Instructor’s Guide: LinkedIn for Refugees

Thank you for leading the LinkedIn workshop at IRC! This workshop is focused on educating refugee job-seekers on how LinkedIn.com can be a powerful tool to source and connect to opportunities in the US. Please use this “Instructor’s Guide” in tandem with the “The Essential Guide to LinkedIn” PowerPoint presentation . The sections of this “Guide” correspond with each slide in the presentation.

What We’ll Cover in Today’s Session Thanks for joining us today. Today we are going to focus on how a job seeker like you can use LinkedIn to find their ideal job, explore new career paths, and build an online ‘professional brand’. This will be an interactive session, so make sure to ask questions as we go. As you will learn, there are many different ways to use LinkedIn as a tool to find your next job, but in today’s session, we will be specifically covering:

● A general overview of LinkedIn ● What it means to have and build your ‘professional brand’ ● How to use LinkedIn to explore different career paths in the United States ● How to use LinkedIn to finding a job on LinkedIn ● And if we have time, some additional tips that might be helpful in your job search

We have much to cover, so let’s get started! *Note*: To share this content with your clients effectively, it is very important you are bought in, understand how to use LinkedIn, and feel comfortable teaching this to someone who may be seeing LinkedIn for the first time.

Getting a job can be hard Lead with a question:

● How many of you think finding a job is difficult? (we expect many people’s hands will go up)

We get it, the process of finding a job is daunting and many of us don’t know where to start. LinkedIn is a great place to tackle the various aspects of finding a job in a step-by-step way. Why? Let’s explore how LinkedIn can help you.

Before we tell you how it works, this is who LinkedIn is With LinkedIn, you can connect to opportunities—LinkedIn’s vision as a company is to connect each and every person in this room, as well as every member of the global workforce, to opportunities. But what do we mean by that? Let’s talk about what LinkedIn means for its members - and what it can mean, for you.

Why can LinkedIn Jumpstart your Career? One great way to tackle finding a job in the US is to start your career journey on LinkedIn. Why? LinkedIn’s mission is simple: To connect the world's professionals to make them more productive and successful. When you join LinkedIn, you get access to people, jobs, news, updates, and insights that help you be great at what you do. There are currently more than 460 million LinkedIn members, the network is growing by 2 members per second, and there are over 97M unique new visitors. This is where the jobs are, the hiring managers are, the recruiters are, the companies are - we don’t want you to miss out on the opportunity to connect with all of these different people who can get you closer to your next job.

LinkedIn is the social media platform for your professional self On LinkedIn, you create a personal profile that displays your work experience, education, skills, and interests. Once you’ve created a profile, you can connect with your friends, family, and professional colleagues on LinkedIn. These connections build up your personal LinkedIn network. Organizations, such as companies and nonprofits, use LinkedIn to post jobs and find qualified candidates with the exact skills they need. With a LinkedIn profile, you can apply directly to jobs posted on LinkedIn. Additionally, you can see if anyone in your network works at, or is connected to someone who works at, the organizations you’re interested in working for. By leveraging these connections, you can build relationships that can help connect you to job opportunities.

The LinkedIn difference: a professional mindset

So, what is the difference between, let’s say, Facebook and LinkedIn? Facebook showcases your personal life—who you spend your time with, what you are doing on the weekends, etc. LinkedIn shows who you are as a professional, who you are in a working environment like a school, internship or job. A professional network differs from a social network in that you use it to represent your professional self and career aspirations, rather than your social or personal life. I might not connect with my manager, teacher, or colleague on Facebook, but I would definitely connect with him or her on LinkedIn, because he or she is a part of my professional network.

Donuts on Other Social Media If you’re still a little confused, let’s use this silly ‘donut’ example to think about how various social media platforms vary from one another. From left to right we have Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Pinterest, Spotify and WhatApp. *Note*: Feel free to alter the ‘donut’ example to make it your own or more relevant to your clients. For example in India, we tried this as the ‘naan’ example.

Donuts on LinkedIn Now let’s see what the ‘donut’ example translates to when we are talking about it on LinkedIn. (Read through the 5 examples on the slide)

● I hope to operate a donut franchise someday ● I am looking for a job at a donut company ● I have 3 years experience making donuts ● My top skills are donut production and sales ● Here are 3 recommendations from former donut colleagues

[Slide 10] Meet Marwan: Okay, so let’s actually look at an example of a newcomer who use LinkedIn to find a job in his new home in Sweden

[Slide 11] Meet Marwan:

Here is a short video that explains Marwan’s story *Note*: The video is embedded in the presentation. If you can’t click on it, have this set up on your browser (pull up the Youtube link) before you start.

