With over half a billion people using LinkedIn and over 93% of recruiters crawling its pages to recruit new staff, LinkedIn is the world’s leading social networking site for professionals. There is huge scope to leverage LinkedIn in order to generate valuable connections and secure exciting job opportunities.
But most people don’t utilise LinkedIn to its full potential.
The majority of recruiters land on users' profiles, then leave without pursuing the individual further.
According to a recent study in which 24,570 fictitious CVs were submitted for online applications, those with an extensive LinkedIn profile were found to be 71% more likely to receive callbacks for job interviews than those without an extensive LinkedIn profile.
However, those with a 'bare-bones' or limited LinkedIn profile were found to be less likely to receive a callback for job interviews than those with no LinkedIn profile whatsoever.
Why is this? Why are weak LinkedIn profiles so damaging to your job search?
Because weak LinkedIn profiles make applicants look unprofessional and unqualified for the job.
When you apply for positions, you can be sure recruiters will end up on your LinkedIn profile - or at least attempt to find your LinkedIn profile. If they're not impressed, you're application is much more likely to end up in the no-pile.
As such, having an optimised, compelling and professional LinkedIn profile is more important than ever.