Do these 10 things on LinkedIn Right Now, All in Less than 1 Hour

You’re thinking, “I definitely have an hour to spend, but I don’t know how to use LinkedIn properly.” The interface is complicated, and it’s always changing, which makes keeping up even harder. I will tell you, however, that most executive job seekers don’t know how to use LinkedIn well. Learning the best way to work with LinkedIn’s various tools and capabilities definitely will move your executive job search forward.

To complicate things, if you don’t keep up with all of the different functions that LinkedIn offers, you might find yourself behind your competition to connect with the right people to find the right executive role.

If you’re stressed about how use LinkedIn for your job search presence, follow these 10 simple daily strategies to target your talents and expertise to your executive ideal job search goal.

1. Connect with someone you don’t know personally on LinkedIn, and customize your connection request so they understand exactly why you’ve reached out to them.
2. Write a LinkedIn recommendation for someone else.
3. Call up a LinkedIn connection with whom you have not spoken in at least 6 months.
4. Look on LinkedIn’s job board for interesting positions open right now.
5. Review several colleagues’ profiles to see what they have been up to.
6. Join a LinkedIn group and post one question—or comment on someone else’s question.
7. Take those business cards you collected from your last networking event and connect with each of them on LinkedIn.
8. Write a long-form blog post and publish it on LinkedIn.
9. Look at a LinkedIn company page to see when their next industry event or webinar will be held, then make time to participate.
10. Read an article in a publication related to your industry or job function. Then update your LinkedIn status with a link to it and a question or insight about it to your connections.

Can you do all of these in less than 60 minutes? Time yourself—you’ll be surprised at how fast you can complete these 10 tips. Know how to use LinkedIn well with these 10 tips, and you’ll master your executive job search.

Updated January 2017