Despite our ever more connected world, finding a job is arguably harder now. It involves far more than simply submitting an application. Recruiters expect candidates to demonstrate intimate knowledge of the profession before they even get to the interview.
As specialist recruiters, we at KDC understand the importance of optimising your online presence. To help you get ahead of the competition, here is our advice on how to optimise your profiles for a greater chance of success.
Most recruiters for specialist industries (such as engineering) will search you out when you submit an application. Alternatively, they might headhunt you directly, but this will only happen if you show up on their radar.
So, the first step is to advertise your niche. We will use LinkedIn as our example throughout this article, as it is the social network for professionals. But, our advice applies to any other platform or personal website.
Make your niche explicit, and as refined as possible. For example, if you work in aerospace, what specifically do you do? The more refined you can make your niche, the more likely recruiters are to find you for a specific job. Part of this involves incorporating keywords in your biography and profession. Doing so allows employers to find you during searches, vastly improving your chances of being headhunted.
Another vital component is providing a CV and list of qualifications. LinkedIn works perfectly for this because you can add your previous work experience and skills, which others can then endorse. Failing that, set up a free website where you can keep a portfolio of previous projects. It can function much like an online CV to which you can direct potential employers.
Of course, ensure anything you link is relevant to your future career choices. By this, we mean perhaps leave out any unrelated jobs, such as retail or hospitality. While they demonstrate you have worked, do they relate to your career in engineering? Probably not.
Then comes networking. Not everyone enjoys networking, but it is a vital part of making yourself known in the industry. While engineering is largely about skill, it is also about who you know. Therefore, get to know people.
The most basic advice is to interact with other people’s content. It might be liking or commenting on a post or resharing it on your profile. Again, LinkedIn is ideal for this because it is a platform designed for networking between professionals.
But, this advice also applies to platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and so on. If there is a particular company you want to work for, or specialises in your niche, interact with their posts. You can take it a step further by reaching out to people or businesses to discuss things with them.
Networking feeds into your online presence, but there is much more to it. If you want to make a name for yourself in a certain niche, produce your own content. It might be blog posts or opinion pieces or something more involved like a YouTube account or podcast. Developing a wide-reaching online presence establishes you as an authority and helps get you recognised.
It is important to note that optimising your online presence is a long-term process and it does not yield results immediately. But, using our advice will help you to get noticed online by the right people in the future.
Of course, if you would like any further advice on recruitment in the engineering sector, please feel free to reach out to us at KDC.
