As I am learning first-hand, the market for senior managers is tough right now. But am also learning what search tools work and don’t. In this post I will talk about the ways LinkedIn makes identifying and applying for positions easy – even though landing an interview is as tough as it ever was.

Note: The following is based on only my own experience. I have not verified my explanations with anyone at LinkedIn. I’m a blogger, not a journalist. We are held to very low standards. ;’ )

LinkedIn is great for helping find open positions. There are literally thousands of job postings for any search. Furthermore, if you want a job in a specific area, at a certain level, or within a salary range – there is a filter for that. And LinkedIn knows that the same job may have different titles at different companies. I am looking for chief of staff roles, and am shown senior program manager, transformation officer, and strategist roles.

LinkedIn also allows job searchers to see how they compare for a position. Click the “Am I a good fit?” button and learn if your skills match those required for the role. Then LinkedIn will guide you to add them. It will even suggest solutions when your industry isn’t a perfect match. Once you make the changes, click the button again and – boom – you have what it takes! And I expect that this is the same algorithm used by hiring managers. If LinkedIn says you are a good fit, the company will be told the same – at least from a skills and industry perspective.

LinkedIn even makes it easy to write a professional sounding resume. Take a stab at what you want to say and then ask their AI to rewrite it. This smart tool will make your resume succinct, polish the language, and eliminate any chance of typos – hopefully putting out of business the resume building trolls who comb the site looking for searching suckers.

Finally, LinkedIn makes it incredibly easy to apply for jobs. After clicking the apply now button, you will upload your actual (PDF or Word) resume and make sure everything imports correctly. Once that’s done, all you have to do is agree to terms and conditions and answer some required demographic questions. If that’s too much work, look for the positions offering “easy apply” where you the application process is just clicking one button. Can you imagine the inboxes of those hiring managers? oi!

If any of this sounds complicated, reach out and I will step you through. Maybe I’ll even make a tutorial video. With a little know-how and some practice, you can apply for a dozen positions a week, 50 a month, literally hundreds in the course of a year.

But how effective is this? In my next few posts, I will talk about the challenges associated with LinkedIn’s application process and how you can work it to your advantage.

Not written with AI!