I had a 45 minute con­ver­sa­tion with “Max”, this evening about his job search. He has a solid work his­tory. He was down­sized from a good posi­tion doing what he is an expert at. Max  is not hav­ing luck with his job search.

It’s been a long time since Max had to look for a job. In fact, last time he did, social net­work­ing didn’t yet exist. He is PC savvy and his com­puter use over the years was mainly work related, Inter­net searches for infor­ma­tion, etc. Max heard net­work­ing via LinkedIn could help him so he cre­ated an account a year ago and has con­nected with a dozen or so peo­ple he knows. Max joined a cou­ple of local groups and par­tic­i­pates in some discussions.

It’s not working…

Here are some of the things I sug­gested Max could do to improve his LinkedIn-Ability:

1. Be a com­pleter — if you can’t com­plete your own pro­file how are you going to com­plete work?
2. Let peo­ple know you are a job seeker in the “pro­fes­sion” field  –> Admin­is­tra­tive Assis­tant Seek­ing New Opportunity.
3. Sell your­self in your sum­mary — just like employ­ers post job ads you should cre­ate a job search ad there
4. Use Google Pre­sen­ta­tions or Box.net to post your resume, work sam­ples, etc.
5. Join groups, ask and answer ques­tions –> network
6. You can join 50 groups — they’re free — why would you belong to 5? Oh, they all have job boards =)
7. Search com­pa­nies you are inter­ested in and net­work with employees.
8. Net­work with ex-employees — they have noth­ing to lose so they TALK and they stay in touch with friends so they know what’s going on.
9. Write some sin­cere rec­om­men­da­tions and chances are you’ll receive some.
10. Search jobs and see who your con­tacts are that have a rela­tion­ship there.

Are you 10 for 10 in LinedIn-Ability? Share your tips here so oth­ers can learn from you!