[Slide 12] Meet Marwan:

● Marwan is a 26 year old from Syria ● He is now a scriptwriter at Sweden’s national theater called Dramaten

While Marwan’s job sounds very impressive now, you should know that Marwan had to work hard and try new approaches before finding his dream job in his new country, Sweden. Before this job, Marwan was:

● An English Translator in Syria (that’s why his English is very good!) ● He was a student at Tishreen University back home ● He worked at a bakery for many months with almost zero pay in Turkey while he made

enough money to make his way to Europe

[Slide 13] Meet Marwan: So you might be thinking, how did Marwan go from working in bakery to being a scriptwriter in Sweden? Here are the steps Marwan took:

● He created his digital professional identity online through LinkedIn with customized support from Welcome Talent, LinkedIn’s project to help refugees find jobs. He attended a very similar training to you, where he learned about LinkedIn and how it could help him.

● He connected to professionals who helped him navigate the job market in Sweden and he researched other people’s career paths to see what they did to get to where he wants to be.

[Slide 14] Meet Marwan: Before landing his perfect job, Marwan took smaller steps to build his professional network on LinkedIn and used his new connections to find a path towards the work he wanted to do:

• Through LinkedIn, Marwan found and got an internship at Newsner, Sweden’s largest new media site, as an editor

• This internship led him to an opportunity to explore his passions as a scriptwriter at Sweden’s most prestigious theater

• Marwan now has connections that will help him throughout the rest of his professional life

You can do it all on LinkedIn: So the lesson here is that it’s not just about being on LinkedIn, but it’s equally about using it strategically to reach your professional goals Three ways that LinkedIn helps its members (you):

● Helps you build your brand ● Helps you explore jobs ● And finally, helps you get hired

You already have what you need: You may not even realize it yet, but you already have the ingredients for success. You have specific skills you can bring to the table, you have a growing network of people you know who can vouch for you and support you in finding a career, and you have interests that can be translated into a job. There are jobs you may not even realize exist yet. LinkedIn helps you translate these ingredients of a network, skills, and information into a specific job and career to help you create the life you want to live. There are so many companies and people in the United States who want to help you build a life here, and LinkedIn can help you find and connect with them.

Build your professional Brand: In this section, we will show you how to display your talents and get noticed by hiring managers and recruiters. *Note*: In this section, it might be helpful to start with someone’s profile (like yours) and ask the group what they think this profiles says about your professional brand. If the room is shy, encourage them to say that building a professional brand online may seem tough at first, but we will go through the exact steps to help them build that brand through their profile.

9 out of 10 company recruiters use LinkedIn: Before walking you through the steps of how to build your professional brand, we want to discuss quickly why this matters. The number one answer is that almost all recruiters use LinkedIn as a tool to find good talent. All Fortune 100 companies use LI Recruiter (the LinkedIn tool for recruiters), and this is what it looks like from their perspective. This is why keywords and search engine optimization, or how people search to find you, are so important.

There are hundreds of thousands of recruiters on LinkedIn. The first thing they are going to do is look at your profile. Remember: Recruiters use it. Jobs are there. Be where the action is.

So You Can Rock Your Profile Two additional tips:

● 75% of recruiters in the US look at LinkedIn profiles to learn more about the candidate (even if they have turned in a CV or traditional resume)

● 85% of employers say that positive online reputation influences their hiring decisions (not just LinkedIn, but think about your other online presence like Facebook and Twitter)

Getting started on LinkedIn So let’s get started!

Registering on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com First, I’m going to walk you through the registration process to create a LinkedIn profile. Go to “www.linkedin.com” and start by entering your first and last name, your email address, and creating a password.

Add your new country and zip code. Next, put in your location! The zip code for [NAME CITY] is [XX].

Add your most recent job experience Now, LinkedIn asks you to put in your current school if you’re a student, or your current job title if you aren’t a student. For this section, just put your most recent job title and company name. Don’t worry - you will be able to edit this later.

Choose your adventure: find a job! Next, select the option that you’re using LinkedIn to find a job.

