WHY YOUR LINKEDIN NETWORKING IS NOT WORKING

I get a lot of messages on LinkedIn like these:

“Here’s my resume, do you have a job for me?”

“Can you let me know if you have a job that matches my profile?”

Or worse – 3-4 paragraphs of their work history and then asking for a job.

While there is a lot of advice out there about reaching out to hiring managers/ recruiters on LinkedIn, people don’t get the best results because they don’t understand why someone becomes willing to help you in your job search!

Now, let’s just put all the reasons to understand “What’s in it for them”. The underlying theme for a lot of these reasons:

“As hard as it is to get a good role, it is equally hard to hire the right candidate for a position”

So, people end up benefiting in the following ways by helping your job search:

1. Referral fees: A lot of companies pay between $500 to $10,000 depending on the seniority.
2. Trust and Credibility: If they know you, you take a major risk out of the hiring decision.
3. Paying it Forward
4. If you reach the hiring manager, you are saving them time and effort if you show your value.
5. Building their own network
6. Building social capital: When they help you with a job, they also help the hiring manager. While you may not be able to immediately help them, the hiring manager (a senior professional) may be able to.

Now, imagine Joe (who I don’t know well) reached out to me over LinkedIn.  Out of the goodness of my heart, I happily refer Joe to my network. And he turns out to be the worst employee ever!!

What would that do to my reputation?

And this is the biggest reason why cold outreach messages asking for jobs or even a call don’t work!

Next week, I am going to break down the entire process along with some successful scripts.