Make the best use of LinkedIn alerts
Having an increasingly higher number of people looking up your profile may mean that there is something about you that is interesting to them.
What you need to know:
- Unlike most job boards, LinkedIn does more than allow you to search for open job positions.
- LinkedIn keeps a record and notifies you of people who view your profile if the page is well configured.
LinkedIn is a social media network for professionals. Job hunters and head hunters use it to fill open job positions. Unlike most job boards, LinkedIn does more than allow you to search for open job positions. It is a potent place for professionals to interact.
Professionals use their LinkedIn profile as a storefront for their skills, experiences and to showcase information with people of similar professional persuasion.
LinkedIn keeps a record and notifies you of people who view your profile if the page is well configured. Likewise, it also alerts others when you access or view their profile. This feature tees up opportunities to connect with people who may be interested in collaborating.
And if you don’t routinely get these alerts, you need to do some configuration of your LinkedIn profile to get this information. You can programme LinkedIn to send you job alerts for certain companies, industries, or specific job titles so that you’ll never miss out on a great opportunity again.
Having an increasingly higher number of people looking up your profile may mean that there is something about you that is interesting to them. Such may include an article you shared or a skill that you have that a recruiter may be interested in, or someone may have learnt something about you and now want to get more information about you.
Professional networking
Do not take these alerts for granted. If you are job-hunting, the people who look up your page could very well be the connection you need to an organisation that is hiring. They could have seen your job application and are now digging additional information to decide whether to move you to an interview stage.
Given that LinkedIn is for professional networking, if someone who works for a great company views your profile, send them a short, personalised message, and inquire about their company. Many people are eager to give out useful information about their organisation.
In addition, you can also seek to add the person to your network so that you are routinely learning about their company.
But note that LinkedIn profiles are not all the same. There is the free version which offers basic features. Using this account, you can see up to five results of who has viewed your profile, the number of visits to your profile, and the number of times you have appeared in search results in the past week.
In other words, the profile gives you a summary of how many times people searched your name on LinkedIn.
Then there is the premium or paid LinkedIn account. This has more capabilities. It enables you to see all the people who have visited your profile, trends in viewership, and the industry they work in.
Premium or basic, do not just stop and see the alerts. Make the best use of them.
Wambugu is an informatician. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @Samwambugu2