Import your email contacts to find people you know: Finally, you have the option to import your email address book, which allows you to find any of your email connections who are already on LinkedIn. If you don’t want to import your email address book right now, you can just click the “Skip” button. After this step, you will need to confirm your email address via a verification code sent to your email address. *Note*: If possible, highly recommend you go through this part with your clients. Make this interactive and be sure to answer any questions they have about setting up their profile. Now, you’ve create an account! You should now see the LinkedIn homepage. If you click on your name or the blank profile picture, you will be taken to your profile.

Understand How LinkedIn Recruiters Find You This is just a quick view of how recruiters use LinkedIn and what your profile looks like ‘from the other side’. The important thing to note here is that the more information you put on your profile, the more likely it is a recruiter will see your profile. Recruiters find candidates by searching on keywords on your profile, so the more complete your profile, the better. Now let’s discuss the most important things in your profile!

6 Key Profile Sections: While there are many ways you can make your profile stand out, there are 6 critical things we always recommend you start with:

● Photo ● Education and Training ● Experience ● Volunteer Experience

● Skills ● Summary

We’re going to walk through each of these steps, to help you create a great profile that is reflective of your experiences, skills, education, interests, and aspirations. So let’s get started!

Add a Professional Photo: Adding a profile photo is key – profiles with a photo get 21x more views than a profile without a photo. Adding a photo helps humanize your profile and makes you more approachable. Make sure you are smiling in your picture! A smiling face on your profile goes a long way toward making a great first impression with potential employers. You don’t have to enlist the help of a professional photographer – just ensure you’re dressed professionally and alone in the shot and you can even take a photo with the help of a colleague.

Education and Training: If you attended high school or university, you can add that in the Education section. You can also add a training program you’ve been through. Adding your education and training is a great way not only to show your qualifications, but also gives you an opportunity to connect with other alumni from your school or organization. There are multiple fields here, but the key ones to fill out are the School/organization name, the dates attended, and the degree or field of study if relevant. It’s important to note that those who included their education or training get on average 10X more views on their profiles than those who do not include this section.

Experience: As we move into the experience sections, I want to be sure to explain how LinkedIn differs from a traditional resume or CV. It’s much more holistic, and allows you to tell your personal story. It’s not just a series of bullet points! If you start with a great resume, your LinkedIn profile won’t take too much work. Understand the following differentiators to get the most out of your LinkedIn profile: Depth

● Your LinkedIn profile gives you room to elaborate. ● Go deeper with volunteer experiences to demonstrate skills, experience, and personality. ● Add project samples, such as images, documents and videos of your work.

Personality ● Your profile allows hiring managers and recruiters to actively seek you out. ● Add your skills and experience, but more importantly show them your unique path and

personality. Especially as a refugee, this is an important opportunity to show your unique professional story.

● Your profile summary should truly set you apart. Recommendations

● Your resume rarely contains recommendations from peers, professors, or past co-workers, whereas your profile has a section dedicated to this information.

● Hiring managers use Recommendations to measure the quality of an applicant. The Platform

● LinkedIn is a living and breathing network where professionals and employers can interact with and contact you. Your profile is a great way to share—not only your experience—but also your personality and interests.

So the Experience section is the meat of your LinkedIn profile: your past work experience. Click the “Add Position” button to add additional roles. Be sure to include all past jobs, including part-time jobs and professional work experience. Include the Company name, your Job Title, and the location of the role. Add the time period that you worked there. Finally add a description of what you did in that role. What did you accomplish in each role? What did you learn? Remember, this is beyond a simple resume: this is an opportunity to tell your story of career growth. As you see here, profiles with two or more positions are up to 36X more likely to be found by recruiters.

Volunteer Experience: Common question -- what is volunteer experience vs. experience section? Adding causes and volunteer experience is a great way to round out your professional identity. Almost half of all hiring managers say they view volunteer experience as equivalent to formal work experience. This is very important if you are still looking for a job but are volunteering somewhere in the meantime. INCLUDE your volunteer experience!

Skills and Recommendations: Finally, add skills! What are your areas of expertise? Skills can include anything from public speaking, to customer service, to childcare, to business development. Take some time to think about what kinds of skills you have. Just click “edit” and start adding!

