topics/thought leaders you follow. Other social media sites can often be too focused on clicks and not on content, so it’s nice to have another tool to balance out your social media portfolio.
Source: 1 - https://news.linkedin.com/about-us#Statistics 2 - https://zety.com/blog/hr-statistics#online-recruiting-and-social-media-statistics
