There's an old Israeli Yellow Pages ad saying "If you're not there, you don't exist". This sentiment rings true for job seekers today regarding their presence on social media, especially LinkedIn, the professional network.
The reason is compelling: 93% of organizations in Israel leverage social networks for recruitment and employer branding, with 87% reporting successful hires through these platforms, according to HRD's 2024 recruitment sources benchmark, which surveyed 150 organizations in Israel.
Among organizations that recruit via social networks, 80% successfully hire through LinkedIn, and 47% through Facebook. Therefore, whether you are actively seeking a job or passively open to offers, maintaining an updated, high-quality, and active LinkedIn profile is essential. But that alone isn’t sufficient. Your networking and professional branding efforts must extend beyond digital realms to include genuine personal connections. Studies have shown that in the era of social networks, the most crucial connections for job hunting are those tied to the professional sphere, such as former colleagues, bosses, and suppliers.
Amid layoffs and shifts in the job market, more individuals are actively searching for positions. In a competitive market where candidates outnumber available roles, utilizing every available tool is crucial to beating others to the punch. Employers use artificial intelligence to enhance job ads and screen candidates, and job seekers can also harness AI tools to gain an edge. In the second article of this guide, we will focus on refining your LinkedIn profile and optimizing professional networking with AI tools.
Enhancing your LinkedIn profile
First and foremost, evaluate how your profile measures up against others in your industry. You can draw inspiration from colleagues' profiles or use AI tools that offer comparative insights and suggestions. Taplio provides free feedback on your LinkedIn profile and improvement suggestions. Taplio also offers paid tools for post creation and LinkedIn management, with a 7-day free trial.
Thereafter, the costs are $39, $49, or $149 per month for different plans. Additional tools like AuthoredUp offer 14 days free, then $16.99 per month, enabling content creation and data analysis for managing your LinkedIn account. LinkedIn itself has integrated AI tools that assist in writing profiles and offer personalized phrasing. These tools identify key skills and experiences and suggest ways to present them in the headline and summary for premium subscribers.
The main sections of a LinkedIn profile include the headline, profile picture, professional summary, experience, and skills. AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini can be used to rewrite parts of your profile, like the headline, based on specific prompts. For example, you might use a prompt like, "Hey Chat, I am seeking a job in [your field] and want to enhance my LinkedIn profile to find my next role. Based on successful profiles in my industry, please help me craft the headline [or any other part] of my profile. Here's my current headline: [paste relevant section]."
This approach can be adapted for each section of your LinkedIn profile to improve it, specifying the role you seek to focus your profile on the desired job search. If you don’t yet have a LinkedIn profile, you can also ask generative AI tools to help you write the various sections.
A strong profile picture can increase the likelihood of recruiters engaging with your profile by 14 times. So, if your current picture is a tipsy selfie from your last vacation, it’s time to consider a change. The exciting news is that even if you lack a professional photo, AI tools can generate one from existing selfies.
Some AI tools for creating a professional-looking profile picture include themultiverse.ai, which has received the most positive reviews and allows you to create a realistic profile picture by uploading real selfies for $29. Other tools, with good but mixed reviews, include Prophotos.ai, which lets you create 40 different images for $39. For $49, you can get 100 images and 20 backgrounds, and for $59, you can create 100 unique images with 40 backgrounds and different outfits. The reviews mention that while the tool is good, the images might not look entirely realistic. Another tool is myedit.online, which offers credit packages for $16 or $32 and enables photo editing.
This tool requires a bit more engagement and is slightly less user-friendly but may suit you if you have a design inclination or seek a more creative image. It's important for your picture to look authentic and be appropriate for your industry. For instance, if you work in high tech, an overly formal picture might not fit. Conversely, if you are a lawyer, a T-shirt photo might not appear professional enough. With a plethora of AI tools available to create profile pictures at varying costs and qualities, find one that aligns with your goals and budget. In any case, if the picture is for a business profile or you hold a senior position, it's preferable to be photographed by a professional photographer.
Building connections
In the realm of LinkedIn or face-to-face interactions, weaving a broad and robust professional network is your golden ticket to landing a job. To expand this web of connections, LinkedIn offers suggestions of relevant contacts or allows you to seek out individuals who could be pivotal in securing your next role. You might also tap into AI tools like Dux-Soup, an automation service that automatically reaches out to potential contacts to broaden your network and maintain engagements. This LinkedIn automation tool is available for individual users at $11.25 per month, with a 14-day free trial. Another automation option is LinkedInHelper, offering two subscription plans at $15 or $45 per month. Though primarily designed for salespeople, businesses, or HR professionals who use LinkedIn intensively, these tools can also benefit job seekers, though they are not essential.
Another networking gem is Crystal, which uses artificial intelligence to provide insights into the personalities of your LinkedIn connections. It helps decipher their communication style, strengths, and weaknesses, allowing you to tailor your messages and enhance your connections with them. A Chrome extension is available to gain personality insights on LinkedIn profiles of contacts or potential connections. While this tool also caters to salespeople, HR, or managers, it offers a free version for personal use or a premium version for $49 per month.
Boosting visibility
Now that you've crafted a captivating LinkedIn profile complete with an excellent photo and a quality network, you want recruiters to visit your profile and others to reach out and connect with you. Staying active on LinkedIn is one way to achieve this—engage with others' posts, comment thoughtfully, and create your own content, such as posts and articles. You can use generative AI tools like Claude, which excels in Hebrew, or ChatGPT for content generation, but it's wise not to rely solely on AI-generated content.
The aim of creating content on LinkedIn or social networks is to establish yourself as a professional authority in your field so that job opportunities naturally come your way. The more authentic, original, and audience-tailored your content is, the better it will serve your professional aims. Therefore, it's recommended to use AI for specific aspects of content creation, like generating post ideas, refining keywords, hashtags, or style, rather than writing posts from start to finish in a 'set it and forget it' fashion.
There are dedicated content creation tools available, like Taplio, Jasper, or Writesonic. Writesonic offers a free trial, with plans costing $12 or $16 per month for individual users. Jasper is aimed at creating content primarily for marketers but offers a free trial followed by a basic plan at $39 per month or a $59 per month pro plan.
Regularly updating your content and profile to align with industry trends and keywords will amplify your exposure and increase your chances of finding a job. You can leverage AI tools to identify the top trends and ask the AI to suggest how to incorporate keywords into your profile and the content you create.