Adding skills and expertise makes it easy for your connections to endorse you for your knowledge and strengths, and helps you show up in relevant searches for companies looking for someone with your skills. Be sure to endorse the skills and expertise of your connections as well – it will encourage them to do the same for you. Recommendations can also be a very powerful way to build professional credibility. Ask your mentors, volunteer supervisors or other former colleagues for recommendations on LinkedIn. Here is an example (refer to slide). There are few things that can help your job search as much as someone vouching for who you are and why you should be hired. Ask some of your connections – like former coworkers and clients – to write recommendations of your work. Getting a strong recommendation usually requires asking for one, so don’t be afraid to make a delicate request. Reassure someone that these can be short paragraphs, and can take less than 10 or 15 minutes.

Write a Compelling Summary: Finally, take a minute to think about your Summary. Your Summary sits at the top of your LinkedIn profile, and is your chance to briefly tell your story. A good formula is to reference what you’ve done in the past and what you’re doing now, but ultimately to focus on your future potential and aspirations. See this example: “I am passionate about hospitality and making others feel welcome. In Syria, I ran a successful hotel that welcomed in visitors from all over the globe. Today, I am pursuing opportunities in the New York area that will allow me to leverage my extensive experience in the hotel and hospitality industry. Please reach out if you know of any opportunities.” Again, adding a summary of 40 words or more makes your profile more likely to turn up in a future employer’s search. A good tip is to ensure your summary includes keywords featured in desirable job descriptions for your field. Describe your experience and tell the world why you work in your chosen career. Avoid buzzwords (examples: strategic, team player, creative) and focus on your career accomplishments. If you feel uncomfortable sharing your accomplishments so directly, know that in the US, this is completely normal and, indeed, important in order to demonstrate your qualifications. In short, the summary should tell people:

1. Who you are

2. What you are doing now 3. Additional info

Use your summary to transform your 2D resume into a 3D person. There are no right answers on length, but 3-5 short paragraphs should do the trick.

Let’s Give it a Try! Now let’s put what we’ve learned in action.

BONUS: Write an attention-grabbing headline Your headline is the phrase that appears next to your name throughout LinkedIn. If you have a job, it’s common to use your job title and company as your headline. However, it’s even more effective to use the headline to show your value and passion in one quick line. What do you do, or what do you want to do? How do you characterize yourself professionally? The examples here are all different, but are each strong examples of how LinkedIn members can indicate their passions and interests to their extended networks. *Note*: We don’t have ‘headline’ explicitly listed as one of the top 6 things you should do, but it’s often a common question, so we included this tip in case your clients ask. BONUS: Complete as many sections as you can! We covered some of the most important sections today, but be sure to go back and see if there’s anything else you can add! The more information you have on your LinkedIn profile, the more accurate your suggested jobs will be. *Note*: This can be ‘extra credit’ for your clients or something you come back to after an initial introduction to LinkedIn.

Explore Careers: In this section, we will learn how to use LinkedIn to explore roles, companies and alumni, and get career tips just for you. Alright, so now you’ve made your LinkedIn profile. Let’s learn what we have to do next to find our ideal jobs.

Your To-do List is Overwhelming: Lead with questions:

● How many of you have gotten rejected from a job? ● How many of you have not known what you wanted you want to do at some point in your

career? We understand there are many priorities in your life. Knowing where to start in regards to finding your career in the United States doesn’t have to be as overwhelming if you start with small steps.

You Can Do it All on LinkedIn You can begin those steps on LinkedIn. We will start with three critical things:

● How to connect with people we know (and don’t!) on LinkedIn ● How to find fellow alumni from school ● Use messaging to reach out to new people

Connect With People You Know Opportunities don’t appear out of nowhere – they are connected to people. The best way to meet new people is via the people you already know. Think back to when you got your very first job. Did you get it via someone who was a family member or friend? It’s always easier to get a job somewhere when you know someone who works there and can help you prepare. All kinds of people are on LinkedIn, from all different ages and backgrounds. Even if you don’t think of your current network as being able to help you professionally in the US, once you know how to use LinkedIn to help you reach out to people, it’s easy to build it and leverage it to connect to job opportunities!

