By Brenda Bernstein
The Essay Expert
On July 24, 2011, LinkedIn announced their “Apply with LinkedIn” system. According to LinkedIn’s Blog, Apply with LinkedIn will allow you to “submit your profile for any job application on the web with one simple click.” Most notable about this program is that companies will be able to install a button on their websites, allowing applicants to apply using a LinkedIn profile!
You now have another incentive to write a KILLER LinkedIn profile.
LinkedIn claims that over one thousand companies are jumping on the bandwagon, including big names like Netflix, TripIt and Photobucket.
The following are LinkedIn’s 3 advertised selling points for job seekers:
1. You can modify your profile for each position.
If you want to cater your profile to each job position, this is your chance. Of course, you could get in trouble if the company were to go back and check your profile to find that it looks completely different from the profile you submitted… so don’t modify toomuch!
2. LinkedIn will show you the names of people who can introduce you to someone in the company.
We all know that the way to get a job is through networking, and LinkedIn apparently will help you get started. I wonder how effective these leads really are, however, since if everyone who applies for the position is given contact information of people at the company, these contacts might be inundated with communications from hundreds of job seekers. This feature could lose its power pretty quickly.
3. LinkedIn will track all your applications for you!
Tracking services and historical information on your job search? Now that is a huge advantage, especially for the organizationally challenged! All you have to do is go to the “Saved Jobs” tab under the Jobs category, and you’ll be able to view a record of all the jobs you’ve applied to. Imagine twenty or thirty years from now looking back nostalgically on those first Apply with LinkedIn attempts.
Your STELLAR LinkedIn Profile!
The most important takeaway of this roll-out as I see it is that if you are planning to apply to one of the thousands of companies who soon will be using the Apply with LinkedIn button, you will really need to make sure your LinkedIn profile is 100% complete – and that it sparkles!
