How to land a Job on LinkedIn

Guest post by Maryan Dahir, Customer Success Manager. Plus details on our next event!

Sep 3, 2022

👋🏾 Salaam, we are Somalis in Tech and welcome to our monthly newsletter. Each month we’ll bring you the latest from the community, tech news, and a community guest feature.

This month’s issue is a special one - it marks the one-year anniversary of the newsletter! In the words of my fellow newsletter editor Mohamed Abdisalam: “The newsletter is the most consistent thing in our lives.”

Who would’ve thought? Not me! Have a read and let us know your thoughts.🎉

Idil 💛

🗓 Save the date

We’re excited to announce our next event Pathways to Software Engineering on the 21 September 2022, in London! 🚀

We’ll be sitting down with our panel to discuss their journey to a career in software engineering. They’ll share tips and tricks on how they landed their roles, and what inspires them. We’ll also be treated to an inside look into what their job is like day to day.

We’re partnering with Trainline to host this event! The first round of tickets will be released to our community on Slack first, so don’t forget to join if you haven’t already. Details will be shared very soon… 👀

🗣 Networking update

Thank you for participating in our networking app!

Every week, we’ll introduce you to one brand-new connection within our community. We’ll select someone who matches your networking goals and introduce you over an email - all you need to do is confirm your availability!

Join us here - somalisintech.superlinked.com/

🗞 Hot off the press

Layoff watch 🔎
Layoffs don’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon, Snap inc. was the latest to announce restructuring, as they laid off 20% of their staff.

Ladies and gentlemen, we did it…
Twitter announced their edit button (but only if you pay for Twitter Blue). Paid subscribers will have the option to edit their tweets within 30 minutes of posting. A win for all of us, but especially for Kim Kardashian.

Racism in tech? Who would’ve thought…
Sanas, a Silicon Valley startup, has developed technology that can change the accents of call centre workers in real time. They believe this will help combat the racism and prejudice call centre workers face, critics like Color in Tech have argued that the problem lay with the customers who believe directing racist abuse towards call centre workers is justified.

Landing a Job on LinkedIn

Guest post by Maryan Dahir, Customer Success Manager

Hey, I’m Maryan and I work as a Customer Success Manager for a DevOps company, I also run events here at SiT. Today I am going to share some tips and tricks on how you can land a job using your LinkedIn profile. I used Linkedin to land my last two jobs and it has saved me a lot of time and disappointment.

You have probably heard people say “If you don’t have LinkedIn, get one” and I am a big believer in that. Firstly, you need a home to have professional connections.

LinkedIn works in a similar way to Facebook, i.e. it’s normal to have random connections with people you haven’t seen or spoken to in years! However, you never know when such connections will come in handy - as we say here at SiT, “your network is your net worth”.

Create a Linkedin Profile

It’s important that you set up your LinkedIn profile in a way that makes you look professional, yet approachable. Remember, smiling is a sunnah….

Add any notable experiences

I would avoid adding any experience you do not want to showcase e.g. your retail job when you were 17. Make sure to also add a little description of what you did for each experience.

Take advantage of the “Open to” feature at the top of your LinkedIn profile which will alert recruiters that you are open to finding a new job.

Add a headline

I would add anything relevant to a particular job title you want. For example, if you want to land a software engineer job your headline should be something along the lines of “Aspiring Software Engineer in the Technology Industry” .. Positive affirmation is key, let’s write our goals into existence!

Lastly, don’t forget to make your LinkedIn public so that recruiters can find you.

Develop your personal brand by posting on LinkedIn

Sometimes people think creating a LinkedIn profile is enough to gain the attention of recruiters but unfortunately, it isn’t. Be proactive, especially if you are currently employed. I would suggest posting content from your current employers as well as liking and commenting on other people’s posts. My favourite thing to do is showcase the achievements and things I am proud about on the “featured” section of my profile.

Create job alerts

This was one of the most important tools that helped me land my last two jobs. I created job alerts for specific job titles that I wanted to get notified about. Once I created the job alerts every day I would take a look to see if there was something I was interested in.

As you start to do this, you will realise that the filters will come in handy. Think about what is important to you, for me it was the ability to work remotely in the technology industry. Another tip would be to use the “under 10 applicants” filter as this will get you in early.

As you check your job alerts, always click on the most recent so all the most recent jobs come up. If you hate cover letters as much as I do I would make sure you use the “Easy Apply” feature of LinkedIn which allows you to apply without a cover letter just your LinkedIn profile and CV. However, do not limit yourself to the Easy Apply feature. Sometimes we have to work hard for the company of our dreams, so a cover letter is necessary.

Ask your connection if their company hiring

Let’s circle back to the importance of building your network, and. what precisely that means. It means reaching out to your connections and inquiring if their company is hiring. Often there are initiatives in place at companies for employee referrals… If you see someone who is at your dream company and can potentially refer you, why wouldn’t you capitalise on that?

Get recommendations on your profile

Ask ex-colleagues to write public recommendations for you on your profile. These people could potentially be your references in the future so having this up is a major bonus. Real-life examples of who you are as a person and how well you do your job go far for potential recruiters.

If you have more questions for Maryan, reach out to her on LinkedIn!

🐪 Maah-Maah

Intaadan falin ka fiirso
— Look before you leap, via Mohamed Noor

Mahadsanid 👋🏾

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