Personalized Connection Invitations The easiest way to add someone to your network is from their LinkedIn profile. Click the “Connect” button, and you’ll be taken the invitation page. Always include a personal note instead of the default text. If you’re adding someone who you’ve just met once, it may be helpful to include where you met them. Generally, it’s best to only connect with people who you actually know. However, an exception might be if you are reaching out to someone with something in common with you, such as if they went to the same university or are also new to Canada and have recently found a job in an

industry you’re interested in. *Note*: It might be helpful to break down how to write a personalized message for your clients. Using the template below might be helpful, but feel free to make this your own! When reaching out to someone who you don’t already know, be sure to write a note explaining why you’d like to connect. You should always include:

● A hello ○ Dear [Name] ○ Hi [Name] ○ Or simply [Name],

● A one sentence description of how you met. For example: ○ At a conference ○ At your friend’s party ○ During a work meeting ○ Through a friend

● One or two sentences about why you want to connect. For example: ○ Describe what you talked about and say you want to learn more ○ I would like to continue our conversation ○ I want to learn more about your job at XX.

● If you would like, it is always nice to offer to do something in return as well. You can say something like:

○ And if you would like to learn more about my experience as an engineer in a global company, I’d be happy to talk more.

○ Or something more personal like, “And let me know if you would like more Middle Eastern cuisine recommendations in the neighbourhood!”

● Sign your name, or say goodby ○ Cheers ○ Thank you ○ Sincerely ○ Best

For example: “Hi, Laura. It was great meeting you at the networking event at the New York Community Center on Thursday evening. I found your current job as an engineer at Google to be very interesting and would love to learn more about your experience. I’m looking forward to staying in touch and continuing our conversation. And if you ever want to learn more about my experience working at the largest engineering firm in Damascus, I’d be happy to exchange notes! Cheers, Sadaf”

Import Your Email Contacts To Find More People To Connect With Sometimes it can be helpful to import your existing contacts to see who you know is already on LinkedIn. Unless your contact list is very well curated, I would suggest using this feature only if you know everyone on your list that you would like to be connected with on a professional network like LInkedIn (so maybe skip your kooky aunt!)

Search For People on LinkedIn You can also use the search feature to look specific people up. For example, if you were just at a networking event and collected business cards, plan to immediately connect with those contacts on LinkedIn by actively looking them up. You can use the top search bar to enter in names and any other search terms. For example, if you are looking up someone who has a common name, you might want to include “John Smith IRC” (Name + their company) to narrow your search.

Discover People on LinkedIn You may also use LinkedIn to not only look up people you know, but discover specific people you are interested in learning from by using the filtered Search available on LinkedIn. For example, if I am looking for nurses in the San Diego area, I can search “Nurse + San Diego” in the search tab and filter even more by choosing what current companies/organizations, skills, or interests they have. *Note*: This is a great tool to also search for potential employers for your clients or find volunteers for your organization. Note that you can search on the facet ‘Interested in Skilled Based Volunteering”. You can use this filter to search for professionals in a specific industry, in a specific location, who also want to volunteer.

Find Fellow Alumni: You can use LinkedIn to find alumni who went to your school as a way of connecting with people who may have a similar career path to the one you want. This is also a great way to see if you have any potential contacts at jobs or companies you are interested in. For example, if you went to Tishreen University in Syria, you can search the university name at the top Search Bar. Click on the school page. Then right under the university name, you will see a tab titled ‘See alumni’. Click on that tab and you will see all the alumni on Linkedin who attended that specific school. You can then use the tabs to the right to filter more specifically by location, job, companies etc. *Note*: This can be a great way for your clients to build out their networks and begin connecting with those who may be able to provide them with recommendations on LinkedIn.

Even Training Programs Can Use This Tool

Some programs who are listed as ‘School’s on LinkedIn can use this feature to find program alumni. Search to see if your certified program has a page. This is an example of a youth program in the United States called ‘YearUp’. In this screenshot, we can search for and see all of the 4,000+ alumni who have graduated from the YearUp program.

Use Messaging To Reach Out To Your Network With LinkedIn’s new ‘chat style’ interface, it is very easy to have conversations with new contacts or old colleagues on LinkedIn. Be sure to check your messages and practice those personalized messages we discussed earlier through this feature.

Tap Your Connections and Alumni For Help Research the profiles of alumni who inspire you or who you want to learn from. See how they got from university to where they are now, or from a specific job to the job they have now. While it might be a little awkward to reach out, don’t be shy. Reach out and ask to hear about their path, advice, tips. LinkedIn is a community that is built around helping others out, so it should not be a surprise. As we practiced before, just make sure you customize your message and be sure to explain who you are, why you are reaching out, and what you want from the person you are reaching out to. If you have written a cohesive and direct message, most people will say yes; they are quite eager to help others out!

Let’s Give it a Try! Now that we’ve reviewed the different ways to explore careers by reaching out to your network, let’s put this knowledge into practice! Read the list above and make sure you have taken at least one action on each item. Remember, importing your contacts is optional - do this wisely and connect only with those people in your contacts who you know, and want to connect with in a professional way.

Get Hired: In this section, we will explore the best tips on how to actually get hired and find a job you are excited about using LinkedIn.

*Note*: As we move on in this section, you might find it helpful to GO LIVE and show job seekers how to navigate the jobs page and set their settings through a live demo. Pull up the pages we discuss in the coming slides before you start your lesson so you have your examples up and ready to go.

You Can Do it All On LinkedIn The ways that you can get closer to getting hired is by exploring these 4 practices on LinkedIn:

● Career Exploration ● Job Search ● Job Recommendations and Alerts ● The Job Search App

Let’s dig in. *Note*: Fun alternative headlines for this section can be:

● Now that you’re on your way, Your dream job isn’t far away. ● With LinkedIn you are on your way, your dream job isn’t far away. ● Now your dream job is closer than you think. ● Dream job? You’re on the brink; You’re closer than you think

Networking is Still the Best Way to find a Job: 85% of jobs still get filled through networking. The good news is that LinkedIn is the largest professional network on the planet. With over 460 million members, you have a chance at becoming a great networker in an authentic and impactful way by leveraging your online professional identity! And it’s important to know that the top ways companies recruit in the United States is through employee referrals. The more meaningful connections you have at different companies, the more your chances increase of being one of those referrals! Note, networking is about finding the few people who have the right information or connections What it’s not: meeting as many people as possible. This is all to say that networking matters even in this digital age and you must do it properly and intentionally to get the most use out of it.

Learn What’s Out There by Browsing Job Descriptions: A job description can tell you a lot about a company. Not just about the role you’re interested in, but you can learn a lot about the company or organization’s culture, tone, and the people who work there. Other things you can find out by investing in reading a job description carefully:

● The work - responsibilities ● The culture - read up and follow Company page from description ● Tone - friendly and casual language or more serious and formal? ● Overall quality - a company that invests in its job descriptions (finding talent) likely

invests in its employees ● People you know who work there ● Can apply right from there on LinkedIn

Search For Companies You Are Interested In: Like we did with the people you might want to learn more from, you can also use the Search tab at the top of the LinkedIn page to search for specific companies you are excited about. Then you can learn more about the people who work there, what jobs are currently open, and what the company has been posting about on their company page.

Search Thousands of Local Job Postings There are several different ways you can view job postings on LinkedIn. Today, there are over 6M jobs on LinkedIn from all over the world. You can either search by a specific job title in a specific location OR You can search by jobs in a general location, OR You can search for jobs at specific companies in specific locations. Play around with the various search facets and go as wide or narrow with your job search as you want.

Target Your Search While we just discussed a few ways you can narrow down your job search, there are so many filters on LinkedIn that you can get as specific as you want. On this page, we see that you can search for a job using a specific title, level (entry to senior), location, company, and you can

even see the connections you might have at the company you’re researching. This is all to say don’t be shy about making LinkedIn work for you - if you want to do a very broad search, use it in that way. If you want a very specific job at a specific company in a specific city, you can also use LinkedIn to find that very special job. Be strategic and thoughtful about your career goals and use these tools to help you get there as fast as possible.

Apply For Jobs Easily Online As we discussed briefly before, some jobs even allow you to apply directly on LinkedIn. While this is a great feature, make sure to check to see if you have any connections at that company before applying. It is always beneficial to reach out to anyone who may be able to provide an internal referral.

Recommended Jobs Tailored For You If you are looking for a job on LinkedIn, one of the most powerful tools to use can be the recommended jobs feature. Here, you can set job preferences and have LinkedIn proactively share jobs that might be of interest to you. *Note*: This is a good one to do a live demo for.

Set Up Job Alerts To Stay In The Know Here, you can set filters for the kinds of jobs you want and have LinkedIn send you email updates about those jobs that might be most interesting to you. If you are actively looking for a job, I highly recommend using this feature! Here is how you set this up on mobile and desktop:

● MOBILE: You can save your job search criteria in the Job Search mobile app. When you save your job search you'll also receive a Job Alert, which is an email notification sent periodically when new jobs are posted that meet your criteria.

● To receive Job Alerts through the Job Search mobile app:

1. Enter the job title or keyword and location (optional).

2. On the search results page, tap the Star icon

This saves your search.

● DESKTOP. You can receive email alerts for new jobs posted on LinkedIn that match your advanced search criteria or that are recommended to you from the Jobs You May Be Interested In feature.

Get the LinkedIn Job Search App Getting the app, available on iOS and Android, is very helpful in keeping up to date on the latest open jobs while you’re on the go. It’s important to note that those who apply for a job on the first day are 10% more likely to get the job than those who apply later.

Let’s Give it a Try! Now that we’ve learned about how to best use LinkedIn’s features to get hired, let’s put this knowledge into practice! Use this checklist to run through all the exercises we discussed.

Extra Credit: We have covered the basics (and more!) about how to best use LInkedin to build your brand, explore jobs, and get hired. Now, here are some additional tips and tricks once you’ve mastered your basic profile. Feel free to add additional sections to your profile. Some of the more useful sections include:

● Freelance projects (add them to the Experience section) ● Writing Samples (Can add under ‘Projects’ or under specific ‘Experiences’) ● Your design portfolio ● Videos/links to things you’ve built

LinkedIn is all about showing employers and your professional network who you are as a person and professional. This is your chance to allow your professional identity to have some personality - make yourself stand out!

LinkedIn Home Feed Take advantage of the loads of information LinkedIn has to offer. Also on company pages you can see who has job you might like and could follow them

Follow companies - setting up job alerts Groups give you exposure to industry professionals that you wouldn’t see otherwise. You can learn about new roles that way. There are many ways for your to share what you know on LinkedIn, and to also learn from others who are sharing their expertise. I am going to dive deeper into a couple of these.

● SlideShare – upload your presentations, or infographics. New functionality now where you can with one click from SlideShare, add a presentation to your LinkedIn profile

● Groups – We have over 2.1M groups on LinkedIn – connect with other professionals with similar interests to you. Collaborate, share, discuss

● Pulse – Consume content on the topics that interest you. ● Influencers – Follow industry influencers ● Keep up to date on industry news and articles on LinkedIn that will make you better at

the job you have now. We also have member publishing, which hopefully you’ve heard of. We’re going to dive deeper into that in a little bit.

More Importantly, Add Connections! Not only can people share information about specific opportunities with you on LinkedIn, but they also post content about what is going on in their workplaces and their industries. For example, since Angelia is connected to people in LinkedIn software development and IT, their updates are often about what it is like to work at LinkedIn and what is going on in the technology industry. This is all valuable information for Angelia to learn about!

You Can Search For Articles On Any Topic You Like! If you’re interested in specific topics, for example ‘Interviewing tips’, you can search Linkedin for posts around this topic. Just navigate to the top bar and search for the topic like you would in a regular search engine.

Publish Your Thoughts and Become Known For newcomers, sharing your professional story or your industry knowledge could be a great way to showcase your credibility in the field you’re post passionate about. We encourage you to read many posts on LinkedIn to get a better sense of how people write. Everyone has their own personal style so feel free to share your thoughts, advice, or experiences in your own voice. *Note*: Publishing might be a challenge for those clients who are struggling with language issues. However, it’s great to emphasize the potential of this tool for sharing your clients’ potentially non-traditional career path

More on Pulse Pulse is LinkedIn’s Publishing platform. In addition to writing your own long-form posts, you can also use this to read what others are saying in the industries you care about. You can follow companies, Influencers, and your other connections to be up to date on the latest industry news or the causes you care about.

Questions? Check Out LinkedIn’s Help Center For any additional questions, be sure to reach out to me or use LinkedIn’s Help Center which has answers to many questions you might have from account privacy to specific features.

Your Dream Job Is Closer Than You Think *Note*: End the presentation with the CALL TO ACTION: Reiterate to refugee job seekers that a good way to start is by downloading the app if they haven’t already.

You’re ready to use LinkedIn! And don’t worry, we will be sending out a checklist of all the items we covered here today! Profile and job search checklist here: https://content.linkedin.com/content/dam/premium/jobsearch/PDFAssets/Job_Search_Checklist.pdf